COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Another Loss Ends Duke’s Long Week

Playing two top-10 teams in four days has made for competitive basketball, but for No. 6 Duke the results have been less than desirable.

Having come back from a 13-point halftime deficit to tie No. 8 Michigan in regulation Saturday, the Blue Devils could not keep up with Sean Higgins and the Wolverines in overtime, losing at Ann Arbor, Mich., 113-108.

Duke (3-2) fell to top-ranked Syracuse Wednesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference-Big East Challenge, 78-76.

Higgins scored seven of his career-high 32 points in overtime to lead the Michigan (5-1) to its fifth consecutive victory since losing its opener to Arizona.

“I was just in the flow of the game,” he said. “When you go into overtime, you have a tendency to say, ‘Oh, no, not another five minutes.’ But we said, ‘The heck with it’ and went out to play.”

After Duke went ahead, 70-69, with 11:05 left in regulation, the lead changed hands five times before Duke’s Greg Koubek’s tip-in at the buzzer tied the game.

Higgins started the overtime with his sixth three-point basket and Loy Vaught scored Michigan’s next six points, including a short jump shot that put the Wolverines ahead to stay, 103-101, with 2:52 left.

Vaught finished with a career-high 27 points. Rumeal Robinson had 22 and Terry Mills 18 for the Wolverines, who shot 54%.

Christian Laettner had 26 points for Duke. Phil Henderson added 22 and Bobby Hurley 19 as the Blue Devils shot 51%.

OTHER TOP 25 TEAMS

No. 1 Syracuse 92, Canisius 72--Stephen Thompson, Billy Owens and Derrick Coleman combined for 60 points as the Orangemen (6-0) prevailed at Buffalo, N. Y.

Thompson led the Orangemen with 22 points--18 in the second half. Owens had 20 and Coleman 18 to go with his career-high 19 rebounds.

Jeff Priah paced Canisius (1-4) with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 3 Georgetown 81, Rice 60--The Hoyas, with 23 points from Alonzo Mourning, extended their home winning streak to 22 games at Landover, Md.

Georgetown (5-0) overpowered the smaller Rice (3-3) team inside, with Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo combining for nine points in a 13-4 spurt to put the game out of reach, 59-41, with 12:36 remaining.

No. 4 Missouri 88, Old Dominion 75--Doug Smith and Anthony Peeler each scored 23 points and the Tigers had runs of 8-0 in the first half and 11-0 in the second at Norfolk, Va.

Missouri (7-0) scored 11 consecutive points in the opening minutes of the second half and led, 58-34, with 15:25 left.

Darrin McDonald and Anthony Carver led Old Dominion (2-2) with 19 points apiece.

No. 7 Illinois 96, Metro State 62--Coach Lou Henson got his 300th victory as Illini coach in a victory over Division II Metro State of Denver.

Marcus Liberty led the Illini (5-0) with 16 points, Kendall Gill and Andy Kaufmann added 13 apiece to pace a balanced attack that gave Henson his 540th victory overall. Metro State (1-4) was led by Shun Tillman’s 18 points.

No. 10 Arkansas 166, U.S. International 101--Sophomore Lee Mayberry’s career-high 31 points led eight Arkansas players in double figures as the Razorbacks set school records for points, field goals and shots attempted in cruising to victory at Arkansas.

Arkansas (5-0), which shot 67.3%, shattered its record of 131 points against Baylor in 1972. The Razorbacks made 68 of 101 shots. The previous records were 51 field goals against Baylor in 1972 and 97 shots against Western Kentucky in 1974.

USIU (2-6) was led by Kevin Bradshaw with 32 points.

No. 11 Louisville 75, Western Kentucky 61--Everick Sullivan scored six of his 20 points during a 14-4 run early in the second half that enabled the Cardinals to overcome their worst shooting performance of the season and win at Louisville.

Louisville (6-1) made just 25 of 59 shots for 42.4% against Western Kentucky (3-5).

No. 15 St. John’s 58, Hofstra 47--Boo Harvey scored 15 points and the Redmen struggled at Hofstra in a matchup of the two oldest coaches in Division I.

St. John’s (6-2), coached by 64-year-old Lou Carnesecca, extended its record over Hofstra (1-4) to 15-0 in a series that resumed after a 14-year lapse.

Hofstra, which was led by Erroll Flanigan’s 13 points, is coached by Butch van Breda Kolff, 67.

Iowa 87, No. 17 North Carolina 74--Ray Thompson celebrated his return to the starting lineup with 27 points and the Hawkeyes held off a second-half charge at Iowa City to remain unbeaten.

Iowa (6-0) built a 17-point lead early in the second half before North Carolina (4-4) twice cut the lead to four, the last time at 70-66 with 5:06 left.

No. 21 Alabama 71, Eastern Kentucky 52--Robert Horry scored 16 points and Melvin Cheatum had 10 points and nine rebounds as the Crimson Tide (5-1) won easily at Alabama.

Eastern Kentucky (2-4), which shot 36.2% percent from the floor and had 12 turnovers in the first half, was led by Aric Sinclair with 12 points.

West Virginia 97, No. 22 Pittsburgh 93--Tracy Shelton scored 36 points, including 24 in the second half, and Charles Becton had 19 to lead the Mountaineers to a double-overtime victory at West Virginia.

