COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : BYU Employs Long-Range Plan

Brigham Young’s Kevin Nixon apparently got the message when he was benched for sluggish play in the first half of Saturday night’s Western Athletic Conference tournament championship game against Texas El Paso.

With BYU trailing by a point, Nixon was reinserted into the game with 2.4 seconds left. The Cougars inbounded the ball and Nixon made a 50-foot desperation shot that gave BYU a 73-71 victory at Ft. Collins, Colo.

The victory earned the Cougars an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

“I don’t remember much about it (the shot),” said Nixon, a junior forward who had scored only three points in the first half. “I had an idea the ball might come to me.

“We just set up a play and fortunately everything fell into place.”

Nixon’s shot came after Texas El Paso forward Marlon Maxey had given the Miners a 71-70 lead on a follow shot.

The victory gave BYU (25-6) its second consecutive WAC tournament championship.

Texas El Paso (25-6) was aiming for its fifth championship since the WAC tournament started in 1984.

BYU and UTEP were co-champions at the end of the regular season.

The Cougars overcame a 14-point deficit in the final 17 minutes. BYU trailed, 53-39, before guard Mark Heslop and forward Jared Miller led a comeback.

“We had a lead, but I felt we probably wore ourselves out shooting quick,” UTEP Coach Don Haskins said. “Their depth began to wear us down in the second half. We just got really fatigued and started missing some shots.”

Heslop, who scored 12 points, started BYU’s comeback with a three-point basket with 15:07 left and gave the Cougars their first second-half lead, 70-69, with another three-point shot with 30 seconds remaining.

Miller scored eight points during a four-minute span and finished with 17 points before fouling out late in the game. BYU center Gary Trost also had 17.

UTEP guard Eddie Rivera, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, scored 18 points.

TOP 25

No. 5 Ohio State 94, Minnesota 63--Jim Jackson scored 26 points for the Buckeyes (23-5, 15-3), who assured themselves of at least a tie for their second consecutive Big Ten Conference championship with the victory over the Golden Gophers (16-15, 8-10) at Minneapolis.

Ohio State started the game in a first-place tie with Indiana, which ends its regular season today at Purdue. Ohio State and Indiana were Big Ten co-champions last season.

No. 14 Michigan 68, Illinois 59--Jalen Rose scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half, leading the Wolverines (20-8, 11-7) to the Big Ten victory over the Illini (13-15, 7-11).

PACIFIC 10

Stanford 76, Oregon State 56--Adam Keefe received a five-minute standing ovation before the start of his final home game, then scored 34 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Cardinal (18-10, 10-8) in a victory over the Beavers (15-16, 7-11).

Washington State 75, Washington 57--Neil Derrick scored 10 of his 17 points in the first half as the Cougars (21-10, 9-9) took an early lead en route to victory over the Huskies (12-17, 9-13) in the regular-season finale at Pullman.

California 87, Oregon 76--Bill Elleby scored 20 points for the Bears (10-18, 4-14) at Berkeley as the Ducks (6-21, 2-16) finished the season winless on the road.

TOURNAMENTS

ATLANTIC COAST

No. 1 Duke 89, Georgia Tech 76--Bobby Hurley and Brian Davis each scored 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (27-2) to a semifinal victory over the Yellow Jackets (21-11) at Charlotte, N.C.

Duke, the defending national champion, has not won the ACC tournament since 1988. The Blue Devils are trying to become the first school to win back-to-back national titles since UCLA did it in 1972-73.

No. 20 North Carolina 80, No. 18 Florida State 76--Hubert Davis scored 28 points to lead the Tar Heels (21-8) over the Seminoles (20-9).

Florida State overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half to pull to within 75-73 with 20 seconds left. But the Seminoles called a timeout they did not have, resulting in a technical. The Tar Heels made five of six free throws to secure the victory.

BIG EAST

Syracuse 70, No. 15 Seton Hall 66--Michael Edwards, who left the team briefly 10 days ago, made a steal and tiebreaking layup in the final minute to give the Orangemen (20-9) the semifinal victory over the Pirates (21-8) at New York.

No. 21 Georgetown 68, No. 25 St. John’s 64--The Hoyas (20-9) missed six of 12 free throws in the final 35 seconds, but Alonzo Mourning made three of four with five seconds left to secure the victory over the Redmen (19-10).

BIG EIGHT

No. 3 Kansas 85, No. 24 Oklahoma 67--Rex Walters scored 21 points and triggered a 17-4 run in the final minutes that lifted the Jayhawks (25-4) over the Sooners (21-8) in a semifinal at Kansas City, Mo.

No. 11 Oklahoma State 69, Iowa State 60--Byron Houston scored 18 points and had 19 rebounds and Darwyn Alexander added 17 points to lead the Cowboys (26-6) to the semifinal victory over the Cyclones (20-12).

METRO

North Carolina Charlotte 76, Southern Mississippi 72--Henry Williams completed a three-point play with 28 seconds left to lift the 49ers (22-8) to the semifinal victory over the Golden Eagles (13-16) at Louisville, Ky.

Tulane 87, Virginia Commonwealth 69--Carlin Hartman made three baskets during a 15-7 run in the first half that helped the Green Wave (21-7) to the semifinal victory over the Rams (14-15).

SOUTHEASTERN

No. 17 Alabama 90, No. 6 Arkansas 89--Elliot Washington made a three-point shot with two seconds left to give the Crimson Tide (25-7) the semifinal victory over the Razorbacks (25-7) at Birmingham, Ala.

No. 9 Kentucky 80, No. 23 Louisiana State 74--With LSU center Shaquille O’Neal serving a one-game suspension for fighting, the Wildcats (25-6) took advantage of his absence by scoring 42 points from the lane in the semifinal victory over the Tigers (20-9).

SOUTHWEST

Texas 97, Texas Tech 87--Dexter Cambridge scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half to lead the Longhorns (23-10) to the semifinal victory over the Red Raiders (15-14) at Dallas.

Houston 87, Texas Christian 84--Sam Mack scored 27 points for the Cougars (24-5), who overcame an early 18-point deficit for a double-overtime victory over the Horned Frogs (22-10).

OTHERS

Herb Jones scored 21 points and No. 12 Cincinnati (25-4) won the first Great Midwest Conference tournament championship with a 75-63 victory over Memphis State (20-10) at Chicago. . . . David Scott made a short jump shot with 10 seconds left to give Miami of Ohio (23-7) a 58-57 victory over Ball State (24-8) in the championship game of the Mid-American Conference tournament at Detroit.

Parrish Casebier scored 39 points as Evansville (24-5) won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament championship with a 95-76 victory over Butler (21-9) at Cincinnati. . . . A timeout called by personnel on the Nevada bench nullified a three-point basket that would have tied the game with 46 seconds left, and Montana (27-3) went on to a 73-68 victory over Nevada (19-10) in the championship game of the Big Sky Conference tournament at Missoula, Mont.

Kevin Rankin scored 24 points and Cedric Neloms added 20 to lead Northwestern (9-19, 2-16) to a 76-65 Big Ten Conference victory over Wisconsin (13-18, 4-13) at Evanston, Ill.