College Basketball Roundup : Fans Get Treat as Oklahoma Gets Win

Junior college transfer William Davis scored 19 points, including a key rebound basket with 1:38 to play, to lead fourth-ranked Oklahoma to an 83-81 victory over eighth-ranked Nevada Las Vegas Saturday night in the semifinals of the Maui tournament at Lahaina.

The Lahaina Civic Center, already strapped to accommodate the expected crowd of 3,000, was bursting to the seams as a reported 4,000 fans sat in aisles and stood in corners to see the much-awaited game.

Neither team managed more than a 4-point lead throughout the second half except for a 52-46 Oklahoma lead 58 seconds into the final half.

Davis, the leading scorer and rebounder last season on national junior college champion Hutchinson, Kan., rebounded a miss by Stacey King with 1:38 to play to give the Sooners an 83-79 lead. He was fouled on the play but missed the free throw.

Las Vegas freshman Anderson Hunt made 2 free throws with 1:06 to play to account for the final points of the game.

Duke 93, The Citadel 52--The top-ranked Blue Devils proved that bigger can be better--especially when big people come in quantity--as they kept at least two 6 foot 10 players on the court throughout the game and came away with an easy victory at Durham, N.C.

The combination of height and pressure defense proved to be too much for the Bulldogs. Randy Elmore, their tallest player at 6-7, was held to 11 points and fouled out with 2 minutes to play.

Duke used pressure defense to hold the Bulldogs scoreless for 8 minutes, taking a 38-15 lead with 3 minutes left in the first half with a 16-0 spurt.

The Blue Devils held a 42-24 lead at halftime, and outscored The Citadel, 15-6, in the first 5 minutes of the second half to increase the lead to 57-30. Reserve John Smith scored 7 of his 11 points during that stretch, mostly on short jumpers.

Kansas 86, California 71--Milt Newton broke open the game for the defending national champion Jayhawks, hitting a 3-point shot just after coming off the bench, where he had been for nearly 9 minutes after picking up his fourth foul.

Newton’s 3-pointer made it 64-59 with 7:53 left. Newton added another 3-pointer, and the Jayhawks sank 17 free throws in the final 7:22 to pull away in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout at Anchorage.

The Jayhawks packed into a zone defense in the second half when four starters got in foul trouble, forcing the Golden Bears to take outside shots they couldn’t hit.

Kansas led by nine with 13:39 to go after an unusual sequence of events. Cal’s Roy Fisher broke loose on a fast break, but missed a stuff shot. Kansas took the ball upcourt, and Kevin Pritchard made a 3-pointer.

The Cal bench, complaining no foul was called on Fisher’s missed shot, was called for a technical foul. Scooter Barry made both free throws to make it a 7-point swing.

Seton Hall 63, Kentucky 60--Daryll Walker scored all 13 of his points in the second half to help the Pirates edge the Wildcats in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout.

Gerald Greene made 2 free throws with 17 seconds left to put the Pirates ahead, 63-60. Kentucky’s Deron Feldhaus missed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds to go and the Wildcats couldn’t get off another shot.

The game was tied 15 times and there were 9 lead changes before Seton Hall took the lead for good on reserve Pookey Wigington’s 15-footer with 9:36 to play.

Freshman Chris Mills scored 21 points and LeRon Ellis 20 for the Wildcats.

Utah 109, Iona 75--Van Gray tied a tournament record by making six 3-point shots as the hot-shooting Utes routed the Gaels in a consolation semifinal of the Great Alaska Shootout.

The 6-1 junior college transfer made four 3-pointers in the first 9 minutes as Utah took a 24-8 lead and never was threatened. Gray missed only three 3-point attempts and finished with 22 points.

In all, the Utes made 10 3-pointers, which also tied a tournament record.

St. John’s 83, Brigham Young 77--Jayson Williams had 28 points and the Redmen held off the Cougars at New York to win the Joe Lapchick Memorial Tournament for the 14th straight year.

Matt Brust, the tournament MVP, had 19 points, two more than Malik Sealy, who also had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Michael Smith had a game-high 29 points for BYU. He scored 19 in the first half. Marty Haws followed with 20 points.

BYU got within 79-77 on 2 foul shots by Haws with 12 seconds to go. But Williams and Brust each hit 2 free throws to close it out.

Wisconsin 74, Oregon 47--Trent Jackson scored 20 points, including six 3-point baskets as the Badgers routed the Ducks at Madison, Wis., in the season opener for both teams.

Oregon never got closer than 17 points in the second half. Wisconsin outscored the Ducks, 11-0, midway through the half to take a 68-33 lead, the biggest of the game.

The Badgers held the Ducks to only 14 points over the first 15:06 of the game and led, 39-23, at halftime.

Illinois 85, Illinois-Chicago 59--Five players scored in double figures, led by senior forward Ken Battle’s 18 points, as the ninth-ranked Illini eased to a season-opening win over the Flames.

Illinois was never threatened. The Illini held the Flames scoreless for a 6-minute period in the first half, stretching a 21-10 lead to 38-10 in the process. The Illini led, 44-18, at halftime.

Hofstra 74, Manhattan 53--The Flying Dutchmen scored 16 straight points in the opening minutes and went on to defeat the Jaspers at New York, giving Butch van Breda Kolff a victory in his return as Hofstra’s coach.

Van Breda Kolff, who has coached 5 professional teams and at 4 colleges, compiled a 136-43 record at Hofstra from 1955-62.

Pittsburgh 93, Oklahoma St. 75-- The Panthers outscored the Cowboys, 39-9, during a 12-minute stretch of the second half en route to the easy victory at Pittsburgh.

Pitt trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and by 56-46 with 15:04 left when the Panthers ran off 12 straight points--eight by Bobby Martin--to take a 58-56 lead.

Sophomore guard Jason Matthews scored 14 of his 24 points in the second half and Brian Shorter, a sophomore playing his first college game, added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Pitt, which trailed 43-36 at halftime after the Cowboys shot 61% in the first half, had second-half runs of 12-0 and 26-4 to win its third consecutive season opener under Coach Paul Evans.

Indiana St. 88, Boston U. 87--Eddie Bird made the final 6 points for the Sycamores while scoring a career-high 39 to lead Indiana State in the season opener for both teams at Terre Haute, Ind.

The 6 foot 6 inch sophomore forward, who missed his first 2 shots of the game before making 12 of his next 14, also made 14 of 15 free throws and topped the 27 points he scored last season against Tulsa.