COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Georgia Tech’s Forrest Beats Buzzer Again, Stuns Louisville

James Forrest, the Georgia Tech forward who made the desperation, three-point basket that knocked USC out of the NCAA tournament last season, proved Saturday that it was nothing personal.

Forrest made another three-point shot at the buzzer, giving the 17th-ranked Yellow Jackets an 87-85 victory over No. 21 Louisville in the first basketball game played in the Georgia Dome.

“Some players just have the knack for things like this,” said Bobby Cremins, Georgia Tech coach.

Forrest is one of those players. Besides his 25-footer that ended the college careers of Harold Miner and Duane Cooper last season, Forrest has also beat the buzzer with a tip-in to defeat Maryland.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” said Forrest, who scored 27 points. “I really got kind of lucky because he (Greg Minor) disrupted my shot. I think I one-handed it.”

With one second remaining and Louisville leading, 85-84, Forrest took an inbounds pass from Bryan Hill. When Louisville’s Minor rushed him to attempt a block, Forrest faked until Minor went past, then released the game-winner.

Clifford Rozier led Louisville with 19 points.

No. 2 Kansas 86, East Tennessee State 83--Rex Walters made two free throws to break an 83-83 tie and Adonis Jordan added two game-clinching free throws with three seconds left at Lawrence, Kan.. The the Jayhawks (6-0) blew a 25-point lead before rallying.

Kansas scored the first 22 points of the game, but East Tennessee State (2-2) overcame a one-for-20 shooting start to pull ahead for the first time at 78-75. The Buccaneers led, 79-77, with 3:47 remaining when starting guard Eric Palmer fouled out with 16 points. The Jayhawks then went on a 7-1 spurt and took the lead for good at 84-80 on two free throws by Walters and Eric Pauley’s tip-in.

Only two non-Big Eight teams have won at Kansas since 1983, a span that includes 70 nonconference games.

Jordan, who had 20 points, became the 28th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark.

No. 3 Kentucky 108, Morehead State 65--Jamal Mashburn scored six of his 24 points during an 11-0 run in the first half at Lexington, Ky., to spark the unbeaten Wildcats.

The Eagles (0-6) tried a three-point assault in the first half, and led, 30-29, on its seventh three-pointer, John Brannen’s jumper from the top of the key with 7:44 remaining. But Mashburn scored on a rebound basket and powered inside for a dunk to give Kentucky a 33-30 lead, and the Wildcats were never threatened again.

Morehead State started a lineup of two sophomores and three freshmen. Its top scorer, Doug Bentz, didn’t play because of a deep thigh bruise.

“We were just tired in the second half,” said Dick Fick, Morehead State coach. “You could see it. If you guys (reporters) had your gym shoes, I would have put you in.”

No. 4 Indiana 79, No. 19 Cincinnati 64--Greg Graham scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half to help the Hoosiers withstand a late charge at Bloomington, Ind.

The Bearcats, already at a size disadvantage, suffered a pregame blow when Terry Nelson, 6-foot-6 forward, was hospitalized because of heart palpitations. The other members of Cincinnati’s starting front court, Eric Martin and Curtis Bostic, fouled out with more than eight minutes left.

All five Indiana starters finished in double figures, led by Calbert Cheaney, who scored 17. Nick Van Exel led Cincinnati with 22.

“We’re not very good right now,” said Bob Huggins, Cincinnati coach. “I’ve said that all along, but everybody thinks I lied to them or something.”

The Bearcats might have been somewhat distracted by Nelson’s problems.

“His heart was just racing, so we got him over to the hospital right away,” Huggins said. “I’m going to the Bloomington Hospital just as soon as I get through here. I don’t know his condition.”

Hospital officials refused to comment on Nelson’s condition.

No. 6 Michigan 94, Iowa State 72--Chris Webber scored 21 points as the Wolverines outlasted the weary Cyclones in their first regular-season game in Auburn Hills, Mich. The Wolverines (5-1) are the third top-10 team Iowa State (5-3) has faced on the road. The Cyclones lost at Florida State and Iowa.

Julius Michalik and Justus Thigpen each had 20 points for Iowa State, which was playing its second game in 24 hours.

No. 10 Florida State 63, North Carolina Charlotte 59--Coach Pat Kennedy was searching for a cure for Florida State’s early-season problems and found it in the steady play of Bob Sura and Doug Edwards.

Sura scored 12 second-half points and Edwards made a turnaround jumper with 37 seconds remaining to help the Seminoles in Orlando.

Edwards finished with 22 points and Sura had 18, including a three-point play with 13 seconds left, as the Seminoles (4-3) held on down the stretch. All three of Florida State’s losses have come in games they have dominated before faltering in the second half.

No. 11 Georgetown 103, Morgan State 85--Duane Spencer, a 6-foot-10 freshman who has led the Hoyas in rebounding in three of their five games, scored 22 points and had 14 rebounds at Landover, Md.

The Hoyas (5-0) turned the ball over 31 times against the Bears (0-6), but were able to prevail against an outmanned squad that dressed only nine players and finished with only four on the court.

Morgan State committed 39 fouls. The Hoyas went to the free-throw line a school-record 60 times and made 42.

No. 12 Arkansas 73, Missouri 68--Scotty Thurman, a freshman, scored 34 points at Columbia, Mo., denying Norm Stewart his 500th victory as the Tigers’ coach.

Thurman, a 6-5 forward who had been averaging 14.3 points for the Razorbacks (5-0), scored 14 points in the first half and was unstoppable during the rest of the game, making seven three-pointers and getting a key turnaround jumper that gave Arkansas a 69-65 lead with 56 seconds remaining. Missouri (3-1) made only 17 of 33 foul shots.

No. 14 Syracuse 85, Wagner 52--The Orangemen held Wagner to one basket in the first 9:41 and 16 points in the first half at Syracuse to remain unbeaten. Wagner’s first-half point total was the second-lowest first half amount ever allowed by the Orangemen (7-0).

Lawrence Moten led Syracuse with 16 points, but a more telling number was that the Seahawks (1-4) finished with 39 turnovers, two short of the record for a Syracuse opponent.

“We didn’t come up here just to show up,” said Tim Capstraw, Wagner coach. “We thought we could compete much better, and I’m a bit embarrassed by that.”

No. 16 Purdue 92, Indiana State 63--Though senior Matt Painter was tired after studying for two final exams, he wasn’t too tired to match his career high of 16 points at West Lafayette, Ind. Glenn Robinson, the heralded sophomore, also scored 16 points for the Boilermakers (5-0). But for him, it was a season low.

Indiana State (4-3) was led by Greg Thomas with 14 points.

No. 20 Nebraska 93, Appalachian State 83--Guard Jamar Johnson scored 25 points and center Derrick Chandler added 24 as the Cornhuskers (6-0) survived a second-half scare at Lincoln, Neb.

The Mountaineers (2-1) outscored Nebraska, 11-2, in the first 3:11 of the second half to cut an early lead to 50-49. But the scoring of Johnson and Chandler thwarted the rally. Billy Ross, who had 13 of his 21 points in the second half, kept the Mountaineers close.

No. 23 Michigan State 65, Dayton 60--Dwayne Stephens scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half at East Lansing, Mich., as the Spartans won their fourth consecutive game after starting the season at 1-1.

The Flyers (1-6) led, 32-31, at halftime. The lead changed hands throughout the second half, but Stephens gave Michigan State a one-point advantage with a layup with 3:10 left, and the Spartans never trailed.