COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Arkansas Complains After 25-Point Win

Arkansas won its 16th game in a row, hammering Southwest Conference foe Texas A&M;, 113-88, at Fayetteville, Ark., Wednesday night, yet complained about the way it played.

“We’re not too pleased because we know we can do better,” said Arlyn Bowers, who scored 17 points for No. 2 Arkansas, 19-1 overall and 7-0 in the conference.

Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson wasn’t too happy, either.

“We’ve won a lot. When you win a lot you can get full and not be hungry,” Richardson said. “We just went through the motions a lot of the time. We were physically tired and mentally exhausted from playing so many games in the last few days.”

The game was Arkansas’ third game since Saturday and it came against a Texas A&M; (5-12, 0-6) team that has now lost eight of its past nine outings.

Oliver Miller had 15 points, Roosevelt Wallace 14, Lee Mayberry 12 and Ron Huery 10 for Arkansas. Mayberry also set a school record with 13 assists.

No. 7 North Carolina 91, Wake Forest 81--King Rice had a career-tying 22 points and Rick Fox scored 20--all in the second half at Winston Salem, N.C., in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.

North Carolina (14-2, 3-1) saw an early eight-point lead turn into a three-point halftime deficit. But whenever the Tar Heels got into trouble, Rice and Fox were there with three-point shots to bail them out.

Fox hit two three-pointers and Rice had another as the Tar Heels tied the score, 51-51, with 16:01 left. Anthony Tucker hit a three-pointer to give Wake Forest (8-6, 3-3) its last lead at 59-58 with 13:25 left.

No. 8 Kentucky 81, Florida 65--Sean Woods scored 11 of his 18 points during a 13-6 run in the first half that sparked Kentucky (15-2, 7-0) to its 10th consecutive victory in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

Jeff Brassow, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, started the spurt with a layup that gave Kentucky a 25-22 lead with 5:54 remaining in the half.

Woods then hit three driving layups and five free throws over the next four minutes as Kentucky’s advantage grew to 36-28. Florida (7-9, 3-4) cut the lead to 36-31 on Stacey Poole’s basket before falling behind, 38-32, at the half.

North Carolina State 95, No. 9 Duke 89--Rodney Monroe scored 35 points to lead five players in double figures, and Chris Corchiani sparked a second-half rally as North Carolina State (10-4, 3-1) upset Duke (15-4, 4-2) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Raleigh, N.C.

Monroe, the ACC’s leading scorer at 28.8 points per game, scored 19 points in the opening half and helped stake the Wolfpack to a 13-point lead 12 minutes into the game.

Duke closed to 47-41 at halftime and then tied the score twice during the first three minutes of the second half, but never led.

No. 17 Pittsburgh 92, Providence 79--Eric Murdock scored a Big East Conference-record 48 points for Providence (11-7, 2-5) but still couldn’t hold off Pittsburgh (15-4, 4-2) at Providence, R.I.

Murdock surpassed the conference record of 43 points set by Dana Barros of Boston College. The Providence record is 52 points by Marvin Barnes.

Pitt took a 10-0 lead and stayed ahead on Jason Matthews’ 25 points and Darren Morningstar’s 21.

No. 18 Virginia 86, Virginia Tech 61--Freshman Cornel Parker, making his first start, fueled a first-half surge as Virginia (13-4) beat its interstate rival for the third time in a row.

Virginia Tech (7-8), which had difficulty rebounding against the more active Cavaliers, lost its fifth consecutive game.

The 6-foot-7 Parker was pressed into duty when Virginia’s starting shooting guard, Anthony Oliver, broke a bone in his right hand two days earlier.

Purdue 62, No. 22 Michigan State 51--Freshman Linc Darner had a season-high 16 points and Purdue (11-5, 3-3) held Michigan State (12-5, 5-2) scoreless for 4:45 in the second half of a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

Michigan State had three prolonged scoring droughts, the last starting after Steve Smith made two free throws to leave his team trailing, 52-47. Purdue then pulled away as the defending Big Ten champions made three consecutive turnovers while going scoreless until Andy Penick’s basket with 49 seconds left.

