College Basketball Roundup : Scott, Georgia Tech Steal Win From North Carolina

The main thing Dennis Scott didn’t want to do was rush his shot after coming up with a steal with five seconds remaining.

He didn’t.

Scott stole an inbounds pass, calmly turned and, with two seconds left, hit his seventh three-point basket of the game to give Georgia Tech a 76-74 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over No. 5 North Carolina Wednesday night at Atlanta.

“It was absolutely, totally incredible,” Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said after the Yellow Jackets snapped a string of seven straight losses to the Tar Heels. “It’s just unbelievable. What a steal.”

Said Scott: “This might have been the biggest shot of my whole life. The DePaul shot (a game-winner last season) was big, but this was UNC, the conference and the seniors’ last home game.

“I knew I had enough time left and I didn’t want to rush it. It would have killed me if I had missed an easy shot for the seniors.”

Scott, who scored 28 points, made the steal in the left corner, turned and hit the game-winning shot that gave the Yellow Jackets only their sixth victory in 38 meetings with the Tar Heels.

Coach Dean Smith said he was disappointed his Tar Heels couldn’t wrap up their 11th regular-season ACC crown in 14 years.

Georgia Tech is 20-9 overall and 8-5 in the conference. North Carolina, which had a six-game winning streak snapped, is 24-6 and 9-4.

Tom Hammonds, the third-leading scorer in Yellow Jacket history, had his jersey No. 20 retired before the game.

Kansas State 76, Missouri 75--Tony Massop’s tip-in at the buzzer gave Kansas State the Big Eight Conference win over seventh-ranked Missouri at Manhattan, Kan., which enabled Oklahoma to clinch the conference title.

Missouri’s Greg Church, in the best game of his career, made two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to give Missouri a 75-74 lead. Church, a 6-8 senior whose previous career high was 18 points, had 31. Steve Henson, who had 23 points for Kansas State, missed a shot as the clock wound down, but Massop tipped in the miss.

Kansas State is 18-8 and 8-5. Missouri, coming off a victory over Oklahoma that knocked the Sooners from the No. 1 national ranking, is 23-7 and 9-4.

The Tigers missed only two of 24 free throws but still fell to 3-4 under interim Coach Rich Daly. The Tigers have not won on the road since Daly replaced Norm Stewart, who underwent cancer surgery last month and was released from a hospital earlier Wednesday.

Oklahoma 111, Oklahoma State 108--Stacey King scored 27 points, including a basket with 12 seconds left, as the fourth-ranked Sooners wrapped up the Big Eight title with the win at Norman, Okla.

By winning its 29th straight at home, Oklahoma improved to 25-4 overall and 11-2 in conference. Oklahoma State, which knocked the Sooners from the No. 1 spot in the national with a victory earlier this season, is 16-10 and 7-6.

Oklahoma State pulled within a point on Darwyn Alexander’s free throw with 52 seconds left. But when he missed his second try, King rebounded and the Sooners worked the clock until Mookie Blaylock drove into the lane and dished off to King under the basket.

Blaylock’s final assist gave him 11 in the game, making him the first player in NCAA history to record 200 assists and 100 steals in consecutive seasons.

A three-point shot by Oklahoma State’s Royce Jeffries’ with four seconds left bounced off the rim.

The 108 points is the most Oklahoma State has ever scored in a loss.

Cincinnati 77, Louisville 71--Louis Banks scored 24 points and Cincinnati made 10 straight free throws in the final minute to cap the Metro Conference comeback victory over the 14th-ranked Cardinals at Louisville, Ky.

Louisville (19-8, 8-4), led, 55-45, with 11 minutes left when Cincinnati took over. Two free throws by Levertis Robinson with 4:26 left capped an 18-7 spurt that gave the Bearcats the lead for good, 63-62.

Cincinnati (15-11, 5-6) led, 67-65, when Louisville’s LaBradford Smith missed a free throw three minutes later. The Bearcats then began their string of free throws.

Clemson 79, Duke 74--Elden Campbell scored six straight points to key a late scoring surge that carried the Tigers to the ACC upset win at Clemson, S.C.

With the score tied, 69-69, the Tigers scored seven straight points and held the Blue Devils scoreless for 3 1/2 minutes.

Clemson nearly lost the game at the foul line, missing four free throws in the final 2:22. Duke cut the lead to 76-74 on a three-point shot by Greg Koubek with 53 seconds left, but Tim Kincaid hit one foul shot and Marion Cash made two more with 24 seconds left.

Clemson is 17-9 and 6-7. Duke, which hit a season-low 39.2% from the field, is 21-6 and 8-5.

The Blue Devils played without junior center Alaa Abdelnaby, who was suspended before the game by Coach Mike Krzyzewski for academic reasons. The 6-10 Abdelnaby is the team’s fourth-leading scorer at 9.7 points a game.

Indiana 73, Ohio State 66--Jay Edwards scored 27 of his 34 points in the first half at Columbus, Ohio, as the third-ranked Hoosiers clinched a tie for the Big Ten title.

The victory moved Indiana to 24-5 and 14-1. Ohio State, which lost its fifth straight, fell to 17-11 and 6-9.

Edwards hit 10 of 12 shots, including five of six three-pointers, in the first half as Indiana built a 39-30 lead.

The Hoosiers have won the last eight games between the schools and lead the series, 79-57.

Ohio State hit 24 of 61 shots for 39%, marking the third straight game it has failed to top 40% from the field. Indiana hit 26 of 59 shots from the field for 44%.

West Virginia 76, Penn State 61--Ray Foster scored 15 points and Herbie Brooks added 13 as the 15th-ranked Mountaineers rallied to win at State College, Pa., and clinch the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship.

West Virginia finished the regular season 24-3, its best record since a 24-2 mark in 1981-82, and 17-1 in the conference for its first Atlantic 10 title since 1984-85.

Penn State is 17-10, 12-6.

Ball State 78, Miami (Ohio) 60--Keith Stalling came off the bench to score 12 of his 14 points in the second half of the Mid-American Conference game at Muncie, Ind., and lead 19th-ranked Ball State to its 11th straight victory.

Stalling had 10 points in two key second-half runs as Ball State improved 24-2, best among Division I teams, and 13-2 in the MAC. Miami dropped to 12-14 and 7-8.

Florida State 117, Virginia Tech 97--Tony Dawson and Tharon Mayes sparked an 18-2 run to open the second half as the 16th-ranked Seminoles broke a four-game losing streak with the Metro Conference win at Tallahassee, Fla.

Florida State (20-6, 8-3) can clinch at least a tie for the conference title with a victory Saturday at Southern Mississippi. Virginia Tech is 10-17 and 1-10.

Seton Hall 80, Providence 68--John Morton hit three consecutive three-point baskets and scored 19 points to rally No. 12 Seton Hall to the Big East win at Providence, R.I.

The Pirates (24-5, 11-5) finished with their best conference record ever. Providence is 17-9 and 6-9.