COLLEGE BASKETBALL : NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Arkansas Tunes Up for Showdown, 81-74

Houston hoped to catch No. 2 Arkansas looking ahead to Sunday’s game against top-ranked Nevada Las Vegas.

Arkansas, however, used Thursday night’s Southwestern Conference game as a workout and defeated the Cougars, 81-74, at Houston.

Todd Day scored 30 points for Arkansas, which won its 20th consecutive game and improved its record to 23-1 overall and 10-0 in the SWC.

“Coach (Nolan Richardson) said that Houston is the table setter and Vegas is the meal,” said Arkansas center Oliver Miller, who scored 16 points. “We had to set the table tonight. All you hear about is ‘Vegas, Vegas, Vegas.’

“We had to prove a point in the conference tonight, and now Vegas is the big game.”

Houston (14-7, 6-4), which lost at home for the first time in 19 games, was leading, 67-63, with 7:22 left. But Lee Mayberry of Arkansas made a basket with 5:23 left that broke a 67-67 tie and keyed a 15-0 run that sealed the victory for the Razorbacks.

“The table was set for a big, big upset,” Richardson said. “Houston played its best game of the year tonight, I thought. I was glad our guys were able to come back. We proved we could get behind and still come back and win on the road.”

Derrick Smith and Alvaro Teheran each scored 20 points for Houston.

Arkansas made six of its first seven shots and took a 32-18 lead midway through the first half. But Houston outscored the Razorbacks, 23-14, cutting Arkansas’ halftime lead to 46-41.

Houston took its first lead of the game, 58-57, with 12:48 left on a basket by Teheran.

No. 4 Indiana 105, Northwestern 74--The Hoosiers celebrated Coach Bob Knight’s election into the basketball Hall of Fame by routing the Wildcats in a Big Ten Conference game at Evanston, Ill.

Calbert Cheaney scored 21 points for Indiana (21-2, 9-1), which eclipsed 100 points for the fifth time this season. The Hoosiers’ season-high was 109 points against Illinois.

Freshman Pat Baldwin scored 17 points for Northwestern (5-15, 0-10), which led several times in the first half.

Cheaney made four baskets during a 14-5 run in the second half that gave the Hoosiers’ a 61-46 lead.

No. 6 Duke 86, No. 11 Virginia 74--The Blue Devils took an 11-point lead in the first 10 minutes and never looked back in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Durham, N.C.

Christian Laettner scored 22 points for Duke (19-4, 7-2), which forced Virginia into 13 turnovers in the first half.

Kenny Turner had a career-high 28 points for Virginia (17-5, 5-3), which pulled to within 59-53 with 8:46 left. That was as close as the Cavaliers would get.

Bryant Stith of Virginia, who was averaging 21.4 points per game, picked up his fourth foul two minutes into the second half and finished with 16 points.

No. 9 North Carolina 92, North Carolina State 70--The Tar Heels won at Chapel Hill, N.C., in the second ACC game in two nights between the schools.

The teams played a regularly scheduled game Wednesday and Thursday’s was a makeup of the game postponed the night the Gulf War began.

Rick Fox scored 16 points for North Carolina (16-4, 5-3), which led by six points at halftime and widened the margin steadily in the second half.

North Carolina State (12-7, 5-4) lacked the shooting touch that helped it beat North Carolina, 97-91, on Wednesday. The Wolfpack made 37% of its shots Thursday, including eight of 29 three-point attempts.

No. 12 Southern Mississippi 91, Virginia Tech 79--The Golden Eagles never trailed in the Metro Conference game at Hattiesburg, Miss., and won for the 19th time in 21 home games.

Daron Jenkins scored a career-high 26 points for Southern Mississippi (16-2, 8-1).

Anthony Moses scored 34 points for Virginia Tech (8-12, 2-6), which lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

No. 13 East Tennessee State 110, Belmont Abbey 70--The Buccaneers led, 55-38, at halftime and opened the second half with a 15-1 run en route to an easy nonconference victory over their NAIA opponent at Johnson City, Tenn.

Rodney English scored 18 points and Calvin Talford had 15 for East Tennessee State (20-2).

Jim Riches scored 22 points for Belmont Abbey (13-12).

No. 17 Utah 80, Hawaii 60--The Utes broke open the game with an 11-3 run early in the second half and cruised to victory in a Western Athletic Conference game at Salt Lake City.

Josh Grant scored 15 points for Utah (21-2, 10-1).

Tim Shepherd scored 17 points for Hawaii (11-10, 3-7).

Iowa 71, No. 25 Michigan State 67--Acie Earl scored 24 points, including six in the final two minutes, as the Hawkeyes dealt the Spartans their first home loss in a Big Ten game at East Lansing, Mich.

Iowa (16-6, 5-5) has won three consecutive games.

Steve Smith scored 19 points for Michigan State (13-7, 6-4), which has lost three of four.

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

EAST

In an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Philadelphia, Temple beat George Washington for the 18th consecutive time, 77-60. Mark Macon scored 33 points for Temple (15-6, 9-3). Rodney Patterson scored 11 points for George Washington (13-8, 7-6).

SOUTH

Tulane forced Memphis State into a season-high 24 turnovers en route to an 85-69 Metro Conference victory at New Orleans. Anthony Reed scored 23 points for Tulane (10-11, 3-6). Elliott Perry scored 25 points for Memphis State (11-10, 4-4).

WEST

Reserve center Gary Trost scored 19 points and had 13 rebounds for Brigham Young in a 75-55 Western Athletic Conference victory over San Diego State at Provo, Utah. BYU is 14-10 and 8-3. Marty Dow scored 26 points for San Diego State (9-11, 4-6). . . . Texas El Paso only made 17 shots from the field, but that was enough to beat Air Force, 57-42, in a WAC game at Air Force Academy, Colo. Air Force (7-14, 1-9) made only 12 of 44 shots. UTEP is 14-7 and 6-5. . . . Colorado State (11-10, 2-7) held on to beat New Mexico, 66-61, in a WAC game at Ft. Collins, Colo. New Mexico is 16-7 and 7-5.