College Basketball Roundup : Clemson Stuns Third-Ranked Tar Heels

Kirkland Howling was just following instructions.

Howling hit a 3-point shot to give Clemson the lead with 53 seconds remaining and added 2 free throws with 24 seconds left Thursday night to give the Tigers an 85-82 upset of third-ranked North Carolina in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Clemson, S.C.

“Coach (Cliff Ellis) told me to take the open 3-pointers, and it was open for a second,” Howling said. “I took it, and I felt it (was good) when I released it.”

The victory was only Clemson’s second over the Tar Heels in 20 games and the first since 1985. North Carolina has an 85-12 lead in the series, which dates to 1926.

North Carolina (18-4 overall, 5-2 in the ACC) took an 82-80 lead on 2 free throws by J.R. Reid with 1:21 left, but while Reid was at the line, Ellis inserted Howling, who finished with 11 points.

“I had a gut feeling Dean (Smith, North Carolina coach) was going to go to a zone, so I put Howling in,” Ellis said. “We were lucky they went to the zone. We might have been in trouble if they had used a man-to-man because our ball-handlers were not in the game.”

Dale Davis had 21 points and 21 rebounds for Clemson (13-5, 4-3), and Elden Campbell added 17.

Reid scored 25 points for the Tar Heels and Kevin Madden added 19, but senior guard Jeff Lebo was held scoreless for the first time as a Tar Heel, missing all 7 shots he took.

Memphis State 99, Florida State 82--Elliott Perry scored 33 points and Rodney Douglas had 17 points and 15 rebounds as the Tigers surprised the eighth-ranked Seminoles at Tallahassee, Fla.

Perry made 8 of 20 shots and 15 of 16 free throws and Douglas made 7 baskets and 3 free throws without a miss for Memphis State (14-7, 3-2), which scored the first 9 points and never was threatened.

The Tigers made 63% of their shots, built a 19-point lead before halftime and had an 87-58 lead before Florida State (16-2, 4-1) rallied far too late.

Tony Dawson scored 22 points for the Seminoles, who made just 35% of their shots, but leading scorer George McCloud was more than 5 points below his average at 18 points and made just 4 of 20 shots.

Derrick Mitchell, starting in place of injured Tharon Mayes for Florida State, scored 16 points.

Minnesota 76, Ohio State 73--Melvin Newbern, who missed a free throw with 59 seconds left, made a layup with 8 seconds left and the Gophers knocked off the No. 15 Buckeyes in a Big Ten game at Minneapolis.

Willie Burton scored 13 of his 30 points in the last 8 minutes for Minnesota (12-6, 4-4), which posted its third upset of a Top 20 team in 19 days. Minnesota beat then-No. 5 Iowa on Jan. 14 and then No. 1 Illinois last Thursday.

Ohio State (15-5, 4-3) had a chance to regain the lead after Newbern’s layup made it 74-73, but Jay Burson was called for double-dribble just before he made a 15-foot jumper with 3 seconds left. The Buckeyes’ bench was hit with a technical and Burton made both free throws.

The Gophers led, 72-71, when Newbern missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Ohio State’s Grady Mateen, who came off the bench to score 19 points, made 2 free throws with 34 seconds left to give the Buckeyes a 73-72 lead.

Burson, averaging 23.4 points on 52% shooting, had 12 points, making 4 of 15 shots and committing 9 turnovers.

Virginia 91, North Carolina State 71--Richard Morgan scored 20 points and sparked an early surge that carried the Cavaliers to an ACC upset of the No. 13 Wolfpack at Charlottesville, Va.

Morgan and Curtis Williams scored 6 points apiece as Virginia (12-6, 4-2) jumped to a 25-4 lead midway through the first half. Morgan also made 2 free throws to cap an 11-1 burst at the start of the second half that gave the Cavaliers a 64-34 lead.

Rodney Monroe and Chucky Brown scored 18 points each for N.C. State (14-3, 5-2). John Crotty added 18 points for Virginia.

Oklahoma 90, Kansas State 82--Stacey King scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half as the Sooners scored a Big Eight victory over the Wildcats in their first game ever as the nation’s No. 1 team.

