COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Kansas State Shoots Down No. 6 Missouri

A month ago, Kansas State fans wanted second-year Coach Dana Altman fired.

Now, Altman may be on the verge of leading the Wildcats into the NCAA tournament.

The possibility of an NCAA bid seemed real enough Saturday after Kansas State overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and defeated No. 6 Missouri, 73-69, in a Big Eight Conference game at Manhattan, Kan.

“We felt we had to beat somebody pretty good, a top 10 team, to give us some credibility,” Altman said. “Now we have to have another good week.”

Kansas State, which improved to 15-10 overall and 5-8 in the Big Eight, took command after halftime. Wylie Howard made two free throws with 35 seconds left and Gaylon Nickerson blocked Anthony Peeler’s short jump shot with four seconds left to preserve the victory.

“We knew they were going to Peeler,” Altman said. “Gaylon just stayed with him and had a good block.

“This is probably as good a win as I’ve had here.”

Missouri forward Jamal Coleman missed the game because of an injury.

Peeler, who scored 23 points, made a shot off a drive to tie the score, 69-69.

With 35 seconds left, Missouri’s Jevon Crudup was called for a foul and Howard made both foul shots to make the score 71-69.

Peeler drove for the tying basket, but Nickerson got a hand on the ball and deflected it. Askia Jones made two free throws that clinched the victory for Kansas State, which ended a four-game losing streak against Missouri (20-5, 8-4).

“Everybody in the Big Eight plays good at home,” Peeler said. “You can’t take anybody for granted. As tough as the Big Eight is, anything is possible.”

Jones scored 20 points for Kansas State, which outscored Missouri, 11-5, in the opening minutes of the second half. The Wildcats took a 45-38 lead on a three-point basket by Nickerson with 15:43 left.

Crudup scored 14 points for Missouri, which beat Kansas State by eight points at home on Feb. 12, made 62% of its shots in the first half and led by as many as 10 points until Kansas State used a 15-4 run to pull to 34-33 at halftime.

No. 8 Ohio State 78, No. 12 Michigan State 65--Jim Jackson scored 20 points for the Buckeyes (19-5, 11-3), who led by as many as 21 points in a Big Ten Conference victory over the Spartans (18-6, 8-6) at East Lansing, Mich.

Ohio State led, 49-41, with 14 minutes left before Michigan State started a comeback.

The Spartans outscored the Buckeyes, 8-2, during the next two minutes, cutting the margin to two points. But Jackson’s jump-hook ended the Spartans’ run, and the Buckeyes converted three Michigan State turnovers into six points and a 59-49 lead.

“We got an All-American effort from Jimmy Jackson, but you win games with defense,” Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers said. “Our defense did a great job of getting after them, and we did a solid job on Mike Peplowski.”

Peplowski and Dwayne Stephens each scored 13 points for Michigan State.

No. 9 Arkansas 84, Mississippi State 76--Todd Day scored 27 points and reserve Roosevelt Wallace added 16 to lead the Razorbacks in a Southeastern Conference victory at Starkville, Miss.

Arkansas (22-6, 11-3) is tied with Louisiana State in the SEC West division. The Razorbacks play LSU Tuesday night in Fayetteville.

Tony Watts scored 24 points for Mississippi State (14-11, 6-8).

Louisiana State 73, No. 16 Alabama 65--Shaquille O’Neal scored 28 points, had 18 rebounds and blocked five shots to help the Tigers overcome a miserable performance from the free-throw line for the Southeastern Conference victory at Baton Rouge, La.

LSU (18-7, 11-3) made only three of 16 free throws during one stretch in the final 11 minutes. O’Neal made four of 12 free throws in the game.

Alabama (21-7, 8-6) has lost to LSU five consecutive times and hasn’t won at the Assembly Center since February 1987.

“We lost the game in the first 12 minutes,” Alabama Coach Wimp Sanderson said. “We start off with double-digit turnovers, and we shoot 29% for the first half. You’re not going to win a lot of basketball games like that.”

