COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : North Carolina Shows Duke That It Can Play

Dean Smith kept telling people who would listen that North Carolina wasn’t as bad as its record showed.

On Sunday, he made fifth-ranked Duke take those words to heart.

The Tar Heels spoiled senior day at Durham, N.C., as King Rice’s 20 points led five players in double figures in an 87-75 upset of the Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference finale for both schools.

Duke’s loss gave Clemson (10-4) the ACC’s regular-season championship ahead of Duke (9-5) and also gave Smith the chance to say once again that North Carolina is playing great basketball.

“I hope so, I honestly think we are,” said Smith, whose team shot 64.9%. “We were much better against Maryland at home than we were against Duke at home. It just doesn’t show in the won-loss record or the score.”

North Carolina beat the Blue Devils, 79-60, in Chapel Hill, but lost to the Terrapins, 80-76.

The Tar Heels (19-11, 8-6) broke an early tie and led by as many as 11 in the first half. The Blue Devils rallied, but North Carolina took a 44-43 halftime lead on Pete Chilcutt’s basket.

Duke (23-7) made a final run to get within 68-65 on the front end of a two-shot foul by Robert Brickey. But 10 points in a row by North Carolina put the game away. The Blue Devils went almost five minutes without a basket during that stretch.

OTHER TOP 25 TEAMS

No. 9 Purdue 79, No. 8 Michigan 77--Jimmy Oliver’s fallaway jump shot with two seconds left gave the Boilermakers the win at West Lafayette, Ind., and enabled them to remain in contention for the Big Ten title while eliminating the defending national champion Wolverines.

Steve Scheffler had 26 points and Ryan Berning added 19 as the Boilermakers (21-6, 13-4) moved to within a half-game of Michigan State, whom they meet next Sunday in the regular-season finale.

Oliver, who scored only six points, took the shot with time running out on the shot clock. Michigan then had its inbounds pass deflected out of bounds.

There was no time showing on the clock, but the horn had not sounded, so the officials allowed Michigan to pass the ball in and Rumeal Robinson’s desperation shot from the top of the key was short.

Michigan (20-7, 10-6) forced the dramatic conclusion after falling behind by five points, then coming back in a game that had 13 lead changes. Terry Mills led the Wolverines with 30 points.

No. 13 La Salle 106, Siena 90--Lionel Simmons scored 26 points and the Explorers made 15 of 24 three-point shots as they won their 20th consecutive game in the semifinals of the Metro Atlantic Conference tournament at Albany, N.Y.

The Explorers (28-1) made 10 of 15 three-point shot attempts in the first half, including five of six by Randy Woods, to break the game open.

Siena (16-13) took a 31-29 lead on Mike Brown’s three-point basket before La Salle went on a 30-12 run that began with Jack Hurd’s baseline jump shot. Simmons converted a three-point play to put the Explorers ahead, 34-31, and made two free throws at to complete a 15-2 run for a 46-31 lead.

No. 18 Illinois 118, Iowa 85--Kendall Gill scored 25 points to lead the rout in the Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois outscored Iowa, 21-4, to take a 37-12 lead with five minutes left in the half. The Illini then eased to the victory. The Illini made 13 three-point shots.

Illinois (20-7, 10-7) led, 48-23, at the half. In the opening minutes of the second period, Iowa (12-15, 4-13) cut the lead to 20, but a basket by Andy Kaufmann and a three-point shot by Gill extended the lead to 60-35 with 15 minutes left.

OTHER GAMES SOUTH

Wake Forest 93, North Carolina State 91--Chris King scored 14 of the Demon Deacons’ last 24 points as they beat the Wolfpack at Raleigh, N.C., in the regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference finale.

Wake Forest (12-15, 3-11) led by two points at the half, only to have the Wolfpack (18-11, 6-8) come back to take a 75-69 lead with 8:10 left on Rodney Monroe’s three-point basket.

WEST

Stanford 79, California 58--Adam Keefe scored 20 points and Kenny Ammann added 18 to lead Stanford to the easy Pacific 10 win at Berkeley.

The Bears scored only 18 points in the second half and went nearly 12 minutes without a basket.

Stanford (17-10, 9-9) led, 45-40, at halftime, but Brian Hendrick made a short jumper to cut the lead to 48-44 with 17:07 remaining. The Bears (21-8, 12-6) didn’t score another field goal until Ryan Drew’s layup with 5:16 left. At that point, Stanford led, 71-52.