Kansas State (12-6, 3-3) tied the score, 80-80, on Fred McCoy’s hook shot with 3:23 left, but Terrence Mullins put Oklahoma (18-2, 5-0) ahead for good with a 3-pointer and Tyrone Jones added a basket as the Sooners finished with a 10-2 surge.

Each time Kansas State threatened in the second half, the Sooners responded. After Steve Henson’s basket gave the Wildcats their second lead of the game, 68-67, with 8:32 left, King scored 8 straight points as the Sooners went back on top, 75-68.

Missouri 91, Kansas 66--Byron Irvin scored 22 points and Lee Coward added 19 to lead the fifth-ranked Tigers past the Jayhawks in a Big Eight Conference game at Lawrence, Kan.

It was Missouri’s first victory on the Jayhawks’ court in 6 years.

Kansas (16-5, 3-3) was within 54-48 with 14 minutes left when Coward made 2 baskets. Irvin stole the ball and drove the length of the court for a 3-point play that gave Missouri (19-3, 5-0) a 63-50 lead with 11:27 left.

Milt Newton scored 14 points for Kansas.

Syracuse 90, Villanova 57--Derrick Coleman scored 20 points and the No. 14 Orangemen scored 17 unanswered points in the first half of a Big East Conference victory over the Wildcats at Syracuse, N.Y.

Villanova (12-9, 3-4), which upset Syracuse, 75-73, last month, fell behind, 47-27, at halftime and made its only run early in the second half. The Wildcats had a 10-2 spurt to make it 49-37, but Syracuse (18-4, 4-4) responded with a 9-3 surge and pulled away.

The Orangemen limited Villanova to 22% shooting in the first half, and the Wildcats went through a 12-minute stretch with their lone basket coming on a goaltending call.

Tom Greis, who missed all 10 of his shots in the first half, scored 14 points for Villanova. Stephen Thompson, who scored 2 points the last time against Villanova, rebounded with 17 for Syracuse.

Georgetown 74, Seton Hall 66--Freshman Alonzo Mourning scored 17 points and ignited a second-half surge as the sixth-ranked Hoyas avenged their only Big East Conference defeat by downing the 10th-ranked Pirates at Landover, Md.

Mourning made a driving layup over Ramon Ramos to give Georgetown (16-2, 6-1) a 42-39 lead and start a 9-2 run that made it 49-41 with 9:09 left. Seton Hall (18-3, 5-3) never got closer than 3 points the rest of the way.

Georgetown made 14 free throws in the final 3:04, including 5 by Anthony Allen.

Charles Smith scored 18 points for Georgetown, which bounced back after Saturday’s upset loss to Louisiana State. John Morton had 15 points for Seton Hall and Andrew Gaze scored 14.

Louisville 108, Virginia Tech 95--Tony Kimbro had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Keith Williams added 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the seventh-ranked Cardinals past the Hokies in a Metro Conference game at Louisville.

Playing its first full game without injured center Pervis Ellison, Louisville (15-3, 4-0) took over the conference lead when Memphis State upset Florida State.

The Cardinals led, 51-44, with 18 1/2 minutes left when Kenny Payne scored 6 of his 20 points to spark a 13-5 outburst that put the Cardinals in command, 64-49.

Ellison sprained a ligament in his left knee in Sunday’s loss to Ohio State. Felton Spencer started in place of Ellison, who will miss several games with a knee injury, and had 19 points and 8 rebounds.

Bimbo Coles scored 36 points and Wally Lancaster had 27 for Virginia Tech (7-12, 0-5).

Louisiana State 105, Mississippi 75--Vernel Singleton scored 23 points, and Rickey Blanton and Chris Jackson added 21 points each and the No. 19 Tigers trounced the Rebels in a Southeastern Conference game at Baton Rogue, La.

Blanton hit a pair of 3-point shots to start a 26-14 run that gave LSU (15-5, 7-2) a 45-35 halftime lead as Ole Miss (11-7, 5-4) made only 3 of 17 shots in the final 10:04 of the half.

The loss broke a 4-game wining streak for Mississippi, which has not won 5 in a row since the 1937-38 season.

Gerald Glass scored 31 points and Tim Jumper added 24 for Mississippi.