College Basketball Roundup : North Carolina Has Enough to Defeat Maryland, 88-58

Neither ninth-ranked North Carolina nor upstart Maryland showed much style in their Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinal Saturday at Atlanta, but the Tar Heels had enough substance to gain another trip to the championship game.

J.R. Reid scored 17 points, and the Tar Heels took advantage of Maryland’s icy shooting for an 88-58 victory over the Terrapins, who played without hospitalized Coach Bob Wade.

“Maryland was not as sharp as they were yesterday,” North Carolina Coach Dean Smith said, “but neither were we.”

The Tar Heels (26-7) reached the final for the 17th time in the 36 years of the tournament.

Wade missed the game when he collapsed moments after Friday’s victory over top-seeded North Carolina State. He remained in an Atlanta hospital Saturday, and school officials said he was resting.

Tests taken on Wade Saturday morning showed no sign of heart disease, the ACC said.

Maryland, led by assistant coaches Jeff Adkins and Ron Bradley, finished 9-20 (1-13 against ACC competition) and suffered the worst loss ever in an ACC tournament semifinal. Until Saturday morning, the two assistants thought Wade would be on the bench beside them.

“We didn’t find out that Coach Wade would not be joining us until 10:15 today,” Bradley said. “I then spoke with him at 11:45 just before our bus left for the (arena). He said to go with the basic game plan that we had used yesterday.”

Earlier, Dr. Sanford Lavine, Maryland’s team physician, had said Wade could coach against the ninth-ranked Tar Heels “if all is normal.” But the effects of Saturday morning’s tests apparently precluded that.

Duke 69, Virginia 58--After being shut out for the first 16 1/2 minutes of the other ACC semifinal, Danny Ferry scored 23 points to lead the seventh-ranked Blue Devils, who will play for their third title in four years today.

Duke (24-6) has beaten Virginia (19-10) 15 times in a succession, dating back to the 1983 tournament.

Ferry, who missed his first six shots and was scoreless until making a layup with 3:30 left in the half, scored the Blue Devils’ final six points before halftime for a 32-16 lead.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

Big East

Syracuse 81, Seton Hall 78--Fifth-ranked Syracuse made 12 of its last 14 free throws to advance to the championship game of the tournament, as Sherman Douglas scored 27 points to help knock off the 11th-ranked Pirates at New York.

The victory was the 17th in a row by the Orangemen (27-6) over Seton Hall (26-6). Syracuse is 19-1 against Seton Hall since the Big East started 10 years ago.

Georgetown 85, Pittsburgh 62--Charles Smith scored 26 points, and No. 3 Georgetown blitzed the Panthers with a 20-0 run in the first half that carried the Hoyas to the easy victory in the other semifinal.

Georgetown, the regular-season conference champion, is 25-4. Pitt is 17-12 and hoping for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament on the basis of four wins over top 10 teams.

There were eight lead changes and five ties in the first nine minutes before Georgetown took control with the 20-point surge, which included a pair of three-point baskets and two three-point plays in quick succession.

Big Eight

Oklahoma 76, Iowa State 74--Tyrone Jones’ three-point shot with one second left, Oklahoma’s only three-pointer of the day, gave the second-ranked Sooners the semifinal victory at Kansas City, Mo.

Victor Alexander, who scored 26 points, gave Iowa State a 74-73 lead with 35 seconds left on a shot from inside. Oklahoma then missed three shots, and Alexander was fouled on the rebound with eight seconds remaining.

Alexander missed the front end of the one-and-one, Oklahoma rebounded and Mookie Blaylock found Jones on the left wing. Jones spun and, while tightly covered, made the game-winner.

Oklahoma is 28-4, Iowa State 17-11.

Missouri 88, Kansas State 83--Anthony Peeler and Doug Smith keyed an 11-3 run to begin the second half, and No. 10 Missouri used its height advantage to win the other semifinal.

The Tigers are 26-7, including 6-4 under interim coach Rich Daly. With Daly subbing for Norm Stewart, who underwent cancer surgery in February, Missouri finished second to Oklahoma in the regular season.

Missouri’s height allowed it to dominate most of the inside play. Kansas State’s tallest starter was McCoy at 6-7, whereas the Tigers had Mike Sandbothe at 6-8, Smith at 6-10, Greg Church at 6-8 and Gary Leonard at 7-1.

