College Basketball Roundup : Syracuse Applies Press, Squeezes Georgetown

When Syracuse went to the press, Georgetown panicked.

Trailing by 14 points, the sixth-ranked Orangemen applied the pressure and rallied to beat the second-ranked Hoyas, 82-76, in overtime Sunday in a Big East Conference game at Syracuse, N.Y.

“Teams that like to press don’t like to be pressed,” said Sherman Douglas, who scored four points in the final minute of overtime to help hold off Georgetown, which erased a five-point deficit in the final 36 seconds of regulation.

“Our pressure defense forced turnovers and helped speed up the game. That was the key.”

The Hoyas (23-4 overall, 13-3 in the Big East) built a 40-31 halftime lead and led, 57-43, with 12:28 remaining when Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim called for the press.

The Orangemen (25-6, 10-6), taking advantage of the absence of injured Georgetown starters Charles Smith and John Turner, went on a 19-2 run to take a 62-59 lead with 4:04 left.

Georgetown’s Mark Tillmon, who scored 18 points, sank a three-pointer to make it 69-67 with 36 seconds left and Jaren Jackson tied the game on a basket with three seconds left.

Derrick Coleman, who scored 21 points, put Syracuse ahead for good with a three-point play with 1:10 left in overtime and Douglas, who had 16 points, made sure there were no more comebacks.

The game was watched by the largest on-campus crowd ever at a college basketball game--32,683--breaking the mark of 32,602 for the 1987 Syracuse-Georgetown game.

Duke 88, North Carolina 86--Danny Ferry scored 24 points and the ninth-ranked Blue Devils rallied to knock the fifth-ranked Tar Heels out of a tie for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship at Chapel Hill, N.C.

North Carolina (24-7, 9-5) finished in a second-place tie with Duke (22-6, 9-5) and Virginia, a game behind North Carolina State.

Quin Snyder made two 3-pointers to start a rally that brought the Blue Devils back from a 70-63 deficit with 7:08 left. Five minutes later, Ferry hit a 12-foot jumper and Phil Henderson added a free throw to give Duke an 83-79 lead.

UNLV 75, New Mexico State 73--The 18th-ranked Rebels (23-7, 16-2) rallied from a nine-point deficit in the second half behind the inside scoring of Moses Scurry, who had a season-high 17 points, at Las Cruces, N.M.

Oregon State 98, Oregon 79--Eric Knox scored 20 points and the Beavers beat the Ducks in retiring Coach Ralph Miller’s final game at Corvallis, Ore.

Oregon State (21-6, 13-5) tied UCLA for third place heading into the Pac-10 tournament.

Randy Grant had 22 points for Oregon (8-19, 3-15).

Washington State 96, Arizona State 80--Brian Wright scored 24 points as the Cougars downed the Sun Devils in a Pac-10 game at Pullman, Wash. Brian Quinnett added 22 points for Wasington State (9-18, 4-4).

West Virginia 79, St. Joseph’s 59--Herbie Brooks scored 18 points and the 15th-ranked Mountaineers used a 20-2 run in the second half to win a quarterfinal of the Atlantic 10 tournament at Philadelphia.