No. 18 Georgetown 76, Boston College 60--Robert Churchwell started a 19-0 first half-run as the Hoyas took a big lead and held off a second-half rally for the Big East Conference victory at Landover, Md.

Boston College (15-10, 7-9) is 0-11 against Georgetown at the Capital Centre.

Georgetown (18-7, 11-5) made only three field goals in the final 10 minutes, but made 20 of 22 free throws--including their last 19.

No. 19 Cincinnati 63, Alabama Birmingham 58--Reserve Tarrance Gibson scored 11 points and the Bearcats held off the Blazers for a Great Midwest Conference victory at Birmingham, Ala.

Gibson made a three-point shot with 3:49 left to break a 52-52 tie and put Cincinnati (22-4, 7-2) ahead for good.

Alabama Birmingham (19-7, 3-6) got within a point when Elbert Rogers made a jump shot with 43 seconds left, but the Blazers did not score again.

Notre Dame 79, No. 20 St. John’s 70--LaPhonso Ellis made all 16 of his free throws and scored 30 points at South Bend, Ind., as the Fighting Irish upset another ranked team.

Notre Dame (13-12) has beaten No. 4 UCLA, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 13 USC, No. 22 Syracuse and No. 21 DePaul.

Malik Sealy scored 21 points for St. John’s (17-8).

Ellis, who has a 63% free-throw average, tied the school record for consecutive free throws in a game set by Donald Royal against DePaul in 1986.

No. 21 DePaul 88, St. Louis 71--Reserve Jeff Stern scored 20 points at St. Louis as the Blue Demons (19-6, 8-1) clinched the championship of the Great Midwest Conference.

Despite the conference title, DePaul must get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament because the first-year conference does not receive an automatic berth.

Erwin Claggett scored 23 points for St. Louis (5-21, 0-9).

No. 22 Syracuse 68, Miami 63--The Orangemen made only seven of 28 shots in the first half, but Lawrence Moten made five three-point shots and scored all of his 20 points in the second half to give Syracuse (18-7, 10-6) a Big East victory at Miami.

“In the second half I looked for my shot a little more, and fortunately I was open,” Moten said.

Miami (6-21, 1-15), which lost its 12th consecutive game, had a 25-23 lead at halftime, only the second time this season that the Hurricanes led at intermission of a Big East game.

No. 25 Nebraska 84, Colorado 70--Derrick Chandler scored 17 points and the Cornhuskers--last in the Big Eight in free-throw percentage--made 21 of 26 second-half free throws for a Big Eight victory at Lincoln, Neb.

Nebraska (18-7, 6-6) made 26 of 33 free throws.

Randy Robinson scored 24 points for Colorado (12-13, 3-9).

EAST

Chris Mooney scored 19 points as Princeton (21-4, 11-1) won its school-record fourth consecutive Ivy League championship and guaranteed itself a spot in the NCAA tournament with a 58-49 victory over Brown (9-15, 3-9) at Princeton, N.J. . . . Greg Woodard of Villanova (12-12, 9-7) scored 33 points to lead the Wildcats to a 78-61 Big East Conference victory over Pittsburgh (16-13, 8-8) at Villanova, Pa.

Harry Moore of St. Bonaventure (9-18, 3-13) scored 23 points in a 76-71 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over Rutgers (13-13, 5-10) at Olean, N.Y. . . . Chris Leonard scored 28 points to lead West Virginia (18-9, 10-5) to a 95-82 Atlantic 10 victory over St. Joseph’s (13-13, 6-9) at Morgantown, W.Va.

MIDWEST

Purdue (14-13, 6-9) held off Wisconsin (13-14, 14-10) with a 9-2 run in the final 90 seconds of a 61-51 Big Ten Conference victory at West Lafayette, Ind. . . . Claudius Johnson scored 19 points and had 16 rebounds to lead Wichita State (7-19, 5-12) to a 71-53 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Drake (6-20, 3-14) at Wichita, Kan.

