COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Duke Gangs Up on O’Neal and Beats LSU

Duke’s fans were all over Shaquille O’Neal, and so were the Blue Devils.

The sixth-ranked Blue Devils held O’Neal to a season-low 15 points and Christian Laettner had 24 points and 11 rebounds to lead Duke to an 88-70 victory over No. 19 LSU Sunday at Durham, N.C.

O’Neal, the 7-foot-1, 295-pound sophomore center, came into the game averaging 27 points and leading the nation in rebounding with 15 per game. He was the target of the crowd as well as the Duke defense.

O’Neal scored only four points in the first half, sitting out more than 10 minutes because of foul trouble as LSU (15-7) fell behind. The 15 points matched his season low against Auburn and he had 10 rebounds.

“It was like a high school gym--very loud,” O’Neal said. “The crowd was a factor.”

Duke (21-4) has won six consecutive games and 11 of 12.

The 6-11 Laettner scored 16 points in the first half as Duke scored the last seven points of the half for a 48-39 lead.

“He’s only 18 years old,” LSU Coach Dale Brown said. “He’s not Superman.”

No. 4 Indiana 81, Purdue 63--Sophomore Calbert Cheaney scored 18 points to go over the 1,000-point mark and the Hoosiers beat the Boilermakers at Bloomington, Ind. The Hoosiers (22-2 overall, 10-1 in Big Ten) remained tied for the conference lead with Ohio State.

Trailing, 41-27, at halftime, Purdue (11-10, 3-8) ran off nine consecutive points early in the second half to make the score 46-40 with 13:04 to play.

Cheaney had two baskets and Pat Graham and Eric Anderson added baskets to push Indiana’s lead to 54-43 with 9:27 to play. Purdue never threatened again.

Wake Forest 74, No. 11 Virginia 66--Freshman Randolph Childress scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 10 minutes and the Deacons handed the Cavaliers their third loss in four days in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Wake Forest (14-7, 5-4) won its fourth consecutive game and beat Virginia (17-7, 5-5) for the second time in their last 12 meetings.

Bryant Stith scored 26 points but was scoreless after giving Virginia its final lead, 63-62.

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

EAST

Sophomore Vic Carstarphen scored a career-high 25 points and Mark Macon added 24 as Temple (16-6, 10-3) defeated West Virginia, 88-78, in overtime at Philadelphia and moved into a tie with Rutgers for first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

MIDWEST

Andy Kaufmann scored 28 points and Illinois (18-6, 8-3) had runs of 15-0 and 13-0 as the Illini won their sixth Big Ten game in a row, 94-74, over Minnesota (10-10, 3-7) at Minneapolis. Kevin Lynch had 28 points for the Gophers.

SOUTH

Rodney Monroe scored 17 of his 21 points in the final 11 minutes to help North Carolina State (13-7, 6-4) beat Clemson, 72-62, in an ACC game at Clemson, S.C. Dale Davis had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers (10-12, 1-8).

SOUTHWEST

Chase Maag had 24 points, including five three-pointers, to power Rice (10-11, 4-6) to a 79-69 victory over Houston (14-8, 6-5) in a Southwest Conference game. Tyrone Evans scored 17 for the Cougars.