College Basketball Roundup : Thompson Walks Away, Georgetown Runs Away, 86-60

Georgetown, playing without Coach John Thompson, made 71% of its shots in the first half Saturday night and coasted to an 86-60 Big East Conference victory over Boston College.

Thompson walked off the court just before the opening tip-off to protest a new National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rule tightening restrictions on scholarships for incoming freshmen. He left the team to assistant coach Jim Riley, who watched the No. 7 Hoyas jump to a 24-7 lead en route to building a 50-31 advantage at halftime.

Most of the fans at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md., gave Thompson a standing ovation as he slowly walked across the court to the Georgetown dressing room. He did not openly acknowledge the cheering crowd.

Thompson’s move was designed to protest an amendment to Proposition 48, which he said discriminated against lower-income students.

After being defeated Tuesday, the proposal passed Wednesday by a 163-154 vote.

Thompson said before the game that he intended to leave the building after walking off the court. He refused to speak with a group of reporters, got in a car within the complex and drove away.

Georgetown (12-1 overall, 2-1 in the Big East), led by as many as 32 points in the second half. Dwayne Bryant led the Hoyas with 16 points, and freshman Alonzo Mourning, the nation’s leading shot blocker, rejected 9 shots, including 7 in the first half.

“The players were very supportive of the coach,” Riley said. “Some of them wanted to walk out with him.”

Boston College Coach Jim O’Brien said the Hoyas didn’t miss a beat without Thompson on the bench.

“His absence had no effect whatsoever,” O’Brien said. “Those guys could have coached themselves.

“I support (Thompson) 100%. To his credit, he’s making a statement other coaches felt they couldn’t.”

Dana Barros led Boston College (8-5, 1-2) with 16 points.

While Georgetown connected on 20 of its 28 first-half field goal attempts, Boston College missed 23 of its 36 shots and committed 9 turnovers.

In the second half, Bryant scored 9 of the Hoyas’ first 16 points to extend the lead to 66-39, and the Eagles never got closer than 23 points the rest of the way.

Duke 82, Maryland 72--Danny Ferry scored 6 points and Quin Snyder added 5 to key a 14-0 run midway through the second half that gave the top-ranked and unbeaten Blue Devils a 17-point lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md.

Maryland, held scoreless for 3:12, got to within 65-58 on a 3-pointer by Greg Nared with 6:23 to play. The Terrapins trailed, 74-66, with 1:44 left when Duke’s Christian Laettner got his fifth foul and was given a technical.

Freshman Jerrod Mustaf hit 1 of 2 free throws before John Johnson missed the technical free throw. Johnson, who had 22 points, hit a 3-pointer on Maryland’s next possession to pull the Terrapins (6-9, 0-4) within 74-70 with 1:28 remaining.

Two free throws by Robert Brickey with 1:03 left, 2 more by John Smith with 34 seconds remaining and another pair by Snyder 3 seconds later kept Duke (13-0, 3-0) undefeated.

Illinois 96, Michigan 84--Kendall Gill scored 26 points as the No. 2 Fighting Illini won a Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill., and remained unbeaten.

The 15-0 start by Illinois matches the mark of the 1978-79 team. The school record is 16-0 in 1915, the school’s only perfect season.

The victory also made Illinois 3-0 in the Big Ten. No. 6 Michigan fell to 14-2 and 2-1.

Illinois used an 18-8 run to take a 15-point lead at 67-52 with 13:10 to play. The Illini capitalized on cold shooting by the Wolverines and their own offensive rebounding during the run.

Illinois made both ends of five straight 1-and-1 opportunities in the final 2:01 before Gill missed with 19 seconds left.

St. John’s 65, Syracuse 63--Billy Singleton and Matt Brust hit short jump shots in the final 1 1/2 minutes, and the Redmen overcame a 13-point deficit to upset the No. 4 Orangemen in a Big East game at Madison Square Garden.

Syracuse (14-3, 1-3), played most of the game without its leading scorer, Sherman Douglas, who pulled a lower back muscle less than 2 minutes into the game.

St. John’s (10-4, 3-2) took a 61-60 lead on a layup by Jason Williams with 3:54 left, but Derrick Coleman put Syracuse ahead again with a basket 27 seconds later. Singleton put St. John’s on top for good, 63-62, and Brust made it 65-62 with just 25 seconds to play.

Syracuse’s Billy Owens made the first of 2 free throws with 5 seconds to play. He missed the second shot intentionally in an effort to give Syracuse a final possession, but the ball rolled out of bounds.

Douglas pulled a muscle in his lower back with 1:12 elapsed and did not return until there were 3 minutes left. Douglas, averaging 19.2 points a game, did not score.

Minnesota 80, Iowa 78--Jim Shikenjanski’s only basket, a tip-in with 2 seconds remaining, enabled the Gophers to upset the No. 5 Hawkeyes in a Big Ten game at Minneapolis.

With the score tied, 78-78, Minnesota’s Ray Gaffney missed a 7-foot jumper. Walter Bond’s tip attempt failed, but Shikenjanski got his hand on the rebound.

Iowa (13-2, 1-1) called time out with 1 second left. Wade Lookingbill connected with Roy Marble on a court-length pass and Marble made an 18-footer, but the buzzer sounded before the shot.

Melvin Newbern scored 4 of his 27 points and Gaffney 2 of his 18 to put Minnesota (9-4, 1-2) ahead, 77-71, but Iowa rallied to tie behind 5 straight points by Marble before Shikenjanski’s shot.

North Carolina State 82, Georgia Tech 68--Rodney Monroe scored 26 points and the 15th-ranked Wolfpack shut down the 19th-ranked Yellow Jackets to extend their winning streak to 9 in the ACC game at Raleigh, N.C.

