COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NATIONAL ROUNDUP : No Letting Up for No. 4 Indiana

Indiana had been making a habit of building large first-half leads and letting opponents come back to get close.

The Hoosiers won five of their first six games, but only a season-opening rout over Murray State was by more than 10 points.

Friday night against Austin Peay, No. 4 Indiana kept the pressure on for the entire game. The result was a 107-61 victory in the first round of the Indiana Classic at Bloomington.

Indiana will play Western Michigan, a 63-56 winner Friday over Pacific, in the tournament championship game tonight.

Indiana (6-1) built an 18-point halftime lead against Austin Peay with the help of a 15-0 run.

Alan Henderson scored 25 points for Indiana, including 14 in a row during a key second-half stretch.

Leading 55-35 with 15:02 to play, Indiana went on a 20-8 run to put the Governors away. Henderson scored the Hoosiers’ last 14 points. He might have continued his run, but Coach Bob Knight pulled him with 9:17 to play.

Reserve guard Chris Reynolds picked up where Henderson left off, scoring Indiana’s next nine points as the Hoosiers built an 84-47 lead.

Reynolds, Damon Bailey and Calbert Cheaney all scored 16 points for Indiana.

Rick Yudt scored 25 points for Austin Peay (1-2), which committed 29 turnovers.

Indiana led, 46-28, at halftime on the strength of two first-half runs.

After Reggie Dupree made a layup for Austin Peay to make the score, 4-4, the Hoosiers went on a 15-0 run that featured two three-point baskets by Cheaney and a reverse slam by Henderson.

Yudt finally broke the Governors’ drought with a reverse layup at 14:26, and he followed with a jump shot to make the score, 19-8.

But the Hoosiers scored eight consecutive points for a 19-point lead with 10:25 left in the half.

Indiana, which had made only 67% of its free throws in its first six games, made 22 of 29 free throws against Austin Peay.

“The best thing for us was sustaining play over 40 minutes,” Knight said. “It is the first time we have done that since the first game against Murray State.”

Western Michigan advanced to the final by overcoming a 13-point deficit in the first half against Pacific.

Leon McGee scored 14 points and Darrick Brooks had 13 for Western Michigan (1-2).

Glenn Griffin scored 17 points for Pacific (1-3).

No. 19 Cincinnati 83, Southeast Missouri State 58--The Bearcats started the game with a 20-2 run and cruised to victory at Cincinnati in the first round of the Bearcat tournament.

Cincinnati (2-0) will play Georgia Southern, an 89-74 winner Friday over Central Michigan, in the tournament championship today.

Against Southeast Missouri, Cincinnati used its trapping defense to make up for the loss of playmaker Nick Van Exel, who is sidelined because of a knee injury. The Bearcats forced eight turnovers early in the first half and held Southeast Missouri (4-1) without a field goal for nearly seven minutes during a 20-2 second-half run.

Southeast Missouri State, facing pressure defense for the first time this season, committed 30 turnovers that set up 41 Cincinnati points.

Erik Martin made 10 of 11 shots and scored 23 points for Cincinnati.

Curtis Bostic and Keith Gregor each scored 16 points for Cincinnati. Luther Bonds had 15 for Southeast and Devon Lake added 14.

Southeast Missouri made only one of seven shots at the start of the game and fell behind, 20-2.

Cincinnati never led by fewer than 15 points after the opening run, pushing the lead to 23 before halftime.

Martin scored Cincinnati’s first six points of the second half, and the Bearcats increased the lead to 35 points with another 20-2 run midway through the half.

No. 21 Memphis State 91, Southwestern Louisiana 85--After three consecutive defeats, the Tigers finally got their first victory behind Anfernee Hardaway’s outstanding performance at Memphis.

Hardaway scored 23 points and had eight rebounds and eight assists. He made eight of 11 shots.

Southwestern Louisiana (0-1) led, 81-80, with 2:48 to play when Byron Starks, who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, made a layup. Hardaway scored on a layup with 2:09 left, then with 1:33 left connected on a spin move for a three-point play to give Memphis State an 85-81 lead.

Michael Allen scored 38 points for Southwestern Louisiana.

Memphis State center Anthony Douglas scored 18 points and had 14 rebounds. Marcus Nolan had 16 points, Billy Smith 15.

OTHER GAMES

Four players from Providence (4-1) scored more than 10 points during a 71-52 victory over Notre Dame (2-2) at Providence, R.I. Matt Alosa scored 14 points and Michael Brown, Michael Smith and Rob Phelps each scored 10 for the Friars. . . . Illinois (5-1) held on for an 85-81 victory over Jackson State (1-3) at Champaign, Ill., despite 39 second-half points by Jackson State’s Lindsey Hunter. Junior center Deon Thomas scored 22 points for Illinois, which will play Princeton, a 51-43 winner over Florida A&M; Friday, for the championship of the Illini Classic. Center Rick Hielscher scored 14 points for Princeton, which had four players with more than 10 points.

Six Brigham Young players scored more than 10 points during BYU’s 108-62 victory over Southern Utah in the first round of the Cougar Classic at Provo, Utah. Nick Sanderson scored 18 points for BYU (3-1), which plays Georgia (2-1) an 80-68 winner Friday over Santa Clara (1-2), today for the tournament championship. Richard Barton led Southern Utah with 22 points. . . . Carter Long scored 22 points and Stanley Jackson added 18 as Alabama Birmingham (5-1) defeated Alcorn State (0-4), 100-70, in the opening round of a tournament at Birmingham, Ala. Long made three consecutive three-point shots during a one-minute stretch in the first half as the Blazers took a 58-36 halftime lead. Alabama Birmingham will play Texas Arlington, a 95-87 winner in double overtime over Gonzaga, today in the championship.