COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : After Scare, Syracuse Is Ready for Long Beach

Cal State Long Beach can forget about catching Syracuse napping Saturday.

The No. 3 Orangemen had their letdown Wednesday night, and they had to have a 34-point performance from Billy Owens to pull out a 92-83 victory over Canisius at Syracuse, N.Y.

“It takes a game like that to get you ready for the next game,” Owens said. “We weren’t ready to play. We’ll be ready the next time. Look out!”

Canisius (4-2) trailed 81-65 with 4:02 remaining but used a ball-hawking defense to fight back to 87-81 on senior guard Chuck Giscombe’s three-point play with 1:07 to go.

No. 5 Georgetown 75, St. Leo 45--Dikembe Mutombo scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half to lead the Hoyas to an easy victory at Landover, Md.

Mutombo had eight rebounds and three blocked shots in the first half, helping the sluggish but unbeaten Hoyas open a 20-point halftime lead on their way to their sixth win of the season. Only two of those games have been against Division I teams.

No. 8 Ohio State 90, Wright State 60--Mark Baker scored 10 of his 12 points during a 28-2 run early in the second half to lead the Buckeyes at Columbus, Ohio.

Jim Jackson led Ohio State (5-0) with 20 points, Treg Lee added a career-high 15 and Perry Carter and Jamaal Brown each had 11. Baker had seven assists.

No. 16 Connecticut 85, New Hampshire 32--Connecticut scored the first 32 points of the game and breezed to the victory at Storrs, Conn. John Gwynn scored 21 points to lead the Huskies (5-1), who used a stifling press and quickness to force the Wildcats (0-7) to shoot an array of bad shots, including two air balls, during New Hampshire’s 11:48 scoreless stretch to start the game.

No. 17 South Carolina 93, Furman 52--Joe Rhett scored eight of his 19 points during a first-half run as the Gamecocks won at Columbia, S.C.

South Carolina outscored Furman, 22-6, over the final 11:32 of the first half to take a 38-19 lead en route to its seventh victory in eight games. Furman is 3-3. REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

EAST

Oliver Taylor and Terry Dehere had 18 points each as four Seton Hall players scored in double figures to defeat Villanova, 81-77, in the Big East opener for each team at Villanova, Pa. Gordon Winchester added 15 points and Anthony Avent 13 for Seton Hall (5-1). Lance Miller had 18 points and Marc Dowdell 17 to lead Villanova (5-2).

MIDWEST

Kirk Taylor scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Michigan over Chicago State, 102-78, at Ann Arbor, Mich. Rod Parker led Chicago State with 24 points. . . . Doug Smith scored 36 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as Missouri beat Bradley, 76-60, at Peoria, Ill. Curtis Stuckey led the Braves with 29 points but connected on only eight of 25 field-goal attempts.

SOUTH

LaBradford Smith scored seven points in a 17-2 run at the start of the second half that carried Louisville to a 94-75 victory over DePaul at Louisville. Smith led Louisville’s balanced scoring with 24 points, followed by Brewer with 19, Everick Sullivan 15, Troy Smith 13 and Cornelius Holden 12. David Booth scored 25 points, becoming the 31st DePaul player to score at least 1,000 career points. He has 1,014.

SOUTHWEST

Reggie Shields scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half as Tulsa built an 18-point lead and beat Kansas State, 72-61. . . . Texas A&M; went on a 10-1 run in the final two minutes, beating Texas Southern, 70-61, at College Station, Tex., behind the 17 points of Isaac Brown. Lynn Suber added 12 points, Shedrick Anderson 11 and Brooks Thompson 10 for the Aggies (3-3) of the Southwest Conference. Ray Younger led Texas Southern (2-6) with 16 points.

WEST

Lynn Collins scored 24 points, including eight during a 20-6 spurt in the first half, to lead Arizona State to an 82-74 victory over Brigham Young at Provo, Utah. . . . Tank Collins had 19 points and New Orleans scored the first four points in overtime and beat Oregon State, 68-64, at New Orleans. . . . Maurice Alexander hit two free throws with three seconds leftto play to lead Wyoming to a 62-60 comeback victory over Colorado at Laramie, Wyo.