COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Michigan Turns Back Seton Hall Again in Rematch, 91-86

Eight months ago, he sealed Michigan’s national championship victory over Seton Hall with a pair of free throws in overtime. In Saturday’s rematch, Rumeal Robinson was again instrumental in leading the Wolverines over the Pirates.

Robinson scored 11 of his 26 points in the last eight minutes as No. 6 Michigan held off a late Seton Hall surge to win, 91-86, at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Seton Hall lost all five starters from last year’s squad, while Michigan returned four. “Therefore, it was just a basketball game we knew we had to come in here and win,” Robinson said.

Seton Hall rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to take a 75-74 lead with 6:24 left in the game before Robinson answered with a three-point basket to put Michigan ahead for good.

Robinson had 11 of his team’s last 21 points as Michigan (8-1) won its eighth in a row.

In April, Robinson’s free throws in the closing seconds of overtime proved decisive in the Wolverines’ 80-79 win.

Frantz Volcy had 25 points and Oliver Taylor 21 for Seton Hall (5-2).

No. 13 Nevada Las Vegas 97, No. 16 Iowa 80--David Butler marked his return to the lineup with 18 points and the Rebels’ smothering defense took its toll on the Hawkeyes in the first game of a doubleheader at Las Vegas.

Butler, a senior center who missed UNLV’s first six games with academic problems, scored nine points in the first half as the Rebels overcame a slow start to lead by 18 at halftime.

Travis Bice had a career-high 19 points for UNLV (5-2), whose pressure defense forced 24 turnovers in the first half.

Iowa is 7-1.

OTHER TOP 25 TEAMS

No. 5 Illinois 71, Wisconsin Green Bay 47--Kendall Gill scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half as the unbeaten Illini rolled to victory at Champaign, Ill.

The Illini (8-0) overcame a sluggish first half after a big win Wednesday over No. 4 Missouri.

Tony Bennett had 16 points for Wisconsin Green Bay (6-2).

No. 10 Arkansas 92, VMI 61--Oliver Miller and Todd Day led a 28-9 run at the start of the second half as the Razorbacks won at Little Rock, Ark.

Leading by one at halftime, Arkansas (7-1) scored nine consecutive points to begin the second half.

Damon Williams scored 22 points for VMI (2-5) and his twin brother Ramon had 21.

No. 11 Indiana 115, Iowa St. 66--Calbert Cheaney scored 18 points at Bloomington, Ind., to lead the Hoosiers to their most-lopsided victory of the season.

Eric Anderson scored 16 points to go with his career-high 16 rebounds as Indiana improved to 8-0.

Iowa State (4-4) lost its fourth consecutive game against a Big Ten opponent. Terry Woods had 15 points for the Cyclones.

No. 12 Duke 74, Washington 64--Freshman Bobby Hurley scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half to lead the Blue Devils at Durham, N.C.

Hurley made the front end of a one-and-one at 14:28 to tie the score, and Phil Henderson’s three-point basket 10 seconds later gave Duke the lead for good. Hurley capped the 7-0 run at 13:50 with a three-point basket for a 54-48 lead.

The Blue Devils (5-2) got 19 points from Christian Laettner. Dion Brown scored 13 for Washington (4-4).

No. 17 Memphis St. 96, Jackson St. 73--Cheyenne Gibson scored 19 points and had seven assists as the Tigers won at Memphis, Tenn.

Gibson was one of five players in double figures for Memphis State (6-1). Eric Strothers had 20 points for Jackson State (4-6).

No. 19 St. John’s 83, Niagara 51--Billy Singleton scored 17 points to lead the Redmen at Niagara, N.Y.

St. John’s (9-2) dominated Niagara (1-7) throughout, getting 15 points from Malik Sealy and 12 points and 10 rebounds from Robert Werdann.

Patrick Jones had 15 for the Purple Eagles.

No. 25 Michigan State 87, Eastern Michigan 73--Reserve Parish Hickman scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half as the Spartans won at Michigan State.

Steve Smith led the Spartans (9-2) with 18 points and 10 rebounds but left the game with 9:35 remaining after injuring a finger on his left hand. Lorenzo Neely and Brian Nolan each scored 20 points for Eastern Michigan (8-3).

OTHER GAMES

EAST

Providence 78, Utah 67--Marty Conlons scored 20 points as the Friars won a nonconference game at Providence, R.I.

Conlons’ 20 points led the Friars (6-2 overall; 1-0 in the Big East Conference). Josh Grant and Keith Chapman each had 12 points for the Utes (6-3).

