College Basketball Roundup : N.C. State Surprises Fifth-Ranked Duke, 89-78

Some people may be surprised by North Carolina State’s upset of fifth-ranked Duke, but not Wolfpack Coach Jim Valvano.

The 18th-ranked Wolfpack, trailing most of the second half, rallied in the final three minutes to defeat the Blue Devils, 89-78, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Raleigh, N.C.

“This doesn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know about my team,” said Valvano, who got the 300th victory of his 17-year coaching career.

“People say we’re inconsistent. I’d like to know what they mean. We’ve won 19 games and lost 6 to some good teams. I’ll take this kind of inconsistency every year.”

N.C. State (19-6 overall, 7-4 in the ACC) trailed, 74-70, with 3:30 left, but outscored Duke, 19-4, the rest of the way to beat the Blue Devils (20-4, 8-3) for the second time this season.

Vinny Del Negro hit a three-point shot with 3:03 left to cut Duke’s advantage to 74-73, and Charles Shackleford’s jump hook gave N.C. State the lead for good with 2:26 left.

“We got the lead, 75-74, got the crowd into it, and had a lot of momentum going then,” Del Negro said. “Some big rebounds, big plays.”

After a Duke timeout, Shackleford made two free throws and Del Negro forced a steal and hit a short jumper for a 79-74 Wolfpack lead. N.C. State hit 8 of 10 foul shots to seal the victory.

Shackleford scored 15 of his 23 points in the final nine minutes.

Auburn 81, Vanderbilt 68--Jeff Moore scored 21 points, and Chris Morris added 18 as the Tigers knocked the No. 17 Commodores out of a share of the Southeastern Conference lead at Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt (17-7, 10-6) led, 39-30, with 19:45 left, but Auburn (16-8, 9-6) got back into the game by scoring 10 straight points and took the lead for good, 49-48, on a basket by Terrance Howard, who scored 17 points.

Kentucky 95, Louisiana State 69--Winston Bennett scored 24 points, and Ed Davender added 21 as the 12th-ranked Wildcats overpowered the Tigers at Lexington, Ky, and assured themselves of at least a tie for their 37th SEC championship.

The Wildcats (19-5, 11-5) can win the title outright with a victory over Georgia in their final conference game. But Kentucky lost guard Rex Chapman indefinitely with a cracked bone in his back.

Colorado 87, Missouri 78--Scott Wilke scored 31 points, and Brian Robinson added 20 as the Buffaloes upset the No. 15 Tigers at Boulder, Colo.

Wilke’s three-point shot capped an 11-0 spurt that gave Colorado (7-17, 3-8) a 62-52 lead with 10:18 remaining. Missouri (17-7, 6-5) got within 78-74 on a jump shot by Nathan Buntin, but Colorado’s Michael Lee made seven foul shots in the final minutes.

Oklahoma 95, Kansas 87--Stacey King scored 22 points, including six straight late in the game, and the fourth-ranked Sooners held off the Jayhawks at Norman, Okla.

The victory came despite a 30-point performance by Danny Manning of Kansas (17-10, 6-5), who became the Big Eight’s career scoring leader. Manning, who has 2,665 points, broke the record of 2,661 held by Wayman Tisdale of Oklahoma.

Manning’s record-setting basket sliced Oklahoma’s lead to 75-72 with 4:42 left, but King’s burst gave the Sooners (25-2, 10-1) some breathing room.

Iowa 91, Northwestern 74--Roy Marble scored 21 points, and the 13th-ranked Hawkeyes beat the Wildcats in a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill.

Northwestern (7-16, 2-11) fell behind, 42-26, late in the first half, but rallied to get within 46-43 before Iowa (19-7, 9-4) regained control with a 12-2 surge.