Big Sky

Idaho 59, Boise State 52--The Vandals, who had their six-point lead cut to one with under a minute remaining, held on to win the championship at Boise, Idaho.

Larenzo Nash and James Fitch combined for six straight free throws in the final 31 seconds to clinch the victory for Idaho (25-5). Boise State hopes to get an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament with a 23-6 record.

ECAC North Atlantic

Siena 68, Boston U. 67--Steve McCoy plucked Tom Huerter’s desperation shot out of the air and scored with one second left to give the Saints the championship at Hartford, Conn., and their first NCAA berth.

It was the ninth consecutive game played by Siena (24-4) under a spectator quarantine because of an outbreak of measles at its Upstate New York campus. The quarantine, which kept spectators out of the 15,414-seat Hartford Civic Center, ends today and will not affect the Saints’ first-round matchup.

Boston U. is 21-9.

Metro

Louisville 71, Memphis State 70--No. 16 Louisville, trailing by nine points with 3:32 left, scored the final 10 points of the semifinal game at Columbia, S.C.

Freshman Everick Sullivan made the first of a one-and-one for the Cardinals, the defending tournament champions who advanced to the final for the fourth consecutive season.

Florida State 80, South Carolina 63--Derrick Mitchell scored 20 points and Tony Dawson added 17 to lead the 14th-ranked Seminoles into today’s final.

Florida State, which won the regular-season conference title, is 22-6. South Carolina is 19-10, including three losses to the Seminoles.

South Carolina trailed at halftime, 40-31, but closed to 44-41 with 15:19 left on John Hudson’s jumper. But the Gamecocks went scoreless for the next 4 1/2 minutes while Florida State scored 11 points to take a 55-41 lead with 10:51 left.

Mid-American

Ball State 77, Eastern Michigan 76--No. 19 Ball State, profiting from a mistake by Eastern Michigan’s Kory Hallas, won the semifinal game at Toledo, Ohio, on Paris McCurdy’s two free throws with four seconds left.

Hallas, apparently thinking his team trailed by two points instead of three, drove in for a layup as the game ended rather than trying a three-point shot that would have forced overtime. Hallas had hit a three-pointer with 1:36 left to pull Eastern Michigan to within 74-73.

Keith Stalling’s free throw with 16 seconds to go gave Ball State a 75-73 lead. Eastern Michigan’s Isaac Henderson, fouled with five seconds left, made the first free throw but missed the second. McCurdy grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and converted both shots.

Hallas followed with his layup that left Eastern Michigan (16-13) a point short.

Ball State (27-2) advanced to the final to play Kent State, an 88-43 winner over Toledo in the other semifinal.

Midwestern Collegiate

Xavier 85, Evansville 78--Tyrone Hill scored 24 points at Dayton, Ohio, as Xavier beat the regular-season champion to win its fourth consecutive tournament title.

Evansville (24-5) couldn’t contain the double threat of Hill and Michael Davenport, a sophomore who scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half. Hill scored 14 of his points from the foul line for Xavier (21-11).

Xavier broke the game open with its foul shooting in the final six minutes, padding a two-point lead to 11. Xavier sank 15 of 19 free throws, with Jamal Walker hitting eight of nine in that span.

Southeastern

Florida 76, Tennessee 71--Livingston Chatman scored 25 points to lead the Gators in the semifinal game at Knoxville, Tenn.

Florida’s final eight points came at the free-throw line. There were 12 ties and 14 lead changes before the Gators, the SEC regular-season champions, took the lead for good.

Alabama 83, Vanderbilt 79--Alvin Lee scored 24 points, including three straight three-point baskets during one stretch, as the Crimson Tide reached the title game with their fourth straight win.

It was the fourth victory in a row for the Crimson Tide (22-7). Vanderbilt (19-13) hit 11 of 19 from three-point range, including a tournament-record six by Barry Booker, who finished with 24 points.

Alabama made seven of 10 three-pointers, but a 34-25 rebounding edge and 55% shooting from the field gave the Crimson Tide the victory.

Southwest

Texas 93, Texas Christian 89--Lance Blanks scored five of his 25 points in overtime to lift Texas to the semifinal win at Dallas.