Temple 93, Duquesne 62--Mark Macon scored 23 points to lead the Owls to an Atlantic 10 Conference victory at Philadelphia.

Duane Causwell added 16 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocked shots for Temple (4-3; 2-1).

Mark Stevenson scored a game-high 36 points for Duquesne (1-5; 0-1).

SOUTH

Furman 77, Villanova 73--Derek Waugh scored 14 points and had 12 rebounds to lead the Paladins, who won in overtime at Greenville, S.C.

Furman (4-5) scored eight consecutive points in the extra period--and outscored the Wildcats, 13-9.

Rodney Taylor had 18 points for the Wildcats (6-5).

Southwestern Louisiana 116, Kentucky 113--Marcus Stokes scored on a layup with 22 seconds left in overtime as the Ragin’ Cajuns tallied the final nine points to win the Kentucky Invitational championship.

The teams shot a combined 84 three-point attempts, topping the NCAA mark of 67 set by Kentucky and Furman last Tuesday. Neither team was effective from the distance as Kentucky (5-3) made 15 of 53 and Southwestern Louisiana (7-0) nine of 31.

Kentucky’s 53 three-point attempts also broke its NCAA mark of 47 in the Furman contest.

North Carolina 79, Kansas State 63--Rick Fox scored 19 points and the Tar Heels pulled away in the second half to win at North Carolina.

Fox scored 13 points in the second half and led four Tar Heels in double figures as North Carolina improved to 6-4. Kansas State is 5-5.

Florida 91, South Florida 54--Dwayne Schintzius scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds as the Gators won at Gainesville, Fla.

Florida (3-2) shot 59% and outrebounded the Bulls, 43-33.

Radenko Dobras had 17 points for South Florida (5-2).

MIDWEST

Toledo 74, Pittsburgh 68--Craig Sutters scored 15 points to lead the Rockets at Toledo.

Brian Shorter had 20 points for Pittsburgh (4-4). Toledo is 2-5.

Wichita State 82, Fresno State 62--Paul Guffrovich led four Wichita State players in double figures with 24 points as the Shockers (3-5) held the Bulldogs to three baskets in the final 7:22 to win at Wichita, Kan.

Wilbert Hooker had 23 for Fresno State (4-3).

DePaul 71, Marquette 62--David Booth scored 18 points at Rosemont, Ill., as the Blue Demons ended a five-game losing streak.

Stephen Howard had 16 points and Terry Davis 14 for DePaul (4-7).

Tony Smith scored 22 for the Warriors (4-4).

Minnesota 81, Northern Illinois 62--Walter Bond scored six of his 18 points in the first 5 1/2 minutes as the Gophers opened a 16-0 lead and never led by fewer than 14 thereafter at Minneapolis.

Minnesota (7-1) won its seventh consecutive game after losing its opener at Cincinnati. Northern Illinois is 5-4.

St. Louis 77, Colorado 72--Anthony Bonner scored 28 points and had 21 rebounds and Kevin Footes added 23 points as the Billikens rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit at St. Louis.

St. Louis improves to 6-2. Shaun Vandiver scored 23 points and had 17 rebounds for Colorado (7-2).

SOUTHWEST

Texas 73, Southern Methodist 67--Travis Mays scored 32 points and the Longhorns (6-1) rallied at Texas to beat the Mustangs (3-5) in the earliest-ever Southwest Conference opener.

The game was moved up so Texas could play Oklahoma Jan. 13 on national television.

WEST

Xavier (Ohio) 78, San Francisco 62--Tyrone Hill scored 35 points and had 18 rebounds as the Muskateers won the University of San Francisco tournament.

Xavier is 6-1.

Joel DeBortoli had 23 points for USF (3-6).

UC Santa Barbara 89, Boston University 68--Eric McArthur scored a career-high 26 points and Paul Johnson matched his career-best with 20 as the Gauchos won at Goleta.

McArthur also blocked four shots and had four steals as UCSB improved to 6-2. Boston University (2-5) got 13 points from Bill Brigham.

New Mexico 91, Detroit 64--Rob Robbins scored 23 points, set a school record for making consecutive free throws as the Lobos won the Lobo Invitational.

Robbins made two free throws with 11:00 left to run his consecutive free-throw streak dating back to last year to 39. That surpassed the previous New Mexico mark of 38 by Hunter Greene.

New Mexico is 6-4; Detroit 4-4.