COLLEGE BASKETBALL THE TOP 25 : Miami Gives No. 10 Georgetown a Big East Surprise, 80-69

Miami made an ignominious debut in the Big East Conference last season, finishing 1-17 under Coach Leonard Hamilton.

The Hurricanes were struggling again this season entering Saturday night’s Big East game against No. 10 Georgetown.

But Trevor Burton scored 21 points and freshman Steve Edwards added 19 to help Miami upset the Hoyas, 80-69, at Miami.

“Our program really needed to establish recognition and develop pride,” Hamilton said. “But as far as I’m concerned, this is just the beginning. We need to take this game and move forward and build on it. One game doesn’t make a season.”

Georgetown freshman Othella Harrington scored 27 points and had 13 rebounds. The Hoyas, however, went more than six minutes without a field goal during one stretch.

Georgetown is 7-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big East.

“We’ve always lost to somebody we thought we wouldn’t lose to,” Coach John Thompson said. “And we’ve always beaten some people we thought we couldn’t beat.”

Miami (3-6, 1-1) ended a three-game losing streak.

“This is perfect, exactly what we needed,” said Burton, who made all five of his three-point attempts. “We haven’t been playing very good ball lately, and with the Big East games coming up, we need to come back every night with this effort.”

Miami took a 16-6 lead during the first seven minutes.

“At that point we were chasing,” Thompson said. “And we chased the whole game.”

Miami used an aggressive man-to-man defense to shut out Georgetown from the field for nearly nine minutes midway through the game.

Georgetown went another six minutes without a basket as Miami built its advantage to 68-55 with 3:30 to play.

Miami repeatedly penetrated Georgetown’s gambling defense. Center Constantin Popa scored eight points in the final minutes to help the Hurricanes pull away.

“We were able to slow it down and spread the floor a little bit and not allow their defensive pressure to take control of the game,” Hamilton said.

Popa, a 7-foot-3 sophomore, scored 16 points for Miami. Pat Lawrence had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Edwards and Michael Gardner each contributed nine assists.

“Last year they had a big win over St. John’s, and now they got one with us,” Thompson said. “The (Miami) kids have to get to a point where they believe in themselves and continue to go forward.”

Joey Brown, Robert Churchwell and Duane Spencer scored 10 points apiece for Georgetown.

No. 6 Michigan 88, Eastern Michigan 58--Chris Webber scored 22 points for the Wolverines, who won at Ann Arbor, Mich., only 29 hours after returning from Hawaii where they defeated three top 25 teams in three days.

“We have the toughest preseason schedule in the country,” Webber said. “We played some good teams before, then we had to beat Kansas in Hawaii. That makes it the toughest.”

Michigan (10-1), which has won nine consecutive games since a loss to top-ranked Duke, took a 41-18 halftime lead.

Eastern Michigan (5-6) cut the Wolverines’ lead to 16 points, but never got closer.

No. 8 Iowa 104, Central Connecticut State 58--The Hawkeyes increased an eight-point halftime lead with a 35-5 run at the start of the second half at Iowa City.

Acie Earl scored 25 points and Val Barnes added 19 for Iowa (10-0).

Central Connecticut State (4-5) made 55% of its shots during the first half, but only two of 22 field-goal attempts during the first 11 minutes of the second half.

Chris Street and James Winters each had 12 points Iowa, which won its 38th consecutive nonconference game at home.

No. 13 Purdue 80, Butler 54--The Boilermakers continued their best start in 55 years with the victory at West Lafayette, Ind.

Glenn Robinson scored 21 points and Matt Painter added 14 for Purdue (9-0), which is undefeated entering Big Ten play for the first time in Coach Gene Keady’s 13 years with the Boilermakers.

Jermaine Guice scored 24 points for Butler (3-6).

No. 14 Georgia Tech 78, Virginia Military Institute 52--The Yellow Jackets held the Keydets to 27% shooting in the victory at Atlanta.

Freshman Martice Moore returned from a brief illness to score 17 points for Georgia Tech (7-1). Moore started a 19-5 run that began late in the first half.

James Forrest added 21 points for Georgia Tech.

Jonathan Penn scored 17 for VMI (2-4).

No. 15 Oklahoma 109, Lamar 92--Oklahoma tied its Big Eight Conference record for three-point baskets in a half by making 12 during the first 20 minutes of a 109-92 victory at Norman, Okla.