SOUTH

Malcolm Mackey and Jon Barry each scored five points in overtime to lead Georgia Tech (19-9, 7-7) to a 98-88 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over North Carolina State (11-16, 5-9) at Atlanta. . . . Five players from Virginia (13-12, 6-8) scored more than 10 points and the Cavaliers took advantage of 25 turnovers by Clemson (14-1, 4-10) in a 69-49 ACC victory at Charlottesville, Va.

Allan Houston scored 26 points and Tennessee (16-12, 7-7) dominated the boards in an 87-64 Southeastern Conference victory over South Carolina (10-15, 2-12) at Knoxville, Tenn. . . . Litterial Green scored 22 points and Georgia (13-12, 6-8) made 25 of 32 free throws in a 69-60 SEC victory over Florida (15-10, 8-6) at Gainesville, Fla.

Senior center Chris Brandt scored 23 points to lead Auburn to a 110-84 SEC victory over Mississippi at Auburn, Ala. . . . Erik Wilson scored 20 points to lead Virginia Tech (10-15, 3-8) to a 73-65 Metro Conference victory over North Carolina Charlotte (18-8, 5-5) at Blacksburg, Va.

Clarence Weatherspoon scored eight of his 24 points during a two-minute stretch in the second half as Southern Mississippi (12-13, 5-5) defeated Louisville (17-9, 6-5), 82-70, in a Metro Conference game at Hattiesburg, Miss. . . . Curtis Blair scored 27 points for Richmond (21-6, 12-2) in a 69-66 Colonial Athletic Assn. victory over James Madison (18-9, 11-2) that gives the Spiders the top seeding in the conference’s postseason tournament.

Mississippi Valley State (16-13) became the first team to clinch a berth in the NCAA tournament, beating Southern (18-12), 85-77, to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championship at Baton, Rouge, La.

SOUTHWEST

Damon Patterson scored 34 points and had 12 rebounds to lead Oklahoma (18-7, 6-6) to a 96-70 Big Eight victory over Iowa State (18-10, 4-8) at Norman, Okla. . . . Tony Watson scored 23 points for Texas (20-9, 10-2), which earned its fourth consecutive 20-win season under Coach Tom Penders with a 97-67 Southwest Conference victory over Baylor (12-14, 4-9) at Austin, Tex.

WEST

Steve Logan and Ike Williams each scored 13 as New Mexico (17-10, 11-4) kept its share of first place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 70-55 victory over Air Force (9-17, 3-11) at Air Force Academy, Colo. . . . Gary Trost scored six of his 23 points during a 20-5 first half run that broke open a close game and gave Brigham Young (20-6, 11-4) a 98-78 WAC victory over San Diego State (2-25, 0-15) at Provo, Utah.

Marlon Maxey scored 24 points and all five starters for Texas El Paso (22-5, 11-4) scored more than 10 points in the Miners’ 86-68 WAC victory over Colorado State (13-15, 7-7) at Ft. Collins, Colo. . . . Byron Wilson scored 16 points and Paul Afeaki added 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead Utah (19-8, 9-6) to a 59-53 WAC victory over Hawaii (15-11, 8-7) at Salt Lake City.

Kendall Youngblood scored 41 points and had 13 rebounds to lead Utah State (15-10, 9-7) to an 85-78 overtime victory over New Mexico State (17-7, 9-6) in a Big West Conference game at Logan, Utah. . . . Daryl Johnson of San Francisco (12-15, 4-10) scored 22 points in the Dons’ 81-69 West Coast Conference victory over Santa Clara (13-14, 9-5) at Santa Clara.

Brooks Barnhard of San Diego (14-13, 6-8) made a lay-up with three seconds left to give the Toreros a 50-48 WCC victory over St. Mary’s (13-16, 4-10) at San Diego.