College Basketball Roundup : Sooners Seeded No. 1 Despite Losing by 12

Byron Irvin scored 29 points and Doug Smith had 22 points and 14 rebounds as 10th-ranked Missouri upset No. 2 Oklahoma, 98-86, Sunday to win the Big Eight Conference tournament at Kansas City, Mo.

Despite the loss, Oklahoma received the No. 1 seeding in the Southeast Regional in Nashville, Tenn. The Sooners (28-5) will play East Tennessee State Thursday.

The seedings were announced on national television prior to the end of the Big Eight final, which Missouri dominated from the start.

The Tigers (27-7), who have won two of three from the regular-season Big Eight champion Sooners this season, will be the No. 3-seeded team at the Midwest Regional in Dallas, where they will play Creighton Friday.

Stacey King, who played poorly in a 14-point effort against Iowa State in Saturday’s semifinals, scored a tournament-record 38 Sunday. That equaled the combined output of 6-foot-10 Smith and 7-1 Gary Leonard, who had 16 for Missouri.

But King didn’t get much help from Oklahoma’s perimeter players. The Sooners, who shot 42% compared to 66% for Missouri, scored only 19 points from outside.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

ACC

North Carolina 77, Duke 74--By beating the No. 7 Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference final at Atlanta, the No. 9 Tar Heels won the tournament for the first time since 1982, when they also won the NCAA tournament.

Steve Bucknall scored all 10 of his points in the final 5:28, twice making three-point plays, to lead North Carolina down the stretch.

The victory helped erase the memories of last year’s 65-61 loss to Duke in the ACC final and kept the Tar Heels (27-7) close to home as the No. 2-seeded team in the NCAA Southeast Regional at Atlanta.

Duke (24-7), seeded No. 2 in the East Regional, will play South Carolina State Thursday night at Greensboro, N.C.

Duke, which trailed North Carolina by as many as 12 points in the first half, rallied to take a 59-57 lead with 5:44 left. But Bucknall scored his first points on a three-point play to give the Tar Heels a 60-59 lead with 5:28 left. Bucknall’s second three-point play gave the Tar Heels a 69-66 lead with 1:46 left.

Bucknall, who was six for six at the foul line, and King Rice each added four free throws in the final minute.

Duke’s Danny Ferry, who was held to 14 points, attempted a 70-foot desperation heave at the buzzer that would have tied it, but it bounced off the rim.

Of Bucknall, North Carolina Coach Dean Smith said: “His play down the stretch was just sensational. He was a leader out there when we needed one.”

Bucknall said: “I just didn’t want to go through what we went through last year when we all cried in the locker room after losing.”

J.R. Reid, the tournament’s MVP, led North Carolina with 14 points. Jeff Lebo had 13, Kevin Madden 12 and Rick Fox and Scott Williams 11 each. Phil Henderson had 16 points for Duke.

Big East

Georgetown 88, Syracuse 79--Alonzo Mourning scored 21 points and the No. 3 Hoyas won their sixth Big East Conference championship by beating the No. 5 Orangemen at New York.

The Hoyas (26-4) won three tournament games by an average of 20.6 points and were seeded No. 1 in the East Regional. The Hoyas have been in the NCAA tournament every year since the Big East was formed 10 years ago.

The Big East championship was the sixth in as many appearances in the final for Georgetown. Five times the loser was Syracuse, which has lost seven of its last eight meetings with the Hoyas.

Georgetown led Sunday’s game by as many as 23, but the Orangemen (27-7) were able to make the final score respectable with an 18-4 streak in the final 2:33.

Georgetown senior guard Charles Smith, the conference’s player of the year, was named the tournament MVP after scoring 16 points Sunday to go with 24- and 26-point performances in the first two games.

Stephen Thompson led Syracuse with 19 points. Mark Tillmon had 17 points for Georgetown and Jaren Jackson added 13.

Metro

Louisville 87, Florida St. 80--Pervis Ellison scored 22 points as the 16th-ranked Cardinals beat the No. 14 Seminoles at Columbia, S.C., to win their second straight Metro Conference tournament title.

Louisville (22-8) led by 14 in the second half, but the Seminoles rallied to cut the margin to three with 1:35 left on a three-point play by Derrick Mitchell. However, Ellison and LaBradford Smith each hit two free throws in the final 37 seconds to clinch the win.

The title was the third in four years for the Cardinals. Florida State (22-7), which won the Metro regular-season title, has been to the tournament final five times but has never won.

SEC

Alabama 72, Florida 60--Keith Askins scored 14 of his 23 points in a second-half span of 2:14 to break open a close game at Knoxville, Tenn., and lead the Crimson Tide to the Southeastern Conference tournament championship.

Askins’ run came on four consecutive three-point baskets, and he turned two of them into four-point plays as the Tide went from a 35-34 lead to a 49-38 margin the Gators were never able to overcome.

Askins started his run with a with 15:50 left.

It was the fifth victory in a row and the seventh in eight games for Alabama (23-7).

Florida (21-12), the regular season SEC champion for the first time in the league’s 57-year history, lost for only the second time in 12 games.

Livingston Chatman scored 20 points to lead the Gators, who played without Dwayne Davis, sidelined with a knee injury in Saturday’s semifinal victory over Tennessee.

Southwest

Arkansas 100, Texas 76--Lenzie Howell scored 28 points as the Razorbacks won the Southwest Conference tournament at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

Arkansas (24-6) won its first SWC tournament since 1982. As the fifth-seeded team in the Midwest Regional, the Razorbacks will play Loyola Marymount Thursday night in Indianapolis.

Texas (24-8) was seeded 11th in the Midwest and meets Georgia Tech Friday night at Reunion Arena.

Keith Wilson, who hit four three-point baskets in the second half, had 18 points for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas, incensed by the ejection of center Mario Credit and a technical foul on Coach Nolan Richardson, raced to a 57-37 halftime lead over the Longhorns. Credit was ejected for swinging an elbow at Texas center George Muller with Arkansas leading, 38-28.

The 100 points by Arkansas breaks the championship game record of 92, set by Houston in 1978.

Mid-American

Ball St. 67, Kent St. 65--Bill Butts scored 19 points, hitting five three-pointers, and Paris McCurdy had 15 points and 11 rebounds as the Cardinals (28-2) survived a late rally by the Golden Flashes (20-10) in the Mid-American Conference title game at Toledo, Ohio.

It was the second straight narrow victory for Ball State, which beat Eastern Michigan by one point in the MAC semifinals.

Ball State will play Pittsburgh Thursday in the NCAA Midwest Regional at Indianapolis. Kent State got an NIT bid.