North Carolina State (11-1, 2-0) used a variety of defenses against the Yellow Jackets (10-3, 1-1) to slow the inside power of 6-9 Tom Hammonds and stop the 3-point shooting of Dennis Scott.

Hammonds, who had scored 100 points in his last 3 games, was held to 9 points, in part because he was guarded by 6-foot guard Chris Corchiani. Before Corchiani took the assignment at the 16-minute mark of the first half, Hammonds scored 5 points in 4 minutes.

At one point early in the second half, a frustrated Hammonds pushed Corchiani to the floor. An intentional foul was called, and Corchiani made both free throws.

Villanova 76, Providence 67--Tom Greis scored 25 points and Doug West added 24 to hand the No. 20 Friars their first defeat after 13 victories in the Big East game at Providence, R.I.

The Wildcats (10-6, 2-2), who defeated No. 4 Syracuse in Philadelphia last Monday, provided Coach Rollie Massimino with his 300th victory in 16 seasons at Villanova.

Greis, a 7-foot 3-inch center, controlled the inside and West, a 6-6 guard, took care of the outside, as Villanova outdueled the Friars in the second half.

Providence (3-1 in the Big East), which had a 30-28 halftime lead, went ahead, 63-62, on a pair of free throws by Matt Palazzi with 3:57 left. However, that was the Friars’ last lead as they were outscored, 14-4, the rest of the way.

Seton Hall 76, Connecticut 62--John Morton made 2 3-point baskets and a 3-point play down the stretch to carry the No. 13 Pirates past the Huskies in a Big East game at East Rutherford, N.J.

The victory was the 15th in 16 games for the Pirates, who played without center Ramon Ramos, but got a strong performances up front from Daryll Walker (21 points) and Anthony Avent, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

But in the end, it was the Pirates’ long-range shooting and clutch free throws that proved decisive.

Phil Gamble had 12 points for Connecticut (9-4, 1-3), but saw his streak of making at least 1 3-point field goal stopped at 35 games.

Kansas 75, Kansas State 74--Milt Newton made 2 free throws with 30 seconds remaining in overtime and finished with 21 points as the No. 16 Jayhawks beat the Wildcats in the first Big Eight game played in Kansas State’s Bramlage Coliseum at Manhattan, Kan.

The Wildcats (8-4, 0-1) missed 2 shots in the final 10 seconds. Kansas (14-2, 2-0) trailed, 74-73, before Newton hit his free throws after being fouled by Billy Ray Smith on a drive to the basket.

Kansas State’s LaKeith Humphrey sent the game into overtime with a 3-point shot with 1 second left.

Ohio State 83, Michigan State 81--Jay Burson’s 13-foot jump shot with 4 seconds left gave the No. 18 Buckeyes the Big Ten victory at East Lansing, Mich.

Ohio State (12-3, 2-1) led, 81-79, with 44 seconds left when the James Bradley missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Michigan State (9-4, 1-3) rebounded and, after a timeout, Kirk Manns hit a 15-foot jumper to tie the score with 18 seconds remaining.

Missouri 96, Iowa State 71--Doug Smith scored 20 points, and Byron Irvin added 19, leading the No. 10 Tigers to the Big Eight victory at Columbia, Mo.

Missouri (14-3, 2-0) built a 15-point lead with 17:26 to play when Mike Sandbothe’s basket made the score 52-37. Two straight baskets by Victor Alexander brought Iowa State (9-5, 1-2) to within 11 with 16:43 left.

Clemson 75, Wake Forest 71--Junior guard Kirkland Howling made 6 free throws in the final 1:05 and grabbed a key rebound in the final seconds, enabling the Tigers to defeat the Demon Deacons in an ACC game at Greensboro, N.C.

Howling, who helped El Camino College win the California junior college title last season and was named the State’s top player, scored 18 points for Clemson (10-3, 3-1).

Cal Boyd hit a 3-point shot with 35 seconds left to pull Wake Forest to within 71-69. Howling hit the front end of a 1-and-1, and Wake Forest (8-5, 3-1) got to within 72-71 on Sam Ivy’s layup with 19 seconds left.

Howling again hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 11 seconds left, but David Carlyle missed a 3-pointer with 8 seconds to play. Howling got the rebound and was fouled. He made both shots.

Vanderbilt 76, Georgia 75--Barry Goheen made a 3-point shot at the buzzer to give the Commodores the Southeastern Conference victory over the Bulldogs at Nashville.

Vanderbilt (9-7, 4-1) overcame a 75-71 Georgia lead in the final 21 seconds as Goheen hit a pair of free throws and then followed with his 20-foot basket from the left side.

Georgia is 9-6 and 1-4.

Louisiana State 64, Kentucky 62--Chris Jackson scored the Tigers’ final 16 points, including 2 free throws with 2 seconds left, to give LSU the SEC victory at Lexington, Ky.

After Jackson’s free throws, LSU’s Dennis Tracey stole the ball from Chris Mills at midcourt to seal Kentucky’s fate before a record Rupp Arena crowd of 24,288.

LSU (10-5, 3-2) had lost 2 of its last 3 games.

Kentucky (8-8, 3-1) was leading, 55-48, with 6:44 left in the game when Jackson started his run.

West Virginia 90, Rutgers 70--Herbie Brooks scored 20 points to lead 4 other Mountaineers in double figures as West Virginia extended its winning streak to 10 in the Atlantic 10 game at Morgantown, W.Va.

West Virginia (11-2, 5-0) went on a 29-4 run to take a 31-7 lead with 8:20 left in the first half and the closest Rutgers (5-7, 3-2) came was 47-35 with 18 minutes left.