College Basketball Roundup : Seton Hall Knocks Off Georgetown, 94-86

After living by its man-to-man defense this season, Seton Hall unveiled an aggressive zone defense against No. 5-ranked Georgetown in a Big East game Tuesday night at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

“It was the first time all year we went zone,” forward Daryll Walker said after No. 10 Seton Hall rallied from 9 points back to beat previously unbeaten Georgetown, 94-86. “I think we matched up pretty well and took (Alonzo) Mourning out of the game with it.”

The Pirates went to the 3-2 zone with about 12 minutes to play and Georgetown clinging to a 63-60 lead.

“The timing of going to the zone was good,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said. “It was a smart thing on their art to do that.”

Gerald Greene hit a 3-point shot to ignite a 19-9 burst late in the second half that carried Seton Hall (13-0) to victory over Georgetown (9-1) before the largest crowd ever to watch a college basketball game in Brendan Byrne Arena.

The battle between the two Big East Conference unbeaten teams drew 19,761, breaking both the regular-season arena mark of 18,116 for the North Carolina-Kentucky game on Dec. 26, 1981 and the postseason mark of 19,633 for the 1988 NCAA East Regional final when Duke beat Temple.

Mourning finished with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 8 blocked shots against Seton Hall. The 8 blocks give him 60 for the season. The NCAA record is 207 by Navy’s David Robinson in 35 games in 1985-86.

“I don’t go out and look for blocked shots,” said Mourning who once blocked 25 shots in an AAU tournament game. “If it’s there I go get it. As I’ve said before blocking shots is a God-given talent. Larry Bird and Michael Jordan have exceptional all-around games and that’s God-given talent. Blocking shots is the God-given talent to me.”

Kansas 115, Brown 45--Milt Newton scored 23 points as the 18th-ranked Jayhawks broke a 76-year-old record for largest margin of victory by beating the Bruins in a non-conference game at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas’ largest previous victory was 68-8 over Washington University of St. Louis in 1913.

Kansas (11-1) led by as many as 74 points.

“We didn’t think we were going to cream them,” Milt Newton said. “We were just trying to execute the things we need to do to beat the good teams.”

Brown (4-6) made just 18 of 67 shots.

Duke 87, Washington 61-- John Smith scored 17 points as the top-ranked Blue Devils defeated the Huskies at Seattle for their ninth consecutive victory.

Danny Ferry scored 16 points for Duke, and Chris Laettner added 13.

Eldridge Recasner and Dion Brown scored 15 each for Washington (3-7), which lost its fifth straight. West scored 13.

Duke took a 17-6 lead behind a 13-2 spurt over 3:31 of the first half. The Blue Devils led, 19-12, when Brown was charged with his third foul with 8:18 gone.

The unbeaten Blue Devils then stretched their lead to 31-17 with 6:53 left in the half. The Huskies closed to 35-30 and 37-32 before Ferry’s 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer gave Duke a 40-32 lead.

Providence 98, St. John’s 69-- Matt Palazzi scored 19 points as the unbeaten Friars overwhelmed the Redmen in a Big East game at Providence, R.I.

The Friars (11-0 overall and 2-0 in the league) never trailed in the game. St. Johns is 7-4 overall and 0-2 in the Big East.

Notre Dame 60, Penn 55--Joe Fredrick scored 20 points, and the Fighting Irish beat the Quakers at Philadelphia.

Jamere Jackson added 19 points for the Irish (5-1) including 6 straight free throws in the last 2 minutes to help hold off the Quakers.

Tyrone Gilliams had 18 points and Hassan Duncombe added 16 for Penn (3-5).

Oklahoma 111, Sam Houston St. 66--Tony Martin scored a career-high 40 points at Norman, Okla., as the fourth-ranked Sooners went over 100 points for the ninth straight time.

Martin, whose previous high was 19 last week against Texas, also had 17 rebounds.

Stacey King missed his third straight game for the Sooners (11-1). He has an injured finger.

Northwestern 83, Navy 60-- Walker Lambiotte scored 21 points, and reserve Jeff Grose scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half, and the Wildcats downed the Middies at Evanston, Ill.

Brian Schwabe scored 16 points for Northwestern (7-3) off to its best start under third-year coach Bill Foster.

Navy (3-6) got 20 points from Eddie Reddick.

Army 95, Cornell 79--Derrick Canada scored 22 points in the Cadets’ win at West Point, N.Y.

Army (5-5) never trailed after breaking a 24-24 tie midway through the first half.