Terry Evans, who finished with 26 points, and Angelo Hamilton each made four three-point shots during that span. At one point, they made four in a row to help break the game open for Oklahoma (10-1).

Lamar (5-1), which stayed in a zone throughout the half, pulled to within 16-13 on two three-point baskets by Quincy Dockins, who scored all of his team-high 20 points during the first half.

Lamar trailed by 19 points at halftime despite outshooting the Sooners 57% to 54%. Jeff Webster scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds for Oklahoma, which made only one of six three-point attempts during the second half. Lamar, however, never got closer than 11 points.

No. 17 Michigan State 80, East Tennessee State 69--Shawn Respert scored 27 points and had four steals as the Spartans never trailed at Johnson City, Tenn.

Michigan State (8-1) led, 47-24, at halftime. East Tennessee State (3-3) made a game of it with a 21-6 run at the start of the second half.

East Tennessee State pulled to within 53-45 with 2:24 to play, but Respert made a basket and two free throws to lift the Spartans out of reach.

Mike Peplowski added 16 points for Michigan State.

Florida 89, No. 18 Florida State 86--Scott Stewart made a three-point basket that gave Florida the lead with 3:36 to play, and he added three free throws during the final minute to preserve the Gators’ victory at Tallahassee.

Florida (6-3) led most of the game and survived a 26-7 run by Florida State (8-4) late in the second half.

Florida State took a 75-72 lead with 6:06 to play on a three-point basket by the Sam Cassell, who scored 30 points for the Seminoles.

Stacey Poole, who finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds, helped lead Florida to a 45-37 halftime lead.

Martti Kuisma scored eight unanswered points to help Florida build a 65-49 lead with 13:55 to play before Cassell led Florida State’s short-lived comeback.

No. 20 Nebraska 70, Eastern Illinois 54--The Cornhuskers overcame jet-lag and a 10-3 deficit for the victory at Lincoln, Neb.

Eric Piatkowski scored 17 points for Nebraska (9-3), which had returned from Honolulu on Friday.

The Cornhuskers scored only three points during the first five minutes as Eastern Illinois (1-6) used two three-point baskets by Darrick Landrus to build a seven-point lead.

A basket by backup center Amos Gregory started a 10-0 Nebraska run that gave the Cornhuskers a 13-10 lead. The Panthers’ last lead came at 18-17, but a 19-5 run by Nebraska gave the Huskers a 36-23 halftime lead.

No. 21 Cincinnati 87, South Alabama 49--The Bearcats forced 27 turnovers and had five players score more than 10 points in the victory at Cincinnati.

Curtis Bostic of Cincinnati (6-1) scored 10 of his 16 points during a first-half run that helped the Bearcats lead, 42-24, at halftime.

South Alabama (5-2) made only 35% of its shots and set up 26 Cincinnati points with the turnovers.

No. 22 Arizona 87, Rhode Island 79--The Wildcats went on a 10-2 run over the final 2:28 for the victory at Tucson.

Ed Stokes scored 24 points and Chris Mills added 22 for Arizona (5-2).

Freshman Joe McLean scored 11 points for the Wildcats, several at critical times, during his first college appearance. McLean made two free throws during the first half and added three layups, a jump shot and another free throw after intermission.

McLean’s second of consecutive layups with 12:58 to play put Arizona ahead, 59-58.

Andre Samuel led Rhode Island with 19 points.

No. 24 Vanderbilt 76, Alabama 73--The Commodores made only 36% of their shots during the first half and did not take control until there was 3:24 to play in the Southeastern Conference opener at Nashville.

Billy McCaffrey scored 23 points for Vanderbilt (11-1), which has won 10 consecutive games.

James Robinson, who scored 26 points, pulled Alabama (5-3) to within 74-73 with his sixth three-point basket with 1:31 to play. But Kevin Anglin sealed the victory with two free throws with three seconds left, and time ran out before the Crimson Tide could get off a shot.

No. 25 Brigham Young 79, Texas El Paso 73--Russell Larson scored four of his 13 points during the final 30 seconds as the Cougars won a Western Athletic Conference opener at Provo, Utah.

BYU (8-4) led, 40-24, at halftime, but UTEP’s Eddie Rivera scored seven of his 14 points during a 19-5 run to open the second half.

The score was tied, 70-70, after Ralph Davis made a three-point basket for UTEP (7-4) with 1:50 to play. BYU made seven of eight free throws down the stretch. Larson made two free throws and scored on a dunk.