College Basketball Roundup : Hawkins Makes Big Shots Again, and Bradley Gets Past Tulsa, 67-62

Hersey Hawkins has scored a ton of points in his career at Bradley, many of them coming when the Braves needed them most.

It was no different Thursday night when Hawkins, the nation’s leading scorer, had 33 points to lead the No. 14 Braves past Tulsa, 67-62, in a Missouri Valley Conference game at Peoria, Ill.

Tulsa (8-18 overall, 4-9 in the MVC) took a 28-27 lead on Tracy Moore’s three-point basket with six seconds remaining in the first half, and stretched the lead to 41-36 eight minutes into the second half.

Bradley (21-4, 10-2) fought back to tie the score, 45-45, on a driving shot by Paul Wilson. Tulsa regained the lead and the ball, but then Hawkins, averaging 35.6 points per game, took over.

Hawkins stole the ball, drove for a layup and was fouled, his three-point play putting Bradley ahead for good, 48-47, with 7:21 remaining.

The Braves widened their lead to 52-47 and led, 58-49, with 3:57 remaining before the Golden Hurricane rallied again and cut the lead to 62-60 with 1:08 left.

But Hawkins scored what proved to be the winning basket on a layup, Jerry Thomas had a break-away dunk and Donald Powell hit a free throw to put Bradley out of reach.

Moore scored 21 points for Tulsa.

Temple 94, Duquesne 55--Mark Macon scored 22 points and Mike Vreeswyk added 19 to lead the top-ranked Owls to their 10th straight victory, an Atlantic 10 blowout of the Dukes at Pittsburgh.

Macon scored 18 points in the first half, matching the total for Duquesne. Tim Perry added 13 points, 9 rebounds and 9 blocked shots for the Owls (24-1, 16-0).

Kevin McCarthy scored 15 points for Duquesne (9-18, 5-11), which played without its starting forwards, Brian Shanahan and Arnd Neuhaus, who are injured.

Purdue 93, Illinois 79--Melvin McCants scored 22 points, and the second-ranked Boilermakers cruised to a Big Ten victory over the Illini at West Lafayette, Ind.

McCants scored 6 of Purdue’s first 11 points in the second half as the Boilermakers (23-2, 12-1) opened a 57-41 lead with 15:57 remaining. Illinois (18-9, 8-6) could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Nick Anderson scored 21 points for the Illini, while Troy Lewis added 19.

Syracuse 91, Providence 73--Steve Thompson scored 18 points and Rony Seikaly had 16 points and 17 rebounds as the No. 10 Orangemen used two streaks of 15 consecutive points to beat the Friars for the 18th straight time in a Big East game at Providence, R.I.

The Orangemen (21-6, 10-4) took charge midway in the first half, scoring 15 straight points for a 29-12 lead. Syracuse led, 50-36, at halftime and used its second 15-point spurt in the second half to lead by as many as 25 points.

Delray Brooks scored 17 points for Providence (10-15, 4-10), which has lost 11 of 13 games.

BYU 76, Air Force 62--Michael Smith had 21 points and 12 rebounds as the 11th-ranked Cougars scored the first 19 points of the second half and defeated the Falcons in a Western Athletic Conference game at Colorado Springs.

Air Force (11-3, 4-9) trailed, 55-36, with 7:14 left but got within 68-60 with 4:06 remaining before BYU (23-2, 12-1) pulled away for the final time.

Mike Hammond and Raymond Dudley scored 18 points each for Air Force.

Wyoming 79, Utah 56--Fennis Dembo scored 19 points and 9 rebounds as the No. 16 Cowboys trounced the Utes in a WAC game at Laramie, Wyo.

The Cowboys (21-5, 10-5) had an 11-3 run before halftime to open a 37-24 lead and opened the second half with a 16-2 burst that put the game out of reach.

Tommy Connor scored 14 points for Utah (16-9, 8-5).

Georgia Tech 76, Virginia 71--Tom Hammonds had 23 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Dennis Scott scored all of his 16 points in the second half as the No. 20 Yellow Jackets downed the Cavaliers in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Atlanta.

Virginia (12-15, 4-7) had a 36-32 lead at halftime, but Georgia Tech (20-6, 7-4) reeled off the first nine points of the second half. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to 58-57 with 7:25 remaining, but the Yellow Jackets broke the game open with a 16-2 run.