COLLEGE BASKETBALL : NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Oklahoma State Beats Georgia Tech to Win Preseason NIT Title

No. 11-ranked Oklahoma State defeated No. 18 Georgia Tech, 78-71, Friday night at New York to win the preseason NIT.

Sean Sutton had 20 points and MVP Byron Houston added 19 for Oklahoma State, which held a comfortable lead for the opening 25 minutes before going scoreless for 6:44 as the Yellow Jackets (3-1) cut a 52-36 deficit to four points with a 12-0 run.

Oklahoma State finally scored again with 8:13 left on a three-point play by Bryant Reeves. Georgia Tech was never closer than six points during the final 6 1/2 minutes.

“In the first half we played as well as we could play,” Cowboy Coach Eddie Sutton said. “In the second half we got fatigued and careless and you have to give Georgia Tech credit.”

Matt Geiger led Georgia Tech with 19 points.

No. 24 Pittsburgh 91, Texas 87--Chris McNeal scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Panthers slowed things down just enough to beat Longhorns and take third place in the Preseason NIT.

The Panthers (3-1) played at Texas’ typical racehorse pace until they began to use more of the 45-second shot clock in the second half, especially on three key possessions in the final two minutes.

Texas (2-2) held the lead most of the way despite some horrible shooting, both from the outside. For the game, Texas shot 41% (36 of 47).

No. 14 Utah 75, San Jose State 57--Phil Dixon scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half and the Utes (3-0) beat the Spartans (0-2) at San Jose for their first road victory.

Utah built a 55-39 lead on Dixon’s 17-foot baseline jumper with 9:44 to play before San Jose State battled back with an 11-3 run over the next five minutes to close within 58-50. But then the Utes pulls away.

No. 15 Connecticut 79, Yale 55--Scott Burrell scored 20 points and Chris Smith added 19 as the Huskies (2-0) held off a rally by the Elis (2-1) midway through the second half and won easily at Hartford, Conn.

The victory was the 350th of Coach Jim Calhoun’s career and his 100th at Connecticut. Yale nearly upset the Huskies last year using a slowdown game, but the smaller Elis couldn’t slow the Huskies this year.

Ed Petersen led Yale with 18 points.

No. 20 DePaul 92, Memphis State 89--David Booth scored a game-high 29 points and Howard Nathan hit a pair of free throws with two seconds left to give the Blue Demons an overtime victory at Memphis, Tenn.

Nathan’s free throws came four seconds after Memphis State’s Marcus Nolan was called for a charging foul. Memphis State, which had a school-record 31 turnovers, also missed all four of its free throws in the extra period.

A three-pointer by Memphis State’s Anfernee Hardaway with seven seconds remaining sent the game into overtime.

The game marked the christening of The Pyramid, Memphis’ $65 million arena on the banks of the Mississippi River. A capacity crowd of 20,142 attended.

TOURNAMENTS: LAPCHICK MEMORIAL

No. 8 St. John’s 75, North Carolina Wilmington 57--Rob Werdann, a 6-foot-11 center who made his first seven shots, tied his career high with 21 points to lead the Redmen at New York in the opening round of the tournament named in memory of former St. John’s coach Joe Lapchick.

The win was St. John’s 33rd in a row in the Lapchick Tournament. St. John’s has won all 16 previous tournament titles.

Malik Sealy added 20 points for the Redmen (2-0), who play Drexel in today’s title game. The Dragons (1-1) advanced with a 70-64 overtime victory over St. Mary’s (Calif.) in the first game of the doubleheader.

GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT

Oregon State 80, Alaska Anchorage 66--Scott Haskin scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and Chad Scott also had 24 as the Beavers held off the Division II Seawolves in the first round at Anchorage, Alaska.

The Beavers (2-0) went ahead to stay on a three-pointer by Scott with 8:16 remaining that put Oregon State up 57-55. That sparked a 20-6 run.

Oregon State played without forward LeRoy Jackson, who had an injured back.

Alaska Anchorage (2-1) got 21 points from Steve Garrity.

In another first-round game, Ervin Johnson had 25 points and 11 rebounds to lead New Orleans (1-1) to a 73-56 victory over Idaho (2-1).

SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT

TCU 53, Iowa State 52--Ken Fiedler came on for an injured teammate to make a free throw with nine seconds to play to give Texas Christian a victory over the Cyclones in the first round at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Down 52-50 with 24 seconds remaining, TCU guard Brent Atwater was awarded a basket on a goaltending call and was also fouled on the play. Atwater was hurt and had to leave the game, so Coach Moe Iba inserted Fiedler, whose only point won the game.

Michael Strickland led the Horned Frogs (4-0) with 24 points. Iowa State is now 2-1.

RICHMOND

LaSalle 99, California 76--Randy Woods scored a tournament-record 42 points to lead the Explorers after the Bears in the first round at Richmond, Va.

Brian Hendrick led Cal with 20 points.

Lasalle (1-0) advances to the championship game against Richmond, which defeated Virginia Tech, 84-51.

KYLT CLASSIC

Texas Arlington 113, USF 81--Johnny McDowell and Leonard Wilson scored 28 points each as Texas-Arlington (2-1) used its run-and-gun offense to demolish San Francisco (0-2) in the opening round at Missoula, Mont.

The 113 points scored by the Mavs were the most in the history of the 12-year tournament.

Earlier, Montana (4-0) beat Southeastern Louisiana, 89-47.

FRESNO

Gonzaga 77, Baylor 75--Jarrod Davis scored 24 points to lead Gonzaga (2-1) to a victory at Fresno. Two free throws by Davis and two more by Jeff Brown sealed the win.