COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Technically, Vanderbilt Upsets LSU, 63-59

Fearing that center Shaquille O’Neal would severely impact its chances for an upset, Vanderbilt employed a slow-down approach Saturday against No. 14 Louisiana State.

O’Neal still hurt Vanderbilt, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. But O’Neal and LSU Coach Dale Brown helped the Commodores by drawing technical fouls with four seconds left in the Southeastern Conference game at Nashville, Tenn.

Scott Draud converted the opportunity, breaking a 59-59 tie with four free throws that gave Vanderbilt a 63-59 victory.

The victory improved Vanderbilt’s record to 13-7 overall and 7-3 in the SEC. LSU is 13-6 and 6-4.

Draud’s free throws came after Steve Grant missed a pair of foul shots awarded him when he was fouled by O’Neal, who was called for a technical when he protested. Moments later, Brown was called for a technical.

Brown said the location of the team benches caused the officials to misinterpret his comments.

“For years, I have been very vocal about having the benches at the ends of the arena--I think it’s totally ludicrous that they are there,” Brown said. “The technical foul that I received was for trying to holler to the player to call time out before they gave the ball to the guy to shoot free throws. It’s very difficult to holler 94 feet.

“There was no insult to the official at that time.”

Brown and Vanderbilt Coach Eddie Fogler met at midcourt after the game and appeared to be exchanging angry words as they parted.

“Make no mistake, where the benches were had nothing to do with who won and lost this game,” Fogler said.

Draud’s free throws spoiled an LSU comeback during which the Tigers rallied from a 51-37 deficit. LSU tied the score, 59-59, on a three-point basket by Shawn Griggs with 42 seconds left.

No. 2 Arkansas 100, Rice 87--Oliver Miller scored six of his 26 points during an 18-0 run and the Razorbacks extended their winning streak to 16 games with the Southwest Conference victory at Fayetteville, Ark.

Arkansas (21-1, 8-0) faces Houston on Thursday and No. 1 Nevada Las Vegas on Feb. 10.

Chase Maag scored 35 points for Rice (8-11, 3-6).

No. 5 St. John’s 81, No. 25 Seton Hall 65--Lou Carnesecca got his 500th coaching victory--all at St. John’s--as the Redmen won a Big East Conference game at New York.

Carnesecca, 66, became the 30th coach with at least five years in Division I to reach the 500 mark. He was 10th fastest to reach it, needing 683 games.

Jason Buchanan scored 26 points for St. John’s (16-3, 7-3).

Anthony Avent had 18 points for Seton Hall (13-6, 5-5).

No. 7 Duke 90, Notre Dame 77--The Blue Devils, who beat Notre Dame earlier this season, had no trouble with the Fighting Irish at South Bend, Ind.

Christian Laettner scored a game-high 20 points for Duke (18-4).

Elmer Bennett scored 19 points for Notre Dame (8-13), which trailed by as many as 23 points and made only 33% of its shots.

No. 8 Syracuse 99, Boston College 87--Billy Owens matched his career high with 36 points as the Orangemen beat the Eagles in a Big East game at Syracuse, N.Y.

Syracuse (19-3, 7-3) has defeated the Eagles 13 times in 14 games.

Bobby Moran scored 20 points for Boston College (10-10, 1-7).

Oklahoma State 81, No. 11 Nebraska 68--Darwyn Alexander stole a pass and drove for an uncontested layup with two minutes left to seal the Cowboys’ Big Eight Conference upset of the Cornhuskers at Lincoln, Neb.

Byron Houston scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds for Oklahoma State (13-5, 4-2), which was leading, 65-63, when Alexander made his steal.

Nebraska (18-4, 4-2) was unable to get closer that four points after Alexander’s basket.

New Mexico 68, No. 13 Utah 62--The Lobos ended the Utes’ school-record 17-game winning streak with the Western Athletic Conference victory at Albuquerque, N.M.

Luc Longley scored 17 points for New Mexico (16-6, 6-4), which took control with an 18-2 second-half run.

Utah (20-2, 9-1) had not lost since a defeat against Michigan on Dec. 1.

No. 15 Virginia 83, Wake Forest 80--Bryant Stith scored 31 points and the Cavaliers held off a late surge by the Demon Deacons for an Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Charlottesville, Va.

John Crotty added 24 for Virginia (16-4, 5-2), which beat Wake Forest (10-7, 3-4) for the 10th time in 11 games.

No. 16 East Tennessee State 94, Appalachian State 78--Keith Jennings had a Southern Conference record 19 assists and the Buccaneers made 14 three-point shots during their victory at Boone, N.C.

Jennings broke the mark of 18 set by Greg White of Marshall against City College of New York in 1980. He also scored 18 points and had seven steals for East Tennessee State (18-2, 7-1).

Appalachian State is 11-9 and 4-4.

No. 17 Southern Mississippi 77, Louisville 66--The Golden Eagles completed their first season sweep of the Cardinals with the Metro Conference victory at Hattiesburg, Miss.

Daron Jenkins scored 25 points and had 16 rebounds to lead Southern Mississippi (14-2, 7-1), an 84-81 winner over Louisville (7-11, 1-7) last month.

