College Basketball Roundup : Pittsburgh Beats Another Ranked Team

Maybe Pittsburgh should play only highly-ranked teams and not schedule weak opponents.

The Panthers lost earlier this season to Siena and Duquesne and had lost 3 of their last 4 games before surprising the third-ranked Sooners, 99-91, Sunday at Pittsburgh.

Brian Shorter scored 37 points and had 12 rebounds, and Rod Brookin had 24 points as the Panthers overcame Mookie Blaylock’s 37-point performance.

Oklahoma (13-2) had won 11 straight, and the loss was the first for the Sooners in the 12 games they have scored 90 or more points.

Pittsburgh’s only victories in its last 5 games have been against then-No. 2 Syracuse and Oklahoma, which hadn’t lost since the second game of the season to Nevada Las Vegas.

Shorter, a 6-foot 6-inch sophomore, had 22 points in the first half as the Panthers used a 9-point run--aided by a technical foul on Sooner Coach Billy Tubbs--to take a 55-49 halftime lead. Pittsburgh was defeated, 76-57, by No. 7 Georgetown last Wednesday.

Brookin scored 11 second-half points as the Panthers (8-6) never let the Sooners get any closer than 5 points after halftime.

Oklahoma, averaging 110.5 points a game, trailed by as many as 12, but closed to within 86-81 on Herman Henry’s tap-in with a little less than 5 minutes left. But the Panthers scored 7 straight points--4 by Brookin and 3 by Shorter--for a 93-81 lead with 2:30 to play.

Virginia 106, North Carolina 83--Senior guard Richard Morgan scored a career-high 39 points and the Cavaliers broke a 5-game losing streak by routing the No. 8 Tar Heels in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Charlottesville, Va.

North Carolina (14-3 overall, 1-1 in the ACC) had won 6 straight games against Virginia (8-6, 1-2) and 13 of the last 14.

The Tar Heels played the last 5:23 without Jeff Lebo, who was leading North Carolina with 26 points when he twisted his left ankle and had to leave the game.

Louisville 67, Georgia Tech 65--Kenny Payne made 2 3-point baskets in the final 77 seconds to lift the No. 9 Cardinals past the No. 19 Yellow Jackets at Atlanta.

Payne’s first 3-pointer, with 1:17 to play, gave the Cardinals a 63-62 lead. His second, with 44 seconds left, built a 66-64 advantage. Pervis Ellison, who scored 20 points, made a free throw with 4 seconds left as Louisville (12-2) extended its winning streak to 12 games.

Brian Oliver missed a 40-foot shot at the buzzer for Georgia Tech (10-4). Oliver had a chance to tie the score with 5 seconds left, but he missed 1 of 2 free throws.

Florida State 101, Tennessee 90--Tony Dawson scored 30 points and George McCloud had 29 as the No. 14 Seminoles easily defeated the No. 17 Volunteers at Tallahassee, Fla.

Florida State (12-1) opened a 50-28 lead late in the first half and withstood several Tennessee runs in the second half. The Volunteers (11-2) closed to within 66-61 with 12:14 left in the game on Dyron Nix’s 3-point shot, but were never able to get any closer.

McCloud scored 5 points on a breakaway dunk and a 3-point shot to cap a 7-point run that lifted the Seminoles back into a 73-61 lead.

Washington 82, California 80--Todd Lautenbach scored 6 points in the final 1:17, including the winning basket as time expired, giving the Huskies the Pacific 10 victory at Seattle.

Lautenbach rebounded a missed shot by teammate Dion Brown and made a 4-footer. Just before that shot, the 6-10 reserve center made 2 free throws, then stole a pass at midcourt and drove for a layin to give the Huskies (5-8 overall, 2-3 in the Pac-10) an 80-78 lead with 1 minute remaining.

Leonard Taylor tied the game, 80-80, with 2 free throws with 45 seconds left. Taylor led all scorers with 26 points.

California is 12-5 overall and 3-3 in the Pacific 10.