No. 24 New Orleans 72, Central Florida 64--New Orleans successfully defended its new top 25 ranking and extended its winning streak to 16 games.

Central Florida (16-9), was led by Louweegi Dyer with 19 points in the American South Conference game at New Orleans.

New Orleans went to a zone defense with 9:57 to go in the game and held Central Florida to two field goals over the next six minutes as the Privateers turned a 47-47 tie into a 63-50 lead.

No. 25 South Carolina 85, Davidson 57--Joe Rhett scored 21 points and Barry Manning scored 18 as South Carolina (14-4) limited Davidson (5-11) to 28% field goal shooting at Davidson, N.C.

The Gamecocks took advantage of Davidson’s inexperience. The Wildcats started four freshmen in playing their second game this week against a top 25 opponent. Davidson hit five of 26 field-goal attempts in the first half for 19% and trailed 40-19. REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS EAST

Jim Nairus scored 19 points and collected 13 rebounds to give Holy Cross (11-5, 3-0) a 71-55 Patriot League victory over Army (4-12, 1-3) at Worcester, Mass. . . . Matt Johnson hit two foul shots with one second remaining to lift Vermont (5-10) over Dartmouth (5-10), 79-77, at Burlington, Vt. MIDWEST

Forward David Booth scored 26 points to lead DePaul (9-7) to a 92-71 victory over Drake (6-10) at Rosemont, Ill. Drake was led by forward Chris Jones with 17 points. Guard Wayne Embry added 15 points. . . . Terry Brown scored 19 points to lead Kansas (12-4) to its 12th victory in a row, 84-50, over Wichita State (10-8) at Kansas. . . . Scott Riley’s three-point basket with 19 seconds left put Toledo (10-9, 3-4) ahead for the first time since early in the game and the Rockets hung on for a 57-56 Mid-American Conference victory over Bowling Green (9-7, 3-3). SOUTH

Reggie Gallon’s three-point basket with one second remaining in the second overtime gave Auburn (10-6, 3-4) a 59-58 Southeastern Conference victory over Georgia (10-7, 3-5) at Athens, Ga. Georgia took a 58-56 lead with eight seconds to play when Rod Cole hit two free throws. Auburn forced the first overtime when Robert McKie, who finished with 14 points, hit two free throws with seven seconds remaining. . . . Derrick Daniels scored 20 points, including a three-pointer with 38 seconds left in overtime, leading Houston (12-5, 4-2) to a 91-88 victory over Texas Christian (12-4, 4-2) in a Southwest Conference game at Houston. Michael Strickland led TCU with 20 points.

Todd Merritt scored 16 points as Mississippi State (11-5, 4-3) rolled to a 68-59 win over Alabama (10-6, 4-3) in a Southeastern Conference game at Starkville, Miss. . . . Byron Houston tied his career-high with 35 points and Oklahoma State (12-4) held Southeastern Louisiana (6-11) to 12 first-half points in beating the Lions 88-46 at Stillwater, Okla. Oklahoma State led 10-7 with 13:51 to play in the half. Then the Cowboys scored 18 consecutive points while holding Southeastern Louisiana scoreless for nearly 10 minutes. . . . Scott Draud became the Southeastern Conference’s career three-point field goal leader as he hit seven shots from long range to score 21 points and lead Vanderbilt (11-7, 5-3) to an 89-52 victory over Mississippi (6-10, 0-7).

Mike Wilson’s four-point play with 5:57 remaining gave Southern Methodist (8-9, 3-3) the lead, and Rodney Hampton followed with a three-pointer, as the Mustangs posted a 77-73 win over Rice (6-10, 1-5) in a Southwest Conference game at Dallas.