COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : St. John’s Ends Its Big East Season by Finishing Off Georgetown

Malik Sealy scored 20 points and No. 17 St. John’s kept alive its chance to tie for the Big East Conference title by defeating Georgetown, 68-58, Monday night at New York.

The Redmen (20-6 overall, 10-6 in the Big East) wrapped up their conference season trailing only Syracuse (10-4). Seton Hall and Pittsburgh are both 8-6.

“After working so hard against these guys all season, I don’t care who beats who,” St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca said. “I’ll just sit back and second-guess all of them.”

Georgetown (16-10, 8-7) lost for the fourth time in five games and is in danger of missing the NCAA tournament. The Hoyas are 12-10 against Division I teams.

St. John’s, which has won four of five, led for the last 30 minutes and was never really in trouble despite making only three field goals in the final 14 minutes. One of those was on a goaltending call and another was a three-point shot by Robert Werdann at the buzzer.

Jason Buchanan’s basket with 14:23 left gave the Redmen a 45-37 lead, but the Hoyas scored four consecutive points, including a free throw by Alonzo Mourning with 12:47 left, the first point for the 6-foot-10 power forward.

Georgetown, which shot only 38% (19 for 50), got within 55-51 with 3:09 left on two free throws by Mourning, who finished with six points and four rebounds.

St. John’s made eight of 13 free throws to hold on.

Dikembe Mutombo had 19 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots for Georgetown.

No. 19 East Tennessee State 88, Virginia Military 76--Keith Jennings had 19 points and seven assists as the Buccaneers defeated the Keydets in a Southern Conference game at Johnson City, Tenn.

East Tennessee (25-4, 11-3) had a 45-35 lead at halftime, but VMI (10-16, 5-9) closed to within 52-46 on a basket by Marty Chadwick with 14:27 left.

The Buccaneers answered with a three-pointer by Major Geer and baskets from Jerry Pelphrey and Alvin West to make it 59-46 with just less than 13 minutes left.

The Keydets moved to within 74-66 with 5 1/2 minutes remaining on a basket by Lewis Preston. However, Jennings scored seven points as the Buccaneers pulled away for good with an 11-2 run.

No. 25 Virginia 72, Towson State 49--Kenny Turner had 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Cavaliers won their 20th game for the eighth time in 12 seasons by trouncing the Tigers at Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia Coach Jeff Jones became the second Atlantic Coast Conference coach to win 20 games in his first season. Press Maravich won 20 with North Carolina State in 1965.

The Cavaliers (20-9) led, 31-22, at the half, and opened the second half with an 11-4 run capped by Matt Blundin’s follow shot of his own miss for a 42-26 lead with 14:54 remaining.

Virginia’s 12-0 run late in the game, finished by Ted Jeffries’ basket inside, pushed the Cavalier lead to 64-37 with 4:32 left. Virginia made 18 of 27 shots (67%) in the second half.

Towson State (17-10), which made only 32.8% of its shots (20 of 61), was held to a season low in scoring.

John Crotty had 15 points and seven assists, Jeffries added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Bryant Stith scored 11 points for Virginia.

Chuck Lightening scored 14 points and Terrance Jacobs added 13 for Towson State, which won the East Coast Conference regular-season title. REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS EAST

Marc Brown broke Siena’s single-game scoring record with 44 points in a 97-63 victory over Fairfield (8-19, 4-12) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season finale for both teams at Loudonville, N.Y. Brown broke Mike Catino’s 13-year-old record of 42 points, making 15 of 19 shots, including six of eight three-pointers, for the Saints (22-8, 12-4). MIDWEST

Steve Smith scored 27 points to become the leading scorer in Michigan State history, and the Spartans (17-8, 10-5) held off Minnesota, 74-72, in a Big Ten Conference game at Minneapolis. Smith has 2,150 points, breaking the record of 2,145 set by Scott Skiles. Kevin Lynch had 29 points for the Gophers (10-14, 3-11). . . . Tony Bennett scored 24 points to lead Wisconsin Green Bay (20-6, 12-3) past Cleveland State, 73-62, in a Mid-Continent Conference game at Green Bay, Wis. Anthony Reed had 12 points for Cleveland State (12-14, 8-7). SOUTHWEST

Dexter Cambridge hit seven of eight shots and scored 16 points to lead six Texas players in double figures in a 96-83 victory over Stetson (13-15). Texas is 19-6.