COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Jackson Gets 51, LSU Stalls Texas, 124-113

Chris Jackson scored a season-high 51 points as 11th-ranked Louisiana State held off a second-half Texas rally for a 124-113 victory Tuesday night at Houston.

Jackson scored eight points in the first 3:29 as the Tigers (7-1), raced to a 16-3 lead and had a halftime margin of 63-49.

Texas (7-2) cut the deficit to 84-83, but never took the lead. Jackson made eight of LSU’s next 10 points to put the Tigers back in command.

“We have a lot of talent on this team, and I think we’re capable of playing like this every night,” Jackson said.

The Tigers got inside help from Shaquille O’Neal, who had a Southeastern Conference record 10 blocked shots, and from Stanley Roberts, who scored a career-high 26 points.

Lance Blanks scored Texas’ first eight points of the second half and led the Longhorns with 32 points, and Travis Mays added 30.

“This is truly one of the greatest college basketball games I’ve ever been involved in,” LSU Coach Dale Brown said. “We got off to a slow start. I don’t think I lifted the team enough.”

Jackson’s total tied Southern Methodist’s Gene Phillips for the most points ever scored against the Longhorns. Phillips scored 51 against Texas on March 2, 1971.

Last season, Jackson set an NCAA Division-I freshman scoring record with 55 points in one game. His previous high this season was 37 points against Southern Mississippi.

No. 3 Georgetown 83, Boston College 53--Dwayne Bryant, Alonzo Mourning and Mark Tillmon led the Hoyas in their Big East Conference opener at Boston.

Georgetown (10-0, 1-0) led, 43-16, at halftime. The closest Boston College (6-5, 0-2) came in the second half was 54-28, with 13:29 remaining.

Tillmon scored 18 points, Mourning 17 and Bryant a season-high 16. Doug Able scored 15 points and Bryan Edwards added 11 for Boston College, which lost for the fourth time in its last five games.

No. 7 Missouri 84, Austin Peay 48--Travis Ford scored 18 points, including three three-point field goals, to lead the Tigers at Columbia, Mo.

Nathan Buntin led Missouri (12-1) with 10 points and a team-leading nine rebounds, and Jamal Coleman came off the bench to add 15 points.

Austin Peay (5-7) scored only 20 points in the first half and 18 field goals during the game. Greg Franklin led the Governors with 17 points and Javin Johnson added 10.

No. 12 Georgia Tech, 86, Marist 77--Dennis Scott scored 26 points, including 13 in a row in the second half, to lead unbeaten Yellow Jackets at Atlanta.

With Georgia Tech (9-0) leading, 58-44, Scott made two three-pointers to start his 13-point run. The momentum continued in a 24-14 burst that put the game away for the Yellow Jackets. Andy Lake led Marist (6-3) with 16 points.

No. 16 St. John’s 93, Connecticut 62--The Redmen got their seventh consecutive victory in their Big East opener at New York.

The Redmen (12-2, 1-0), started the second half with a 14-2 run that gave them a 62-34 advantage over the Huskies (10-3, 0-2) with 16:24 remaining.

The margin was two points short of St. John’s largest in Big East play, a 97-64 victory over Seton Hall in 1980.

For St. John’s, Jayson Williams scored 25 points, Boo Harvey had 20 points and 10 assists and Malik Sealy added 19 points. Tate George led Connecticut with 12 points.

Mississippi 75, Florida 60--Gerald Glass scored 37 points to lead the Rebels to a Southeastern Conference victory at Oxford, Miss.

Mississippi (4-6, 1-1) took the lead on Glass’ 12-footer in the opening minute of play and never trailed. The Rebels had a 35-29 halftime lead and led by 19 points in the second half, despite shooting only 37.7%.

Glass was the only Rebel to score in double figures. Livingston Chatman scored 18 points for the Gators (4-4, 0-1).

Seton Hall 67, Villanova 64--Frantz Volcy’s 21 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Terry Dehere’s 18 points led the Pirates to a Big East victory at Villanova, Pa.

Villanova’s Chris Walker missed a three-point shot in the waning seconds as Seton Hall (7-3, 1-0) gained its fourth consecutive victory over the Wildcats (8-6, 1-1), and fifth in six games.

The teams were tied six times in the second half, but the Pirates took a 62-54 advantage on two free throws by Gordon Winchester with 1:26 to play.

Kansas State 75, Western Kentucky 51--Steve Henson scored 13 points, including nine in the first half, as the Wildcats won at Manhattan, Kan.

Kansas State (7-6) led, 33-19, at halftime. Roland Shelton was the high scorer for Western Kentucky (3-8) with 16 points.

Florida State 78, South Alabama 75--Tharon Mayes and Irving Thomas scored 24 points each to lead the Seminoles at Mobile, Ala.

South Alabama (5-5) had the ball with 48 seconds remaining, but turned it over twice before Mayes made two free throws with six seconds remaining for the final points.

The Seminoles are 8-4.

Iona 82, Gonzaga 71--Sean Green scored 28 points and Joey Johnson added 17, including 13 in a second-half surge, to rally the Gaels in a nonconference game at New Rochelle, N.Y.

Iona (5-6) trailed, 45-32, at the half but scored 14 consecutive points midway through the second half.

Gonzaga (4-7) drew within 71-67 on Brian Frederickson’s two free throws with 2:28 remaining.