Steve Berger added 18 points and 16 assists for the Mountaineers (2-2), who also beat the Panthers (2-3) in overtime last year.

Penn State 61, No. 23 Temple 59--Freddie Barnes scored 17 points and Monroe Brown made two free throws with 25 seconds left at Penn State as the Nittany Lions won in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams.

It was Penn State’s first win over Temple (2-2) since 1983 and gave the Nittany Lions their first 5-0 start since 1934.

No. 25 Florida 85, James Madison 77--Dwayne Schintzius had 25 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out in the final minute, and Brian Hogan made six consecutive free throws, scoring all of his points in the final 30 seconds, for the Gators.

The victory, in the first round of the Central Florida tournament in Orlando, Fla., improved Florida’s record to 2-1.

James Madison (4-2) was led by Steve Hood with 24 points.

OTHER GAMES

EAST

Seton Hall 85, Iona 67--Frantz Volcy scored a career-high 21 points and Terry Dehere had 17 as the Pirates won at Seton Hall.

Volcy brought Seton Hall back from a 35-32 halftime deficit with two baskets to tie the game, 36-36, with 18:34 to play. The Pirates (4-0) then went on a 13-3 run to go to put Seton Hall (4-0) ahead for good. Iona is 2-4.

MIDWEST

Western Illinois 72, DePaul 69--Johnny Hawk sank four foul shots in the final 44 seconds as the Leathernecks won at the Horizon tournament.

Western Illinois (5-1) took the lead, 38-37, on Tim Chase’s three-point play and stayed in front of DePaul (3-5) the rest of the way.

Marquette 80, Notre Dame 68--Trevor Powell scored a season-high 25 points and the Warriors went on a 24-12 run in the final four minutes to beat the Fighting Irish for the first time since the 1981-82 season.

Marquette (3-2) made 18 of 19 free throws in the final four minutes after the teams were tied, 56-56.

Notre Dame (1-3) was led by Joe Frederick with 19 points.

Minnesota 98, Iowa St. 82--Melvin Newbern scored 22 points and four other Minnesota players were in double figures as the Gophers (3-1) won at Minneapolis.

Iowa State (2-3) got 20 points apiece from Victor Alexander and Justus Thigpen.

Michigan St. 88, Austin Peay 76--Steve Smith scored 29 points and helped key a 12-2 run to start the second half to lead the unbeaten Spartans in a nonconference game at East Lansing.

The win was Spartan Coach Jud Heathcote’s 300th in 19 seasons with Montana and Michigan State. The Spartans are 6-0.

Donald Tivis hit seven three-pointers and scored 29 points to lead Austin Peay (3-3), which dressed only nine players.

Purdue 61, St. Louis 54--Tony Jones scored 22 points, including six during a 10-4 second-half spurt, as the Boilermakers won at Purdue.

Purdue (4-1) opened a 40-32 lead with 13:28 left and were never threatened. St. Louis (3-2) was led by Anthony Bonner with 14 points.

Wisconsin 75, Butler 59--Willie Simms scored a game-high 22 points and Danny Jones had 20 as the Badgers won in a nonconference game at Wisconsin.

J.P. Brens scored 15 points to pace Butler (2-4). Wisconsin is 7-2.

SOUTH

Florida St. 66, New Orleans 64--Tharon Mayes scored 30 points and Chuck Graham had 20 as the Seminoles held on at Florida State.

William Moore scored 18 points and Tony Harris 14 for the Privateers (2-2), who had a chance to tie or win the game in the final five seconds but threw the ball away.

Florida State is 3-3.

SOUTHWEST

Texas 89, Texas San Antonio 86--Locksley Collie scored four of his 23 points in the final 1:16 as Texas won the Longhorn tournament at Austin.

Texas San Antonio (4-2) led, 86-83, with 1:28 left, but Collie hit two of four free throws and sank a turnaround with 41 seconds to play to give Texas (3-0) an 87-86 lead.

WEST

Washington State 88, Texas Southern 75--Bennie Seltzer hit seven three-point shots and had a career-high 28 points to lead the Cougars in the Palouse tournament at Moscow, Ida.

Seltzer had 10 points in the first half as the Cougars (5-3) took a nine-point halftime lead.

Texas Southern (3-2) got 35 points and 10 rebounds from Charles Price.

Washington 80, Hawaii Pacific 50--Dion Brown scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half as the Huskies (3-2) took control early in beating the Sea Warriors (4-6) in a nonconference game at Washington.

George Mason 69, Santa Clara 67--Mike Hargett made two free throws with one second left to cap a late rally that lifted the Patriots over the Broncos at Fairfax, Va.

LaCoby Phillips led Santa Clara (2-3) with 16 points. Robert Dykes had 16 for the Patriots (4-3).

Boise State 54, Gonzaga 52--David Lowery sank two free throws with 1:13 remaining to give the Broncos (4-3) a nonconference victory at Boise State.

Gonzaga’s Jim McPhee led all scorers with 22. The Bulldogs are 3-3.

Pacific 47, St. Mary’s 45--Dell Demps scored 16 points and Don Lyttle had 15 points and 11 rebounds as the Tigers (4-1) overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half to win at St. Mary’s (0-5).