COLLEGE BASKETBALL REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS : Arkansas Introduces Itself to the SEC, 110-92

Arkansas officially began Southeastern Conference play Saturday night, but Razorback guard Todd Day played as if he were in a league of his own.

Day scored a career-high 35 points to lead No. 16 Arkansas to a 110-92 victory over Auburn at Fayetteville, Ark.

Day made his first five shots--four from three-point range--as the Razorbacks built a 20-point lead in the first 9 1/2 minutes.

Day, who sat out the first semester for disciplinary reasons, returned to the Arkansas lineup Thursday night and scored 26 points in 22 minutes against Quincy College. Against Auburn, he had 16 points in the first seven minutes and 24 by halftime.

Day finished with a school-record seven three-point baskets.

“It was obvious Todd was ready to play,” Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said.

Arkansas (12-2) won the Southwest Conference title last year and is the favorite to win the Western Division of the SEC.

Auburn (6-5) led, 3-2, before Day made two free throws and pulled up on a fast break for the first of six successful three-point shots. Arkansas made 10 of its first 12 shots.

After Oliver Miller deflected a long pass to Lee Mayberry for a slam dunk, the Razorbacks led, 29-12.

EAST

Mark Strickland scored on a dunk with 13 seconds left to give Temple (5-2) a 63-62 victory over West Virginia (6-5) at Morgantown, W. Va. . . . Randy Woods had 30 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds to lead La Salle (4-4, 1-1) to a 120-88 victory over Iona (5-5, 0-1) in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Philadelphia.

Trailing 40-36 with 7:30 left, Princeton (8-3) went on an 11-0 run for a 47-46 victory over Loyola (Md.) at Baltimore. Loyola is 6-4.

MIDWEST

Craig Riley came off the bench to score 15 points without missing a shot as Purdue (8-4) ended a two-game losing streak with a 64-48 victory over Western Michigan (9-2) at West Lafayette, Ind. . . . Louis Ely scored 15 points and Wisconsin (9-4) beat Marquette (9-2), 81-63, at Madison, Wis.

Justus Thigpen scored 25 points, and his basket with two seconds left led to a three-point play that lifted Iowa State (10-2) to a 76-73 victory over Minnesota (8-5) at Minneapolis. . . . Acie Earl scored 23 points and Val Barnes made five three-point baskets to lead Iowa (8-2) to 121-76 victory over Centenary (4-5) at Iowa City.

SOUTH

Allan Houston scored 21 points and Carlus Groves added 19 as Tennessee (7-3) beat Vanderbilt (6-4, 0-2), 91-75, in the Volunteers’ Southeastern Conference opener at Knoxville, Tenn. . . . Tom Gugliotta scored 21 points and North Carolina State (6-4) used a 15-0 first-half run for an 83-63 victory over Davidson (3-4) at Raleigh, N.C.

Bryant Stith of Virginia (5-5, 1-1) scored five of his team’s 11 points in overtime as the Cavaliers beat Florida State (7-3, 1-1), 77-68, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Tallahassee, Fla.

WEST

Malloy Nesmith made four free throws in the final 1:10 and finished with 20 points to lead Utah State (6-3) to an 88-83 victory over Fresno State (9-4) in a Big West Conference opener at Fresno. . . . Lynn Collins of Arizona State (9-3) scored six of his team’s 10 points in overtime in a 59-56 victory over San Diego (8-4) at Tempe, Ariz.

Gary Trost scored 17 points to lead Brigham Young (9-1) to a 95-68 nonconference rout of Tennessee Tech (3-8) at Provo, Utah. . . . Chauncy McBride made two free throws with six seconds left in overtime to seal an 84-80 victory for Idaho (7-7, 1-1) in a Big Sky Conference game against Northern Arizona (4-6, 1-1) at Flagstaff, Ariz.

John Levitt scored 23 points to lead St. Mary’s (8-6) to a 98-59 victory over CS Sacramento (1-14) at Moraga. . . . Tim Owens scored 29 points, including five three-point baskets, to lead San Francisco (6-5) to a 85-74 victory over Columbia (1-6) at San Francisco. . . . Lucius Davis scored 22 points and had eight rebounds to lead UC Santa Barbara (8-2, 2-0) past San Jose State (1-9, 0-2), 77-70, in overtime in a Big West Conference game.