COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Ohio State Wins Battle of Unbeatens, 82-80

Ohio State, preparing for a difficult Big Ten Conference schedule that begins next week, almost was beaten by a Southern Mississippi team searching for respect.

But the No. 6 Buckeyes came back from a three-point halftime deficit to defeat Southern Mississippi, 82-80, Thursday night in the opening round of the Palm Beach tournament at West Palm Beach, Fla.

“They’ve got a good ballclub and they did a good job of taking it to us,” Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers said. “We needed another close game like this to get ready for our Big 10 season.”

Ohio State (9-0) will play Miami, Ohio, a 101-99 winner over Miami, Fla., tonight in the championship game.

Unranked Mississippi State (7-1), which competes in the Southeastern Conference, pushed the Buckeyes throughout the game and led, 44-41, at halftime.

The lead changed five times after halftime before the Buckeyes went ahead, 69-67, with 6:45 left.

Jamaal Brown led Ohio State with 20 points and Jim Jackson had 18, including three baskets in the last four minutes.

Greg Carter and Todd Merritt each scored 16 points for the Bulldogs.

Miami of Ohio (6-4) won its game despite a tournament-record 39 points by Joe Wylie of Miami of Florida (1-7).

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

ECAC HOLIDAY

No. 12 South Carolina 52, Brigham Young 49--Joe Rhett made a basket and added a free throw with 1:26 left to give the Gamecocks the lead for good in a first-round game of the East Coast Athletic Conference Holiday tournament at New York.

The Gamecocks (9-1) will meet Maryland, an 86-81 winner over Rutgers, in Saturday night’s championship game.

BYU (6-6) had two chances to score in the final minute, but 7-foot-6 freshman Shawn Bradley was tied up for a jump ball on one and Jared Miller missed the front end of a one-and-one with the other.

Bradley, who had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots, controlled the rebound, but he fell out of bounds.

Maryland 86, Rutgers 81--Walt Williams, a 6-8 junior point guard, scored 30 points, including 10 of 12 points in the deciding run as the Terrapins advanced to the tournament final.

Rutgers (5-3) had rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to lead, 76-68, with 8:03 to play when Keith Hughes was awarded a basket on goaltending. That was the Scarlet Knights’ last field goal until 1:57 remained and it ended a 10-0 Maryland run, with Williams scoring eight of the points.

Evers Burns added 16 points for Maryland (5-3), which built its first-half lead through an effective trapping defense.

Donnell Lumpkin led Rutgers with 21 points.

HOOSIER

No. 5 Indiana 91, Marshall 67--The Hoosiers (11-1) scored the first 12 points and held the Thundering Herd (5-6) to two points in the game’s first six minutes en route to an easy victory in the first round of their tournament at Indianapolis.

Indiana will play Ohio, a 77-74 winner over North Texas, in the championship game.

“We got started off really playing well defensively,” said Indiana Coach Bob Knight, whose team forced Marshall into four missed shots and four turnovers in the game’s first four minutes.

John Taft scored a game-high 28 points for Marshall.

Calbert Cheaney scored 27 points, 16 in the second half, to pace Indiana.

SUGAR BOWL

Villanova 88, Auburn 71--The Wildcats built a 20-point halftime lead and cruised to the victory in the Sugar Bowl tournament at New Orleans.

Arron Bain scored 20 points for Villanova (6-3), which advanced to Friday’s tournament final against Georgia Tech.

Ronnie Battle scored 21 points for Auburn (6-2), which never got closer than 12 points in the second half.

Georgia Tech 95, Tulane 83--Malcolm Mackey scored 26 points and Kenny Anderson added 19 as the Yellow Jackets (6-3) advanced to the final.

David Whitmore, who transferred from Georgia Tech, led Tulane with 21 points.

NONTOURNAMENT

No. 18 Kentucky 74, Eastern Kentucky 60--Reggie Hanson scored nine of his career-high 27 points during a 20-6 run in the second half at Lexington, Ky., as the Wildcats (7-2) beat the Colonels (6-3) in only the second game between the schools in 62 years

Seton Hall 103, North Carolina A&T; 77--Terry Dehere scored 20 of his game-high 30 points in the second half to lead the Pirates (7-1) over the Aggies (4-3) at South Orange, N.J.

Oregon State 101, Western Michigan 76--Will Brantley scored 28 points and the Beavers (5-3) shot 72% in the first half to defeat the Broncos (3-5) at Corvallis, Ore.

Nevada 68, San Jose State 64--Center Ric Herrin scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds at San Jose to lead the Wolf Pack (4-8) over the Spartans (2-6).