College Basketball Tournament Roundup : Maryland Upsets Georgia Tech; North Carolina Tops Wake Forest

The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, known for its upsets, got off to a characteristic start Friday as rejuvenated Maryland upset No. 18-ranked Georgia Tech, 84-67, and qualified to meet No. 9-ranked North Carolina in today’s semifinals.

The young Terrapins were led by Keith Gatlin, one of the last holdovers from the Lefty Driesell coaching era, who scored 25 points, including 6 of 7 three-point shots, to avenge two one-sided defeats by the Yellow Jackets (22-8) in the regular season.

The win gave Maryland (17-12) at least an outside shot at a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament berth.

“We packed for three days,” Gatlin said. “If we win the whole thing, there won’t be any question about it.”

North Carolina 83, Wake Forest 62--Ranzino Smith scored the first eight points of a 21-1 first-half surge that lifted North Carolina (23-5) from an 18-11 deficit to a 32-19 lead. Then Scott Williams and J.R. Reid helped break it open in the second half.

Reid led the Tar Heels with 21 points; Williams had 20 and Smith 13. Sam Ivy scored 24 for Wake Forest (10-18).

North Carolina St. 79, Clemson 72--Charles Shackleford scored 26 points, including two key baskets in the closing minutes, to lead the 11th-ranked Wolfpack to victory.

North Carolina State (24-6) took a big lead in the first half, then saw several Tiger surges that tied the game before Shackleford’s heroics.

Clemson (14-14) has not advanced past the tournament’s first round since 1980.

Duke 60, Virginia 48--Danny Ferry scored 20 points, and eighth-ranked Duke overcame a cold-shooting first half to defeat Virginia.

The Blue Devils (22-6) trailed, 26-24, at halftime before rallying to defeat the Cavaliers for the 12th straight time. Virginia finished 13-18.

BIG EIGHT

Missouri 90, Iowa St. 80--Derrick Chievous scored 29 points, and Doug Smith led a second-half charge that carried the Tigers to victory in a first-round game at Kansas City, Mo.

Chievous also had 10 rebounds for Missouri (19-9), which plays Oklahoma in the semifinals today.

Lafester Rhodes had 30 points and 12 rebounds, and Jeff Grayer scored 24 for the Cyclones (20-11).

Oklahoma 99, Colorado 66--Ricky Grace scored 20 points, and the fourth-ranked Sooners capitalized on numerous Colorado turnovers to beat the Buffaloes (7-21).

Stacey King added 19 points for the Sooners, who take a 28-3 record into the semifinals today against Missouri.

Kansas 74, Oklahoma State 58--Milt Newton, taking over for a cold-shooting Danny Manning, scored a career-high 29 points and boosted Kansas (21-11) over Oklahoma State (14-16).

Manning, the Big Eight career scoring leader and conference player of the year the past two seasons, wound up with 12 points.

Kansas State 75, Nebraska 70--Steve Henson was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 21 seconds to lift Kansas State past Nebraska.

The Wildcats (21-7) had 50 attempts from the free-throw line while Nebraska (13-18) had only 11.

SEC

Kentucky 82, Mississippi 64--Winston Bennett and Rex Chapman scored 19 points apiece and sixth-ranked Kentucky never trailed in burying Mississippi at Baton Rouge, La.

Kentucky (23-5), which won its 37th SEC title in the regular season, was never in trouble against the Rebels (13-16).

Georgia 65, Auburn 60--Alec Kessler scored 17 points, including two key baskets in the final 2:11, to spark Georgia (18-14).

Auburn (18-10), seeded second in the tournament, held a 36-31 lead with 15:58 to play before Kessler ignited a 21-8 run with two consecutive baskets.

Florida 67, Tennessee 60--Vernon Maxwell scored 23 points as the Gators had to survive a late comeback to beat Tennessee and advance to the semifinals at Baton Rouge, La.

The Gators (22-10) had built a 16-point lead in the first seven minutes of the second half, but Tennessee (16-12), rallied to get within 4 with 1:25 to play, but failed to score again.

Louisiana State 87, Vanderbilt 80--Ricky Blanton scored 30 points, and Darryl Joe had 19 to lead LSU to its third victory over Vanderbilt this season. The teams tied for fourth in the SEC regular-season round-robin each with 10-8 conference marks. Vanderbilt finished its regular season at 19-10 overall. LSU is 16-12.

SWC

Houston 72, Texas 57--The second half three-point shooting of Richard Hollis and Horace Chaney halted a Texas comeback bid at Dallas and boosted the Cougars (17-11) into a semifinal game today against regular season champion Southern Methodist.

Texas (16-13) had ended the regular season winning eight of 10.

Southern Methodist 86, Texas Christian 74--Carlton McKinney hit 11 of 13 shots and scored 26 points to carry top-seeded SMU to victory.

The Mustangs (25-6) had beaten the Horned Frogs twice in the regular season. TCU ended its year at 9-19 under new Coach Moe Iba.

Arkansas 76, Texas A&M; 64--Defensive specialist Keith Wilson scored a career-high 18 points as the Razorbacks rolled into the semifinals at Dallas.

Arkansas is now 21-7. The Aggies ended their season at 16-15.

Baylor 54, Texas Tech 53--Michael Hobbs tipped in a missed shot with four seconds left to give Baylor (22-9) a comeback victory over Texas Tech (9-19).

WAC

Wyoming 60, Colorado State 58--Center Eric Leckner hit a 19-foot jumper at the buzzer as No. 14 Wyoming capped a dramatic second-half comeback at Provo, Utah.

The Cowboys (25-5) trailed much of the game and took their first lead at 47-45 on two free throws by Fennis Dembo with 8:10 left. Dembo led the Cowboys with 24 points.

Texas El Paso 66, Brigham Young 63--Eddie Williams made two free throws with six seconds left to clinch the upset of 17th-ranked Brigham Young. It was the second time in a week that UTEP had defeated the Cougars on their home floor.

UTEP is 23-8; BYU is 25-5.