COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Iowa Almost Catches Ohio State Flat-Footed

Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers blamed himself when his team lost its aggressiveness during the second half. But Chris Jent’s two free throws with 11.8 seconds to play cut short an Iowa rally as the Buckeyes won, 85-81, in a Big Ten game at Columbus, Ohio, Sunday.

“I changed our defense with 10 minutes left to make them run a halfcourt offense,” Ayers said. “But it made us stand around.”

Jent, who finished with 16 points, scored six of Ohio State’s nine points in the final three minutes.

Jim Jackson led Ohio State (11-2, 3-1 in the Big Ten) with 21 points, and Mark Baker had 15 points. Lawrence Funderburke, making his first start for the Buckeyes, had 12 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Acie Earl led Iowa (9-5, 1-3) with 22 points and 10 rebounds, with James Moses adding 20 points and Val Barnes 16.

No. 14 North Carolina 76, Villanova 64--Hubert Davis scored 19 points and George Lynch added 19 as the Tar Heels started slowly but finished fast in their victory at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Davis made two three-point baskets early in the second half to get North Carolina’s offense started. Lynch also had 11 rebounds.

North Carolina (13-2) took a 62-44 lead on a drive down the lane by Donald Williams with 6:43 remaining, but the Wildcats got their offense going long enough to mount one final charge.

Temple 74, St. Joseph’s 61--Mik Kilgore scored 22 points and Temple (7-5, 4-4) used a pressing defense to force 17 turnovers during an Atlantic 10 game at Philadelphia.

Bernard Blunt had 27 points and 15 rebounds for St. Joseph’s (8-6, 2-2).

PACIFIC 10

Arizona State 68, Washington 62--Jamal Faulkner scored 17 of his 18 points during the second half at Seattle as the Sun Devils (11-5, 2-2) beat Washington (8-5, 2-1) in a Pac-10 game for the sixth time in a row.

Faulkner, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, missed four field goal attempts in the first half but made five of his last eight attempts and was eight of 12 from the free throw line.

After trailing by four points at halftime, the Sun Devils used an 11-0 run early in the second half to take the lead for good.

Tony Ronaldson led Arizona State with 20 points. Lester Neal added 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

Rich Manning topped the Huskies with 14 points, but made only six of 17 shots from the field.

Manning scored 10 points and the Huskies scored the last four points of the first half to lead, 29-25, at halftime.

Washington used an 11-0 run to go ahead, 20-11, with 8:28 left in the half, but the Sun Devils came back to tie the score, 22-22. Manning’s baseline jump shot gave Washington a 27-25 edge and Mark Pope’s layup capped the first-half scoring.