COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Notre Dame Gets Irish Up, Trounces No. 3 Missouri, 98-67

Missouri Coach Norm Stewart had trouble explaining the third-ranked Tigers’ 98-67 loss to unranked Notre Dame Saturday at South Bend, Ind.

“We just weren’t very good today, and I’d have a tough time explaining that, so I won’t,” Stewart said.

Jim Horton, one of the five Missouri reserves who started the second half, didn’t have a problem explaining what happened.

“Old fashioned butt-kicking, that’s what it was,” he said.

Monty Williams led a balanced attack with 14 points as Notre Dame probably moved back into the NCAA tournament picture with its victory over the Big Eight Conference champions.

The Irish, forcing numerous turnovers, took a 13-point halftime lead, holding Missouri to 40% shooting. They expanded the margin to 29 points with a 20-4 run that closed with a LaPhonso Ellis steal and basket and two free throws by Ellis after another Notre Dame steal. Much of it came against Missouri reserves who started the second half.

The Irish (15-11) went on to outscore the Tigers, 52-34, in the second half as they revived the NCAA tournament hopes that were damaged by three consecutive losses after a victory two weeks ago against then fourth-ranked Syracuse.

Missouri (26-4) had 12 second-half turnovers. The score was 46-33 at halftime and 73-51 midway through the second half, Notre Dame’s lead peaking at 91-58.

OTHER TOP 25 TEAMS

No. 1 Kansas 96, Iowa State 63--Kevin Pritchard led a 14-2 run at the end of the first half and the Jayhawks went on to rout the Cyclones in the Big Eight game at Lawrence, Kan.

The Jayhawks (28-3, 11-3 in the Big Eight), who did not shoot a free throw in the first half while Iowa State shot 14, tied Oklahoma for second place. The 28 victories are the second-most in school history.

Iowa State (10-17, 4-10) has lost 17 of its last 18 games in Lawrence. The teams will play again Friday in the first round of the Big Eight Tournament at Kansas City.

No. 4 Connecticut 95, Boston College 74--The Huskies clinched a tie for the Big East title at Newton, Mass.

Connecticut (25-5, 12-4) will share the conference’s regular-season title with the winner of seventh-ranked Georgetown’s game today at 10th-ranked Syracuse. Boston College finished its regular season at 8-19. Its 1-15 conference record is the worst in its history.

Five Huskies scored in double figures, led by Nadav Henefield with 18 points. The Huskies, who entered the game with a 63.6 free throw percentage, made 38 of 44.

No. 5 Oklahoma 107, Oklahoma State 94--William Davis scored 10 points during a 27-2 second-half run and Smokey McCovery scored nine points in a row in the closing minutes at Stillwater, Okla., as the Sooners made a bid for the No. 1 ranking.

The victory in the regular season finale capped a week during which the Sooners (23-4, 12-3) also beat Missouri and Kansas when each was ranked No. 1.

Davis, who scored 27 points, led the way as Oklahoma seized control with the 27-2 run during an eight-minute span. That spurt, during which Oklahoma State (15-12, 6-8) scored on only one of 14 possessions, gave the Sooners a 78-52 lead with 11:16 remaining.

No. 11 Georgia Tech 85, No. 20 Clemson 69--Brian Oliver scored 34 points, Dennis Scott had 25 and Kenny Anderson added 21 to help the Yellow Jackets end the Tigers’ eight-game winning streak in the Atlantic Coast Conference game at Atlanta.

The loss by Clemson left the door open for Duke to climb into a first-place tie with the Tigers in the final ACC regular-season standings if the Blue Devils beat North Carolina today.

Tech (21-6, 8-6) never trailed after Oliver converted a three-point play with 13:53 left in the first half, overcoming a 17-15 deficit. Tech built a 51-34 lead shortly after halftime, but Clemson (23-6, 10-4) used an 18-2 run to pull to 53-52 with 11:44 remaining.

No. 12 Arkansas 104, Rice 80--Todd Day scored 24 points at Houston to lead the Razorbacks to their second consecutive Southwest Conference regular-season championship.

The Razorbacks (23-4, 14-2) dominated the Owls (11-16, 5-11), leading 49-32 at halftime.

No. 13 La Salle 90, Fairfield 60--Lionel Simmons scored 34 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Explorers to their 19th consecutive victory in a quarterfinal game of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament at Albany, N.Y.

After taking a 33-21 halftime lead, La Salle (27-1) scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half. Jack Hurd’s layup was followed by a Doug Overton steal and dunk and put the Explorers ahead, 41-23, with 17:13 to play.

Fairfield (10-19) never got closer than 10 in the second half.

