College Basketball Roundup : Arizona Holds Off Oregon State for 73-69 Win

Sean Elliott made 2 free throws to give ninth-ranked Arizona an 8-point lead with 26 seconds left and the Wildcats held on to beat Oregon State, 73-69, Friday night in a Pacific 10 Conference game at Corvallis, Ore.

The Wildcats (6-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference) never trailed after taking a 10-8 lead, but they had to hold off a series of Beaver rallies.

Oregon State (4-3 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-10), trailed only 34-31 at halftime. The Beavers scored the final 9 points of the first half, using a pressure defense led by Gary Payton to force 5 Arizona turnovers.

The Beavers fell behind, 45-33, early in the second half but climbed to within 58-52 on a 3-pointer by Eric Knox with 7:02 to play.

Back-to-back baskets by Anthony Cook boosted the lead back to 10. Oregon State managed another rally, pulling within 69-63 on Will Brantley’s basket with 57 seconds remaining.

Knox, who didn’t score in 2 games and then spent the entire game on the bench last Monday night, led the Beavers with 19 points. Payton added 14 and had 12 assists.

Cook, who played only 5 minutes in the first half after drawing 2 quick fouls, scored 11 of his 13 points after intermission. Elliott scored 21 and Jud Buechler added 18 for Arizona.

San Jose State 81, USF 67--Guard Steve Haney came off the bench to score 17 points in just 23 minutes to lead the Spartans past the Dons at San Francisco. The loss snapped a 4-game winning streak for USF (7-3). San Jose State is 4-5.

Oregon 62, Purdue 59--The Boilermakers led only once, 59-58, with 3 minutes left, then Frank Johnson and Randy Grant sparked the Ducks to the nonconference win at Eugene, Ore.

Johnson scored 20 points and had 8 defensive rebounds to lead Oregon (4-3). Purdue is 6-4 but only 1-4 on the road.

Iowa 89, Eastern Illinois 71--The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes, who trailed by 4 points at halftime, scored the first 14 points of the second half to take control of the first-round game in the Chaminade tournament at Honolulu.

Ray Thompson and Roy Marble scored 20 points each for Iowa (9-0). B.J. Armstrong finished with 18 points, and Ed Horton had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Eastern Illinois made 5 of 7 3-point shots in the first half. The Panthers scored 7 straight points to take a 44-40 lead at halftime.

St. Louis 86, Miami (Fla.) 71--Vincent Smith scored 21 points, including 16 in the second half, and Roland Gray had 18 of his 20 in the first half to lead the Billikins past the Hurricanes in the Chaminade tournament.

Gray hit 5 straight shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, as St. Louis (6-2) stretched a 25-22 lead to 48-34 at the half. Smith took over in the second half, scoring 13 of the Billikins’ points in a 20-11 run that turned a 57-45 lead with 15 minutes left to a 77-56 advantage with 7:08 remaining. Miami is 4-4.

Niagara 68, St. John’s 63--A 3-point jump shot by Mike Rios with 1:17 left gave the Purple Eagles the upset victory at Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Rios, a senior guard, hit his 3-point shot from the right side for the last of 25 lead changes in the game. Rios added two free throws with 35 seconds left and Patrick Jones had 2 more with 18 seconds left to clinch the victory.

Mark Henry led Niagara with 20 points. Rios added 19 and had 5 assists as the Purple Eagles raised their record to 3-4. Junior forward Jayson Williams had a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds for St. John’s (6-2).

Evansville 84, Wyoming 63--Scott Haffner scored a career-high 31 points and a Wyoming technical foul midway through the second half helped turn the game into a rout for the Purple Aces (6-2) at Evansville, Ind.

Evansville had a 51-44 lead with 10:38 remaining when Wyoming’s Robyn Davis fouled Chris Bomba and was assessed a technical for protesting the call. Bomba made both ends of a one-and-one, Haffner hit the technical free throw then fed Brian Hill for an alley-oop slam that extended the lead to 56-44. Wyoming is 5-4.

Bradley 111, Loyola (Ill.) 107--Anthony Manuel scored 35 points and had 13 assists, and teammates Dion Thurman and Luke Jackson had 26 and 25, respectively, to spark the comeback by the Braves at Peoria, Ill.

The win was Bradley’s 34th straight in a home opener, a streak that began after the Braves’ 96-71 loss to Cincinnati in 1954.

Bradley (3-3) tied the game at 91-91 on a Jackson free throw with 6:08 left, and went ahead for good when Manuel made 2 free throws after Loyola’s Kair Rogers was whistled for a technical foul.

The Braves built a 105-97 lead with 2:26 left before Loyola (4-4) closed to 105-103 with 1:34 left. But Manuel drove the lane for a three-pointer to clinch the game.

Loyola’s Gerald Hayward led all scorers with 39 points.

Brigham Young 90, Brown 65--The Cougars took charge of the game by going on an 18-0 run over a 4-minute span early in the first half at Provo, Utah.

The score was tied, 6-6, when Michael Smith, who scored 29 points, hit a 3-point basket with 16:20 left in the half to give the Cougars (5-4) the lead for good. He had 8 points during the streak. Brown fell to 3-5.

Memphis St. 70, Oral Roberts 62--Elliott Perry made 3 free throws in the final 22 seconds to clinch the victory for the Tigers (6-4) in a sloppily played game at Memphis.

The game included 54 turnovers--30 by Oral Roberts (2-9). Oral Roberts shot only 43% from the field, and Memphis State made just 40% of its shots. Perry led all scorers with 24 points.

Arkansas 97, Sam Houston State 79--Todd Day scored all 14 of his points in the second half to help the Razorbacks at Little Rock.

Arkansas (5-1) led by 15 at the half but didn’t score in the opening four minutes of the second half, and the Bearkats closed to within 5 on 2 occasions. It was 62-52 when Day hit a short bank shot that started a 14-6 run.