COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Funderburke Chips In in Ohio State’s Victory

Lawrence Funderburke’s coming-out party at Columbus, Ohio, was an unqualified success.

Jim Jackson scored 17 points and Funderburke made strong contributions in his first game in more than a year as seventh-ranked Ohio State opened the Big Ten season by handing ninth-ranked Michigan State a 62-46 defeat Tuesday night.

The 6-foot-9 Funderburke, who had seven points, three rebounds and three blocked shots, hadn’t played since he quit the Indiana team in December of 1990. The Columbus native sat out last year at Ohio State after beginning classes last January.

He received a standing ovation when he came onto the court with Ohio State trailing, 12-8, with 13:57 left in the first half.

“That was most definitely the most nervous moment of my career,” Funderburke said.

The loss was the Spartans’ first after 10 victories, putting an end to the best start in school history. Ohio State is also 9-1.

No. 5 Connecticut 85, No. 17 St. John’s 76--Chris Smith overcame a slow start and scored a career-high 37 points as the Huskies (11-0, 2-0) beat the Redmen for only the fifth time in their last 27 games against St. John’s in a Big East game at Storrs, Conn.

The Redmen (8-3, 2-1) shot 60% from the field in the first half but had trouble during Connecticut’s decisive second-half run.

No. 15 Kentucky 78, Georgia 66--Reserves Deron Feldhaus and Junior Braddy each scored 15 points and the Wildcats (11-2, 2-0) made 24 of 25 free throws in a Southeastern Conference victory at Lexington, Ky.

Litterial Green finished with 11 points for the Bulldogs (7-4, 0-1), 12 below his average, but he still moved past Alec Kessler into first place on the school’s career scoring list with 1,788 points. Green made only three of 15 shots.

No. 18 Seton Hall 64, Miami 52--Jerry Walker scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half and Terry Dehere added 19 points as the Pirates (9-2, 2-1) beat the Hurricanes (5-8, 0-3) in a Big East game at East Rutherford, N.J.

OTHER GAMES

Mark Pope scored 13 of his career-high 21 points in the second half as Washington held off NAIA Hawaii Pacific, 81-72, at Seattle. . . . Billy Law and Mark Dean made key shots in the final 27 seconds, sparking Colorado past San Diego, 71-63, at Boulder, Colo. . . . Elbert Rogers scored 25 points, including a key field goal late in the game, as Alabama Birmingham held off DePaul for a 75-69 victory in the Great Midwest Conference game at Birmingham. . . . Indiana State used a late second-half run to defeat Creighton, 63-60, in a Missouri Valley Conference game at Omaha. . . . Eddie Jones scored a career-high 22 points and sparked two key runs to lead Temple to a 75-61 Atlantic 10 victory over Rutgers at Piscataway, N.J.