College Basketball Roundup : Alaska Anchorage Stuns No. 2 Michigan

The longer little Alaska Anchorage controlled the tempo of the game, the more Michigan Coach Bill Frieder knew his No. 2-ranked Wolverines were in trouble.

“You could see it coming,” Frieder said. “I didn’t believe it would happen, but it happened.”

Alaska Anchorage, a Division II school, stunned previously unbeaten Michigan, 70-66, Wednesday night in the Utah tournament at Salt Lake City.

It was the second time this week that a nationally ranked and unbeaten Big Ten team lost to a Division II team. Sunday night, UC Riverside upset No. 4-ranked Iowa, 110-92, in the championship game of the Chaminade tournament at Honolulu.

Alaska Anchorage (11-2) used a patient offense to stay close to Michigan (11-1) in the first half, then used a 20-4 run in an 8-minute span of the second half to take control.

“We wanted to keep the basketball as long as we could and nullify their tremendous rebounding,” Alaska Anchorage Coach Ron Abegglen said. “If we play them normal, they outrebound us by 20 and beat us.”

Michigan still finished with a 34-25 rebounding edge, but Alaska Anchorage managed to outshoot the Wolverines, 63%-48%, from the field.

“You have to give Alaska credit,” Frieder said. “They had a great game plan. We knew they were good and they did the right thing to beat us. We certainly didn’t shoot well,” he said. “We weren’t sharp. I think the Christmas layoff, the long break and the traveling took its toll. We’ll bounce back. We have to have the character to come back and learn from it.”

Michigan led, 44-38, with 16 minutes left in the game, but Alaska Anchorage scored the next 11 points and extended its lead to 10 points (58-48) with less than 9 minutes remaining.

Alaska Anchorage scored its final nine points on free throws, while Glen Rice, who had 24 points, missed three straight free throws with Michigan trailing, 63-60.

Ron Fischer scored 16 points for Alaska Anchorage, which meets Utah, a 97-84 winner over Holy Cross, for the championship.

Illinois 85, Tulsa 58--Nick Anderson scored a season-high 24 points to lead the No. 4 Illini in the Rainbow tournament in Honolulu.

Illinois (10-0) took a 17-1 lead against Tulsa (4-4).

Georgetown 80, Mercer 55--Relentless defensive pressure by the No. 5-ranked Hoyas keyed a 23-2 surge at the start of the second half that allowed them to coast to victory the South Florida Tournament at Tampa.

Georgetown (8-0) forced 29 turnovers, 16 in the second half when Mercer (5-3) had trouble moving the ball past midcourt. The Hoyas had led by just 35-31 at halftime.

Jaren Jackson had 21 points for Georgetown, which meets South Florida, a 94-89 winner over Rider, for the championship.

Arizona 106, Loyola (Chicago) 82--Anthony Cook scored 19 points and 5 teammates also reached double figures as the No. 8 Wildcats easily won in the Fiesta Bowl tournament at Tucson.

Arizona (7-1) faces Pittsburgh, a 90-76 winner over Northwestern, for the championship.

Florida St. 97, Central Florida 64--Tony Dawson had 20 points to lead the No. 10 Seminoles in the Red Lobster tournament at Tampa, Fla.

Florida State (8-0) plays Villanova, an 84-83 winner over Auburn, for the championship.

Kenny Wilson hit two free throws with six seconds left for the decisive points for Villanova. Wilson’s free throws marked the third time the lead changed in the final 20 seconds.

Keenan Carpenter scored 24 points for Auburn (6-3).

Missouri 83, Arkansas 78--Byron Irvin, who transfered from Arkansas to Missouri 2 years ago, scored 25 points to lead the No. 11-ranked Tigers past the Razorbacks at Columbia, Mo.

Arkansas (5-2) trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half but was behind by just 1 point at 69-68 when Irvin hit a 3-point shot with less than 4 minutes remaining. Missouri (11-3) stayed at least 4 points in front the rest of the game.

Seton Hall 84, Virginia 67--John Morton scored 18 points lead the No. 13 Pirates in the Sugar Bowl tournament in New Orleans.

Seton Hall (11-0) led by as many as 21 points in the second half over Virginia (7-20. The Pirates play DePaul, a 62-60 winner over Mississippi State, for the championship.

Terence Greene hit a 12-foot jumper with 2 seconds remaining to give DePaul (8-4) its victory.

Tennessee 94, Miami (Ohio) 83--Greg Bell scored 23 points to lead No. 19 Tennessee in the Volunteer tournament at Knoxville.

Tennessee (7-1) meets state rival Memphis State for the championship. The Tigers beat Illinois State, 68-45.

Indiana 103, St. Bonaventure 66--Joe Hillman scored 8 of his 19 points in a second-half spurt that lifted Indiana to its easy victory in the Hoosier tournament at Indianapolis.

Indiana (9-4) plays Utah State, an 80-50 winner over Detroit, for the championship.

Wichita St. 92, Washington 72--The Shockers shot 61% and made 28 of 33 free throws in the Palm Beach tournament at West Palm Beach, Fla.

Wichita State (6-1) meets Miami (Fla.), a 102-69 winner over Penn, for the championship.

Washington (3-5) was hit with 3 technical fouls in the second half, 2 on Coach Andy Russo.

Appalachian State 58, Washington State 56--Tim Powers grabbed a rebound and scored on a layup as time ran out to give Mountaineers their victory in the Toledo tournament.

Washington State (5-5) outrebounded the Mountaineers, 39-29, but the Cougars’ field-goal shooting went from 50% to 33% in the second half.

Appalachian State (6-1) plays Toledo, a 75-69 winner over Eastern Kentucky, for the championship.

California 78, American 65--Keith Smith scored a season-high 25 points to lead the Bears at Berkeley.

California (8-3) converted its final six free throws and 13 of 16 in the final 3 1/2 minutes to pull away from American (4-2), which had been averaging 86 points per game.

UC Santa Barbara 88, Iowa St. 78--Eric McArthur scored 12 of his 21 points in the second half as the Gauchos won in the Arizona State tournament at Tempe, Ariz., to remain unbeaten at 8-0.

UC Santa Barbara meets Arizona State, an 82-76 winner over University of San Francisco for the championship.

The Gauchos used a 16-2 run midway in the second half to take control of the game at 77-59 with 5:34 remaining.

Michigan State 60, Colorado 57--Jeff Mann hit a 3-point shot with 16 seconds to play to give the Spartans their victory in the Far West tournament in Portland.

Michigan State (8-0) plays Oregon State, an 89-67 winner over St. Joseph’s (Pa.), in a second-round game.