COLLEGE BASKETBALL REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS : Illini Upset No. 13 Michigan State

Deon Thomas scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds, leading Illinois to an 80-71 victory over No. 13 Michigan State Saturday in a Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill.

“They had more at stake than we did and played like it,” Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote said.

Michigan State (19-7, 9-7) had already virtually wrapped up an NCAA tournament berth. Illinois (13-13, 7-9) is hoping for an NIT bid.

MIDWEST

Junior guard Val Barnes scored 19 points, including two free throws with nine seconds to play, as Iowa (17-9, 9-7) held off Wisconsin (13-16, 4-12) for a 70-65 Big Ten victory at Madison, Wis. . . . Woody Austin scored a career-high 33 points to lead Purdue to a 68-58 Big Ten victory over Minnesota at Minneapolis. The Boilermakers (15-13, 7-9) were 22 of 22 from the free-throw line in the second half. The Gophers (16-13, 8-8) lost for the fourth time in five games.

Darin Archbold scored a career-high 42 points in his final regular-season Midwestern Collegiate Conference game to help Butler defeat Xavier of Ohio, 96-86, at Cincinnati. Xavier (15-11, 7-3) finished second in the MCC behind Evansville. Butler (19-8, 7-3) finished third.

SOUTH

Junior Burrough’s tip-in with 1.9 seconds left lifted Virginia (15-12, 8-8) past Maryland, 76-74, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md. Walt Williams scored 31 points for the Terrapins (13-14, 5-11). . . . Tom Gugliotta had 24 points and made a key jumper in the final minutes to lead North Carolina State (12-17, 6-10) to a 77-74 victory over Wake Forest (17-10, 7-9) in an ACC game at Raleigh, N.C. . . . Coach Hugh Durham, in his 14th season at Georgia, got his 250th victory as the Bulldogs (14-13, 7-9) beat South Carolina, 72-54, in a Southeastern Conference game at Athens, Ga. The Gamecocks are 11-16, 3-13. Litterial Green led the Bulldogs with 13 points, giving him 2,082 career points to move into 12th place in SEC scoring ahead of Kentucky’s Kenny Walker.

SOUTHWEST

Oklahoma (20-7, 8-6) defeated Nebraska, 106-97, at Norman, Okla., to ensure at least a third-place tie in the Big Eight. Nebraska (19-8, 7-7) finished fifth and will play the Sooners in the first round of the Big Eight tournament Friday in Kansas City. . . . Houston clinched at least a tie for the Southwest Conference title by beating Southern Methodist, 69-62, at Dallas. Houston has won six in a row to improve to 22-5 and 11-3. SMU is 10-17, 4-10. . . . Will Flemons scored 24 points to lead Texas Tech (14-13, 6-8) to an upset over Texas Christian, 76-67, at Lubbock, Tex. TCU (21-9, 9-5) is hoping for an NCAA bid.

WEST

Texas El Paso (23-5, 12-4) defeated New Mexico, 72-52, at El Paso to tie Brigham Young for the Western Athletic Conference title. . . . Gary Trost scored 27 points to lead BYU (22-6, 12-4) to an 87-73 victory over Utah (19-9, 9-7) at Salt Lake City. . . . Joy Goodman scored 20 points to lead Utah State (16-11, 10-8) to a 70-72 Big West victory over Fresno State (15-15,6-12) at Logan, Utah.

TOURNAMENTS

In the Atlantic 10 tournament at Philadelphia, Adam Rich came off the bench to score 20 points as Rutgers (15-13) defeated St. Bonaventure, 93-72, to advance to the quarterfinals. . . . In the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at St. Louis, Jeff Malham scored 19 points to lead Tulsa (16-12) to a 77-65 victory over Indiana State, and Southern Illinois (22-6) beat Wichita State, 67-63.