COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : MacLeod’s Technical Costs the Irish

A technical foul on Notre Dame Coach John MacLeod with 2.2 seconds to play sent DePaul’s Stephen Howard to the line Saturday night at Rosemont, Ill.

Howard made the second of two free throws to give No. 15 DePaul a 66-65 victory.

MacLeod protested vehemently and drew the technical when the Irish’s Brooks Boyer drove to the basket and there was no foul called after a collision. MacLeod refused to comment on the officiating.

The loss dealt Notre Dame’s NCAA tournament hopes a serious blow.

DePaul rallied from a 14-point deficit to take a 65-64 lead, only to have Notre Dame’s Elmer Bennett tie it with a free throw with 52 seconds left.

Notre Dame regained possession, and it appeared--at least to MacLeod--that Boyer would get a chance to win the game.

But instead it was Howard, who scored a personal-best 31 points.

Said MacLeod: “We had plenty of chances to win the game in the second half, but we began shooting the ball too quickly, missed our free throws and had too many turnovers.”

The loss left Notre Dame with a 14-13 record and one regular-season game to play, at Evansville Monday night.

DePaul ended the regular season at 20-7 and is all but certain to get an NCAA bid after participating in the Great Midwest Conference Tournament next week.

Terry Davis scored 17 points for DePaul. Daimon Sweet had 23 for Notre Dame and Bennett added 20.

No. 5 Ohio State 93, Northwestern 78--Jim Jackson scored 26 points as the Buckeyes breezed to a Big Ten victory at Columbus, Ohio. It was the Wildcats’ 54th consecutive road loss in the Big Ten.

Lawrence Funderburke added a personal-best 20 points for the Buckeyes (21-5, 13-3).

Northwestern (8-18, 1-15) was led by Cedric Neloms, who had 29 points.

No. 7 Arkansas 100, Mississippi 83--Todd Day came scored 23 second-half points and led the Razorbacks at Fayetteville, Ark.

With the victory, the Razorbacks secured the Southeastern Conference Western Division championship and the outright title in their first year in the league.

Day led Arkansas (24-6, 13-3) with 28 points. Mississippi (11-16, 4-12) was led by Joe Harvell with 24.

No. 10 Kentucky 99, Tennessee 88--The Wildcats made 12 of 26 shots from three-point range in beating the Volunteers in a Southeastern Conference game before a record crowd of 24,332 at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky (23-6, 12-4) led, 71-70, after Tennessee (17-13, 8-8) ran off seven consecutive points, but three-pointers by Jamal Mashburn and John Pelphrey helped make it 82-72 with 5:08 left.

Mashburn led Kentucky with 30 points. Allan Houston and Carlus Groves each had 23 for Tennessee.

In a postgame ceremony, Kentucky honored broadcaster Cawood Ledford, who called his last home game for the Wildcats after 39 seasons.

No. 12 Oklahoma State 77, Kansas State 69--Bryant Reeves’ three-point play capped a 10-0 run in the final minutes that boosted the Cowboys over the Wildcats at Manhattan, Kan.

Oklahoma State, which opened the season with 20 consecutive victories, wound up 24-6 overall and 8-6 in the Big Eight. Kansas State finished 15-12 and 5-9.

Reeves, a 7-foot freshman center, helped give the Cowboys a 34-29 rebounding edge and grabbed two key offensive rebounds during the 10-0 run that turned a 63-60 Kansas State lead into a 70-63 Oklahoma State advantage with 3:25 to play.

No. 14 Cincinnati 69, Memphis State 59--Nick Van Exel scored 24 points and the Bearcats never trailed to win at Memphis and clinch a tie with DePaul for the Great Midwest Conference regular-season title.

Cincinnati (24-3, 8-2) will be seeded second in the conference tournament because it lost both games to DePaul.

Memphis State (18-9, 5-5) is hopeful of an NCAA bid.

The game was delayed 50 minutes at the 17:10 mark of the first half after a dunk by Cincinnati’s Corie Blount bent the rim.

No. 17 Georgetown 67, Pittsburgh 57--Alonzo Mourning scored 10 points over a 3 1/2-minute stretch in the second half to help the Hoyas pull away to a Big East victory at Washington.

Mourning, who finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks, opened the second half on the bench with four personal fouls. But with the Hoyas (19-8, 12-6) leading, 39-33, with 15:13 remaining, Mourning re-entered the game and took control.

Pittsburgh fell to 17-14, 9-9.

No. 20 Alabama 82, Auburn 80--Latrell Sprewell scored 26 points as the Crimson Tide built a big lead and then survived a frenzied Tiger comeback for an SEC victory at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Alabama led by 20 points with less than seven minutes to go, but Auburn outscored the Crimson Tide, 34-16, the rest of the way. After its final basket with three seconds left, Auburn, out of timeouts, could only watch as Alabama held the ball out of bounds so time could expire.

The Tide (23-7, 10-6) tied the school record for regular-season victories heading into the league tournament next week at Birmingham. Alabama has won the tournament three years in a row.

Auburn (12-15, 5-11) is not eligible for the tournament after being placed on probation for recruiting violations.

No. 21 Tulane 80, Southern Mississippi 70--Kim Lewis scored 25 points to help the Green Wave beat the Golden Eagles at Hattiesburg, Miss., and claim the Metro Conference title.

Tulane (20-7, 8-4) once again got good production from its reserves, who contributed 21 points, including 14 from Carlin Hartman.

Southern Mississippi dropped to 12-15, 5-7.

No. 22 Seton Hall 78, St. John’s 71--The Pirates moved into a first-place tie in the Big East with Georgetown and St. John’s with a victory at Madison Square Garden. All three teams finished the regular season 12-6 in the Big East.

Terry Dehere had 25 points to lead Seton Hall. Malik Sealy scored 27 for St. John’s.

By virtue of the conference’s tiebreaker system, the Pirates, 20-7 overall, will be seeded No. 1 in the league tournament, which begins Thursday. Georgetown (19-8) will be second and St. John’s (18-9) third.

Seton Hall swept the season series with St. John’s and the other series were splits, giving the Pirates the best record in games among the three teams.

No. 23 Louisiana State 89, Mississippi State 80--Shaquille O’Neal had 31 points, 11 rebounds, seven blocked shots and four assists for the Tigers at Baton Rouge, La.

LSU improved to 19-8 overall and 12-4 in the SEC. Mississippi State fell to 15-12, 7-9.