No. 14 Michigan State 75, No. 17 Minnesota 73--Steve Smith’s jumper with 29 seconds left in overtime at Minneapolis capped a 39-point performance and gave the Spartans a one-game lead in the Big Ten with their 10th consecutive victory.

The Spartans (24-5, 13-3) have games remaining at Northwestern and against Purdue, which takes a 12-4 conference record into today’s game against Michigan.

Michigan State’s winning streak is its longest since 1978-79, when Magic Johnson led the Spartans to the national championship and their last Big Ten title.

In losing for only the third time in its last 30 games at Williams Arena, Minnesota (20-7, 11-6) was eliminated from the Big Ten race.

No. 15 Louisiana State 103, Mississippi 94--Chris Jackson scored 37 points and Shaquille O’Neal had 20 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots to lead the Tigers to the Southeastern Conference victory at Baton Rouge, La.

LSU (21-5, 11-4) held an 82-60 lead with 10:20 to play, but Mississippi (11-16, 8-10) pulled to 98-88 in the next 8:34 during a 28-16 run led by Gerald Glass and Tim Jumper.

Dayton 111, No. 19 Xavier (Ohio) 108--Negele Knight scored 30 points and Ray Springer had 26 as the Flyers, who led by as many as 26 points in the second half, upset the Musketeers in their final Midwestern Collegiate Conference game at Dayton, Ohio.

The Musketeers (24-3, 12-2) outscored the Flyers, 42-19, in the last 8:45.

Noland Robinson made a layup to give the Flyers (18-9, 10-4) a 110-102 lead with 1:03 to play, then Alex Robertson made one of two free throws with 55 seconds left to make the score 111-102.

No. 25 Georgia 94, Auburn 79--The Bulldogs clinched their first outright Southeastern Conference championship as Litterial Green scored 30 points, including 11 during a 16-0 run that carried the Bulldogs past the Tigers at Auburn, Ala.

Georgia (20-7, 13-5) had already clinched at least a share of the title, but the victory prevented Alabama and LSU from creating a three-way tie.

The Bulldogs dominated Auburn (12-17, 8-10) down the stretch, outscoring the Tigers, 27-10, after they closed to six with 9 1/2 minutes left.

OTHER GAMES

EAST

Princeton 73, Columbia 47--The Tigers became the first team to qualify for the NCAA tournament by clinching their second consecutive Ivy League title at Princeton, N.J.

The NCAA appearance is the eighth for Princeton (20-6, 11-3) in Coach Pete Carril’s 23 years at the school.

SOUTH

Maryland 89, Virginia 74--The Cavaliers, hurt by cold shooting for the second game in a row, lost their final regular-season game under Coach Terry Holland as the Terrapins, led by Walt Williams with 26 points, won the Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md.

The Terrapins assured themselves of at least a sixth-place finish in the ACC. Maryland (18-12 overall) and Virginia (17-10) are both 6-8 in the ACC, but the Terrapins win the tiebreaker because they swept the Cavaliers.

MIDWEST

Ohio State 95, Northwestern 86--Junior Perry Carter scored 21 points and freshman Alex Davis added 20 as the Buckeyes kept alive their hopes of earning an NCAA tournament bid at Evanston, Ill.

The Buckeyes (15-11, 9-7) led most of the second half before Davis went on a 10-0 run that gave them a 73-55 lead. Northwestern (9-18, 2-15) never recovered.

ROCKIES

Colorado State 62, San Diego State 45--Mark Meredith’s 22 points at Ft. Collins, Colo., lifted the defending Western Athletic Conference champion Rams to a share of this season’s title.

The Rams (21-7, 11-5) tied Brigham Young for the WAC title. By virtue of the league’s tiebreaking system, Colorado State goes into the WAC tournament as the top seed.

The Aztecs (13-16, 4-12) will play Air Force Wednesday. The winner will play Colorado State in the tournament quarterfinals.

WEST

Arizona State 75, Oregon 71--Alex Austin, who scored 28 points, made two free throws with two seconds to play, lifting the Sun Devils at Tempe in the final regular-season Pacific 10 game for both teams.

The Sun Devils (13-14, 6-12) led, 61-48, with 8:52 to play before the Ducks (15-12, 10-8) closed to 73-71 with nine seconds to play on Terrell Brandon’s three-point basket.

After the Sun Devils’ Mark Becker failed to inbound the ball in the required five seconds, Oregon called a timeout. Keith Reynolds inbounded the ball to Brandon, who drove through the lane but missed a short shot. Richard Lucas tried to tip the ball in, but missed. Austin rebounded and was fouled with two seconds to play.