COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Utah Extends Winning Streak to 17 Games

Utah figured to get one of its toughest tests of the season Thursday night when the No. 13 Utes played at Texas El Paso.

But Utah broke the game open midway through the second half and increased its winning streak to a school-record 17 games with a 78-68 Western Athletic Conference victory.

The victory eclipsed the school mark set in 1912-13 and was Utah’s first at El Paso since 1981.

It also tied the WAC record for consecutive victories set by New Mexico in 1967-68 and tied by Brigham Young in 1987-88.

“We tried to break as much as we can,” said Utah Coach Rick Majerus, whose team improved its record to 21-1 overall and 9-0 in the WAC. “We are not Loyola Marymount, but we made some better decisions (on the break) tonight.”

Utah switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone with 12:20 left in the game. That coincided with a cold-shooting streak by UTEP, in which the Miners made one basket during a stretch of more than 12 minutes.

“When you play this poorly against Utah, they’re going to take you apart,” UTEP Coach Don Haskins said.

Henry Hall made a three-point shot with 10:07 left that pulled the Miners to within 57-55, but Grant made a three-point shot and Phil Dixon and Jimmy Soto added baskets for a nine-point lead.

The Miners went cold from the field and did not make another basket until Ralph Davis scored with 2:16 left, pulling the Miners to within 74-63.

Josh Grant led Utah with 16 points.

Mark McCall scored 16 points for UTEP (13-6, 5-4).

No. 9 North Carolina 90, Clemson 77--Rick Fox scored 26 points and the Tar Heels outrebounded Clemson, 52-33, during an Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Clemson, S.C.

North Carolina (15-3, 4-2), which had lost two of its last three games, won at Littlejohn Coliseum for the first time in three seasons.

Clemson (9-10, 0-7) is off to its worst conference start since 1954-55. The Tigers have lost four consecutive games and eight of their last nine.

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

EAST

Doug Overton scored 40 points to lead La Salle to an 84-66 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Fairfield at Philadelphia. Overton made 15 of 30 shots, including five from three-point range. La Salle is 13-3 and 7-1. Fairfield is 6-12 and 2-6. . . . Penn State ended West Virginia’s 21-game home winning streak by defeating the Mountaineers, 66-63, in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Morgantown, W.Va. James Barnes scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds for Penn State (13-6, 6-4). West Virginia is 10-8 and 6-4.

MIDWEST

Val Barnes scored 17 points, including two baskets in the final 1:40, to lead Iowa over Purdue, 78-69, in a Big Ten Conference game at West Lafayette, Ind. Acie Earl scored 14 points for Iowa (14-6, 3-5). Freshman Linc Darner scored 20 points for Purdue (11-7, 3-5). . . . In a Big Ten game at Minneapolis, Michigan blew a 12-point lead in the second half, but came back for a 66-62 victory over Minnesota on a three-point shot by Demetrius Calip with 24 seconds left. Calip scored 23 points for Michigan (10-9, 3-6). Minnesota is 10-8 and 3-5.

Howard Isley made a basket with five seconds left to lift Boston College to a 79-77 victory over Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind. Gerrod Abram scored 15 points for Boston College (10-9). Kevin Ellery scored 18 points for Notre Dame (8-12), which lost when Elmer Bennett missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

WEST

New Mexico made 11 consecutive shots to start the second half and cruised to a 92-55 WAC victory over Air Force at Albuquerque, N.M. Rob Robbins scored 15 points for New Mexico (15-6, 5-4). Air Force is 6-12 and 0-7. . . . Brigham Young opened its game against Colorado State with a 17-2 run and never looked back in a 69-52 WAC victory at Provo, Utah. Steve Schreiner scored 17 points for BYU (12-10, 6-3). Colorado State is 10-9 and 1-6.

Don Lyttle scored 17 points as Pacific (9-10, 5-5) defeated UC Santa Barbara, 60-56, in a Big West Conference game at Stockton. Gary Gray scored 17 points for Santa Barbara (9-8, 4-5). . . . Gonzaga beat San Diego, 70-64, at San Diego, ending the Torereos’ six-game winning streak and knocking them out of first place in the West Coast Conference. Eric Brady scored 19 points for Gonzaga (12-8, 3-4). Wayman Strickland scored 19 points for San Diego (13-7, 6-2).

Melvin Chinn scored a career-high 31 points to lead Santa Clara to a 95-69 WCC victory over Portland at Santa Clara. Santa Clara is 14-8 and 5-3. Portland is 4-16 and 2-5.