COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Parks Joins Duke in Overwhelming Victory

Duke was going to be too much for William & Mary even without Cherokee Parks.

The presence of the 6-foot-11 freshman center from Huntington Beach Marina High made an impossible situation hopeless for the Tribe as No. 1 Duke cruised to a 97-61 victory at Durham, N.C., Monday night.

Parks, who had missed two games because of an ankle sprain, drew enough attention to free 6-11 Christian Laettner for 25 points as Duke improved its record to 6-0.

“We wanted to help down on Laettner,” William & Mary Coach Chuck Swenson said. “That was impossible to do with the big lineup with them starting Cherokee Parks.”

Laettner scored 21 points in the first half and finished with eight rebounds despite sitting out much of the second half.

The Blue Devils took a 27-point halftime lead and led by as many as 39 points when backup center Erik Meek sank two free throws with 4:17 left to make it 88-49. William & Mary (4-6) crept back in the final minutes as Duke substituted freely. Nonstarters had the last 12 points for Duke.

No. 6 Arizona 103, Rutgers 80--Chris Mills scored 13 consecutive second-half points and 23 in all as the Wildcats won the Fiesta Bowl Classic at Tucson, Ariz., for the seventh time in a row.

Khalid Reeves added 20 points, Sean Rooks 16 and Damon Stoudamire 15 for Arizona (7-1), which with the victory pushed its home winning streak to 68 games, the nation’s longest ongoing streak.

Steve Worthy led Rutgers (5-2) with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists and tied a tournament record with six steals.

No. 11 Michigan 63, Virginia Tech 51--Tournament MVP Chris Webber and freshman teammate Jalen Rose scored 12 points each as the Wolverines won the Citrus Bowl Classic at Orlando, Fla.

Michigan (8-1) took a 30-24 halftime lead and opened a 44-28 lead midway through the second half, despite problems with poor shooting and turnovers.

John Rivers led Virginia Tech (4-5) with 13 points and Jay Purcell added 12, all in the second half.

Webber, who scored 31 points to go along with 22 rebounds in the tournament, grabbed 11 rebounds against Virginia Tech, which held a 50-41 rebounding edge.

No. 13 Missouri 83, Eastern Illinois 56--Anthony Peeler and Melvin Booker each scored 21 points to lead the Tigers (7-0) at Missouri.

Missouri went on an 11-0 run in the first half that was capped by three-pointers from Booker and Peeler and gave the Tigers a 14-6 lead.

Peeler’s three-pointer was the 76th of his career and moved him past Byron Irvin into second place behind Lee Coward on Missouri’s all-time list.

No. 14 Oklahoma 117, Mississippi Valley State 95--Damon Patterson scored 25 points and Jeff Webster added 23 to lead the Sooners (9-0) to an opening-round victory in the Cardinal Club Classic at Beaumont, Tex.

Oklahoma advanced to the championship game tonight against Lamar, a 126-57 winner over Sam Houston State.

No. 15 Georgia Tech 98, St. Bonaventure 60--Malcolm Mackey scored 20 points and freshman Travis Best, coming off the bench, and Jon Barry each had 19 to lead the Yellow Jackets (9-2) at Atlanta.

Georgia Tech’s pressure defense rattled the Bonnies (4-3), who turned the ball over on their first three possessions. The Yellow Jackets took an 8-0 lead, traded some baskets, then scored 11 consecutive points for a 21-4 lead with 13:22 remaining.

No. 16 Arkansas 101, South Alabama 82--Lee Mayberry scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half and the Razorbacks (10-2) pulled away to win easily at Mobile, Ala.

South Alabama (4-6) didn’t threaten the rest of the game.

No. 23 Syracuse 88, Wichita State 63--Conrad McRae had 11 of his career-high 19 points as the Orangemen (8-0) unleashed a frenzied press to trigger a 21-4 second-half run and pull away from the Shockers (2-5) at Syracuse, N.Y.

Wichita State, led by freshman John Smith’s 14 points, lost its fifth in a row. Three of those losses have been to ranked teams, including Oklahoma State and Utah.

OTHER GAMES

Shaquille O’Neal had 23 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots in the 24 minutes he played at Baton Rouge, La., and Louisiana State routed Nicholls State, 123-61, in its second 100-plus performance in three days. The 62-point triumph was the third-highest margin of victory for LSU (5-3), which enjoyed a record-setting 159-86 victory Saturday night over Northern Arizona. . . . Rich Manning scored 17 of his career-high 23 points in the second half as Washington overcame a sluggish start to beat UC San Diego, 77-53, at Seattle. . . . Will Hooker scored 21 points and Fresno State beat Wisconsin, 71-68, for fifth place in the Rainbow Classic at Honolulu. . . . Nick Sanderson and Gary Trost scored 20 points and Brigham Young held Florida scoreless in the final 5:13 to win, 79-73, in the third-place game of the Citrus Bowl tournament at Orlando, Fla. . . . Ron Curry scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Marquette to a 93-63 victory over Maryland Baltimore at Milwaukee. . . . Parrish Casebier scored 28 points as Evansville held off Maryland, 75-64, in the consolation game of the Fiesta Bowl Classic at Tucson. . . . Brian Dawson scored 25 points and handed out a team-high five assists as Akron broke a two-game losing streak by beating Tennessee State at Akron. . . . Marques Bragg had 21 points and 14 rebounds to power Providence College past Central Connecticut State, 75-63, for the Friars’ sixth consecutive victory. . . . Allan Houston scored 30 points as Tennessee came from behind, then ran away to a 92-74 victory over Furman at Knoxville. . . . Sebastian Neal scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Oral Roberts to a 71-51 victory over Stephen F. Austin at Tulsa. . . . Center Ervin Johnson had game-highs of 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots as New Orleans extended its victory streak to six games with a 60-59 triumph over Brown at New Orleans. . . . Jay Goodman hit four three-pointers and finished with 20 points to lead Utah State (5-3) to an 84-72 victory over Weber State (5-6) at Logan, Utah.