The Longhorns (24-7) led only twice in regulation, both one-point leads early in the second half. But Blanks scored the first five points of overtime and the TCU (18-13) caught up.

Texas made 10 of 13 free throws in the overtime period, including four in the final 18 seconds. Five Horned Frogs fouled out, including Craig Sibley, who had 25 points and 15 rebounds before leaving with 5:57 left in regulation.

It was Texas’ second consecutive overtime game, the Longhorns having defeated Southern Methodist, 93-91, in the quarterfinals.

Arkansas 94, Texas A&M; 84--Lenzie Howell had a career-high 31 points, and Keith Wilson, who scored 26 points in the quarterfinals, got 19 of his 25 in the semifinals in the second half to lead the Razorbacks into today’s championship game.

Western Athletic

Texas El Paso 73, Colorado State 60--The Miners won their third conference tournament in six years and earned their sixth straight NCAA appearance as Tim Hardaway scored 25 points at Salt Lake City.

Colorado State, the top-seeded team, led, 28-25, when Andy Anderson scored with 3:23 left in the first half, but the Miners (25-6) took over from there.

Prince Stewart, who finished with 22 points, sparked an 11-0 run with a three-point basket, a field goal and two free throws to give El Paso a 36-28 lead before Trent Shippen sank a three-pointer for Colorado State (22-9) at the halftime buzzer.

The Miners continued their assault at the start of the second half when Greg Foster and Hardaway, the tournament’s most valuable player, each hit jumpers.

NON-TOURNAMENT

Iowa 87, Indiana 70--Roy Marble scored 19 points and Ed Horton and B.J. Armstrong had 18 each at Iowa City, Iowa, as the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes beat the sixth-ranked Hoosiers, who kept four starters on the bench after clinching the Big Ten title.

Iowa snapped a four-game losing streak to finish the regular season at 22-9 overall, 10-8 in the Big Ten. Indiana is 25-7, 15-3.

The Hoosiers played the game without leading scorer and conference player of the year Jay Edwards and starting center Todd Jadlow. Edwards, a sophomore guard averaging 20.4 points, hurt his back in a 75-64 victory Thursday night over Wisconsin, while Jadlow, averaging nearly 11 points, injured his right ankle and suffered a deep bruise on his left thigh against the Badgers.

Except for Lyndon Jones, who scored nine points, the Hoosiers played the entire game with reserves. Still, Indiana trailed, 32-26, at halftime before Iowa pulled away.

Illinois 89, Michigan 73--Kenny Battle scored 22 points and Kendall Gill added 19 as the fourth-ranked Illini clinched second place in the Big Ten with the victory over the eighth-ranked Wolverines at Ann Arbor, Mich.

“This was the best game I’ve played because I put everything together,” Battle said. “I rebounded, played defense and scored. I’d say this was my first total game.”

Rumeal Robinson scored 22 points and Loy Vaught added 15 for the Wolverines (24-7, 12-6). Glen Rice, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, was held to 14 points.

“They did a great job on Glen,” Michigan Coach Bill Frieder said of Rice, who entered the game averaging 25.5 points. “They weren’t going to let him get his shots. He worked hard, but they stopped him.”

Illinois (27-4, 14-4) set a school record for victories in a season.

“Maybe with the exception of the Indiana team of the mid-70s, it is the best basketball team I’ve seen in my 16 years here,” Frieder said. “They are so quick and so good at every position.”

DePaul 73, Notre Dame 70--Stanley Brundy hit all 10 of his shots and Terence Greene scored 12 of his 21 points in the second half at Rosemont, Ill., to lead the Blue Demons past the Fighting Irish and, most likely, into an NCAA berth.

DePaul is 20-11. Notre Dame, which slipped to 20-8 and split the season series between the independent powers, also is expected to make the 64-team NCAA field.

Minnesota 78, Ohio State 70--The Golden Gophers finished with their best regular-season record in six seasons thanks to the Big Ten victory at Columbus, Ohio.

Melvin Newbern and Willie Burton scored 17 points each for Minnesota, which won its third straight to improve to 17-11 and 9-9.

Ohio State dropped its eighth straight and fell to 17-14 and 6-12.