No. 21 Oklahoma 95, Missouri 87--Terry Evans scored 25 points, including a three-point basket in the final minute, as the Sooners ended a three-game losing streak in a Big Eight game at Norman, Okla.

Oklahoma (15-6, 4-3) led by 13 points in the second half but had to hang on to beat Missouri (12-7, 4-3), which got 38 points and 15 rebounds from Doug Smith.

No. 22 New Orleans 69, Southwestern Louisiana 60--Former Pomona High standout Tank Collins scored seven of his 19 points in the final two minutes at New Orleans to clinch the American South Conference victory.

Southwestern (15-7, 2-5) pulled to within 58-56, but Collins increased the lead to 62-56 with two quick baskets for New Orleans (19-3, 7-0).

No. 24 Kansas 85, Iowa State 78--Mark Randall scored 30 points and had 12 rebounds to lead the Jayhawks to their sixth consecutive victory in a Big Eight game at Ames, Iowa.

Randall made 11 of 13 shots and grabbed 12 rebounds for Kansas (15-4, 4-2).

Victor Alexander scored 33 points for Iowa State (8-14, 2-4).

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

EAST

John Gwynn, who had been criticized for not taking a potential game-tying shot in the closing seconds against Syracuse, scored seven of his 14 points in the final 37 seconds and Connecticut ended its six-game losing streak by beating Villanova, 67-59, in a Big East game at Storrs, Conn. Connecticut is 13-7 and 4-6. Greg Woodard scored 15 points for Villanova (11-9, 4-5). . . . La Salle got 30 points from Randy Woods and took command with an early 12-0 run in a 76-65 victory over Manhattan in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at New York. La Salle (14-3, 8-1) beat Manhattan (11-9, 6-3) for the 17th consecutive time since the 1975-76 season.

MIDWEST

Andy Kaufmann and Rennie Clemons each scored 16 points to lead Illinois to a 70-62 Big Ten Conference victory over Wisconsin at Champaign, Ill. Deon Thomas added 15 points for Illinois (15-6, 5-3). Wisconsin is 10-9 and 4-5. . . . At Iowa City, Iowa, Acie Earl scored 19 points and blocked six shots to lead Iowa to a 82-66 Big Ten victory over Northwestern, the Wildcats’ 41st consecutive conference road defeat. Iowa (15-6, 4-5) ended its 15-game Big Ten road losing streak Thursday with a 78-69 victory at Purdue. Northwestern is 5-13 and 0-8.

Kansas State (11-8, 1-5) extended Colorado’s Big Eight road losing streak to 55 games by defeating the Buffaloes, 73-72, at Manhattan, Kan. Stevie Wise of Colorado (12-7, 2-4) made an apparent game-tying three-point basket with 0.3 seconds left, but it was ruled a two-point shot because he stepped on the three-point line.

SOUTH

Alabama beat Auburn, 88-80, in a Southeastern Conference game at Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide’s eighth consecutive victory over the Tigers. Freshman James Robinson came off the bench to score 26 points for Alabama (13-6, 7-3). Wesley Person scored 21 points for Auburn (10-9, 3-7). . . . Craig Brown scored 13 of his 28 points in the second overtime as Florida defeated Mississippi, 91-81, in an SEC game at Oxford, Miss. Florida is 8-11 and 4-6. Mississippi is 7-12 and 1-9.

Mississippi State (14-5, 7-3) won its fourth consecutive SEC game for the first time since 1979 by defeating Tennessee, 95-68, at Starkville, Miss. Tennessee is 8-13 and 2-8.

SOUTHWEST

Freshman center Shawn Bradley scored 16 points, including two free throws with 11 seconds left, to lead Brigham Young to a 69-65 WAC victory over Texas El Paso at El Paso. BYU is 13-10 and 7-3. UTEP is 5-5 and 13-7. . . . In the Southwest Conference, Houston won its 18th consecutive home game, defeating Baylor, 86-76. Byron Smith scored 22 points for Houston (14-6, 6-3). Baylor is 9-9 and 2-7.

ROCKIES

Utah State (9-11, 6-5) overcame a five-point halftime deficit with a 17-2 run at the start of the second half and went on to beat San Jose State, 88-71, in a Big West Conference game at Logan, Utah. Charles Terrell scored a game-high 23 points for San Jose State (5-15, 3-8). . . . At Ft. Collins, Colo., Air Force defeated Colorado State, 54-49, for its first WAC victory. Charles Smith scored 20 points for Air Force (7-12, 1-7). Colorado State is 10-10 and 1-7.

WEST

Tod Bernard scored 28 points to lead Fresno State to a 78-72 Big West victory over Santa Barbara at Fresno. Fresno State (10-10, 5-6) led the entire game. Paul Johnson scored 16 points for Santa Barbara (9-9, 4-6). . . . San Diego (14-7, 7-2) set season highs for points and victory margin by routing Portland, 108-70, in a West Coast Conference game at San Diego. Wayman Strickland scored 25 points for San Diego. Portland is 4-17 and 2-6.