College Basketball Roundup : Duke and North Carolina Gain the ACC Title Game

Danny Ferry’s one-handed, 10-foot shot in the lane with 1:45 remaining broke a tie and helped lead Duke past No. 11-ranked North Carolina State, 73-71, Saturday in a semifinal game of the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament at Greensboro, N.C.

Ferry made only 7 of 17 field-goal attempts. “Too excited, I think,” he said. “I was really forcing things.”

His big basket came after Coach Mike Krzyzewski took him out of the game for a few minutes in the stretch. “He sat me down, and I got my thoughts together,” Ferry said.

The Blue Devils (23-6), who will face North Carolina today, advanced to the title game for the third time in five seasons. Robert Brickey led Duke with 16 points, and Ferry had 15. Rodney Monroe scored 17 for N.C. State (24-7).

North Carolina 74, Maryland 64--J.R. Reid scored 19 points, and Scott Williams added 17 as the ninth-ranked Tar Heels (25-6) held off the Terrapins (17-13) in the other semifinal. The Tar Heels, seeking their first ACC tournament title in six years, advanced to the final for the 16th time in 33 years.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

BIG EIGHT

Oklahoma 102, Missouri 99--Stacy King scored 35 points as the No. 4 Sooners turned back a furious rally by the Tigers in the semifinals at Kansas City, Mo. The Sooners (29-3) will meet Kansas State in today’s final.

With Oklahoma’s Harvey Grant, Dave Sieger, Mookie Blaylock and King all having four fouls with eight minutes left, Missouri rallied from 16 points back.

The Tigers (19-10) came within 97-96 with 31 seconds to play, but the Sooners pulled away to 102-97 before Missouri’s Derrick Chievous, who had 25 points, scored as the buzzer sounded.

Kansas St. 69, Kansas 54--Mitch Richmond triggered a quick getaway as the Wildcats defeated the cold-shooting Jayhawks in the other semifinal.

Kansas State (22-7), which stopped Kansas’ home-court winning streak at 55 games during the regular season, bolted to a 23-8 lead and held a 34-23 halftime advantage. Richmond had 8 of his team’s first 15 points and finished with a game-high 21 points.

Danny Manning recovered from a slow start to pace the Jayhawks (21-11) with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

SOUTHEASTERN

Kentucky 86, Louisiana State 80--Freshman Eric Manuel scored 24 points, including two free throws with 33 seconds remaining, and the sixth-ranked Wildcats defeated the Tigers in the semifinals at Baton Rouge, La.

Manuel, Winston Bennett and Rex Chapman sparked a second-half comeback that carried the Wildcats (24-5) into the championship game, where they will face Georgia.

Georgia 72, Florida 70--Patrick Hamilton hit a three-point shot with 19 seconds left to help lead the Bulldogs to victory in a fight-marred semifinal.

Hamilton’s shot put Georgia ahead, 70-67. Four minutes into the game, Florida’s Ronnie Montgomery and Georgia’s Alec Kessler got into a fight. After referee Luis Grillo wrapped up Kessler and took him to the floor, Montgomery landed two punches to Kessler’s head. Both players were ejected.

Jody Patton led Georgia (19-14) with 24 points. Maxwell led Florida scoring with 28 points.

SOUTHWEST

Southern Methodist 98, Houston 76--The top-seeded Mustangs (26-6) built a 25-6 lead on their way to a victory over the Cougars (17-13) in the semifinals at Dallas. Todd Alexander scored 18 points for Southern Methodist.

Baylor 74, Arkansas 73--Michael Hobbs scored 21 points, and Robert McLemore hit a key 15-foot jump shot late in the game as the Bears (23-6) advanced to the title game by beating the Razorbacks (21-8).

MIDWESTERN

Xavier (Ohio) 122, Detroit 96--Byron Larkin scored 38 points as the 20th-ranked Muskateers (26-3) beat the Titans in the title game and set a tournament single-game scoring record for the second straight night. Xavier, which has now won 15 straight, beat Loyola of Chicago, 117-79, Friday night. Larkin boosted his career point total to 2,680, moving past Oklahoma’s Wayman Tisdale and Navy’s David Robinson into the No. 13 position on the NCAA all-time list.

METRO

Louisville 89, South Carolina 57--LaBradford Smith scored 21 points at Memphis to lead the Cardinals (21-10) to today’s title game. South Carolina ended 19-10.

Memphis St. 81, Florida St. 74--Dwight Boyd and Steve Ballard each scored 17 points as the Tigers (21-10) beat the Seminoles (21-10) in the other semifinal.

BIG SKY

Boise St. 63, Montana St. 61--Guard Chris Childs made a baseline layup with three seconds remaining and led all scorers with 18 points as the the Bobby Dye-coached Broncos beat the Bobcats in the title game at Bozeman, Mont. Boise State (24-5), the regular-season league champion, advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1976.

NON-TOURNAMENT

Indiana 116, Iowa 89--Keith Smart scored a career-high 32 points, and the Hoosiers beat the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes at Bloomington, Ind., in the regular-season Big Ten finale for both teams.

Dean Garrett scored 26 points and Jay Edwards 24 for the Hoosiers, who had the third-highest point total ever at Assembly Hall. The Indiana record is 122 points.

The Hoosiers are now 19-9 and 11-7. Roy Marble led Iowa (22-9, 12-6) with 24 points.

Purdue 93, Minnesota 66--Troy Lewis scored 17 points, and the No. 2-ranked Boilermakers (27-3, 16-2) won a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind. It is the first time Purdue has won 27 games during the regular season. Minnesota finishes 10-18 and 4-14.

Michigan 95, Ohio St. 76--Glen Rice scored 29 points, and Gary Grant finished his career at Crisler Arena with 16 points and 12 assists as the 10th-ranked Wolverines (24-7, 13-5) beat the Buckeyes (16-12, 9-9) in at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Illinois 79, Northwestern 74--Ken Battle scored 21 points as the 19th-ranked Illini (22-9, 12-6) won at Evanston, Ill., in their Big Ten finale. It was the 13th straight loss for the Wildcats (7-21, 2-16).

DePaul 77, Marquette 65--Rod Strickland scored 21 points, and Kevin Edwards added 17 to lead the Blue Demons (21-7) over the Warriors (10-18) at Milwaukee. It was Marquette’s final game in the Milwaukee Arena. The Warriors will move to the Bradley Center next season.

Notre Dame 72, Dayton 59--David Rivers scored 32 points and had 9 assists as the Irish (20-8) beat the Flyers (13-18) at Dayton, Ohio.