COLLEGE BASKETBALL THE TOP 25 : Mr. Rogers Back in Neighborhood, Helps Upset Duke

Most of Rodney Rogers’ hometown wasn’t celebrating after he threw a homecoming party.

Rogers, who grew up in the shadow of Duke, scored 35 points Saturday as ninth-ranked Wake Forest upset the third-ranked Blue Devils, 98-86, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Durham, N.C.

It was Duke’s worst defeat at home since a 105-81 setback to North Carolina on March 5, 1983. Wake Forest last won at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 1985.

“When you come home after school, everybody’s always going to mess with you about Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State,” Rogers said.

“Today, I was able to pull out a victory. So when I come home, I’ll be able to talk a little junk, too.”

Wake Forest (16-4 overall, 7-3 in the ACC) has won three of its last six games against Duke.

Rogers had 24 points in the first half, and when he ran into foul trouble early in the second half, his teammates picked up the slack.

Trelonnie Owens had 18 of his 21 points in the second half and Randolph Childress scored 11 of his 15 points after halftime.

Duke (19-4, 7-4) led, 42-41, at halftime when Cherokee Parks made a jumper at the buzzer. But the Blue Devils played nearly the entire second half without Grant Hill, who sprained his left big toe.

Bobby Hurley’s three-pointer with 8:47 left got Duke to within 71-68, but Marc Blucas retaliated with a three-pointer. Hurley scored at 7:31, but Owens got the next six points to make it 80-70, and Duke couldn’t catch up.

No. 2 Kentucky 81, Notre Dame 62--When Monty Williams cooled off, the Wildcats pulled away from the Irish at South Bend, Ind.

Williams kept Notre Dame (9-12) in the game by scoring 26 points in the first 24 minutes, but managed only two free throws the rest of the way as Jamal Mashburn took over for Kentucky (18-2).

After Williams made a jump hook to pull Notre Dame to within 48-45 with 15:44 left, Mashburn made a free throw, a putback, a three-pointer and two more free throws to make it 56-45 with 12:23 remaining.

Mashburn scored 22 points.

No. 7 Kansas 67, Missouri 63--Rex Walters scored 16 points and the Jayhawks got past the Tigers in a Big Eight Conference game at Columbia, Mo.

Jevon Crudup, who had 24 points for Missouri (15-8, 4-4), scored with 7:08 left to cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 56-52 and Mark Atkins’ three-pointer sliced it to 61-58 with 3:08 to play.

Missouri’s Melvin Booker scored on a drive with seven seconds left to make it 65-63, but Richard Scott of Kansas (20-3, 7-1) sank two free throws with 3.3 seconds left.

No. 8 Cincinnati 64, St. Louis 39--Corie Blount scored 19 points and the Bearcats defeated the Billikens in a Great Midwest Conference game at Cincinnati.

Blount had 10 points as the Bearcats (19-2, 6-1) surged to a 16-7 lead en route to a 31-14 halftime advantage.

St. Louis (8-12, 0-5) lost its 23rd consecutive road game and its 16th conference game in a row.

No. 10 Florida State 87, Maryland 84--Bob Sura scored 23 of his 34 points in the second half and Seminoles held off the Terrapins in an ACC game at College Park, Md., for their sixth consecutive victory.

Florida State (19-6, 9-2) rallied after blowing a 15-point lead.

Maryland (10-11, 1-10) took an 80-79 lead on Kevin McLinton’s basket with 1:56 left, but Sura had a basket and a free throw, and Doug Edwards sank two free throws as the Seminoles regained control in the final minute.

McLinton scored 32 points for Maryland but was short with a 35-footer at the buzzer.

No. 11 Vanderbilt 81, Middle Tennessee State 51--Billy McCaffrey scored 17 points and the Commodores (19-4) opened the second half with a 30-2 surge that overpowered the Blue Raiders (9-11) at Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt led, 36-30, at halftime and McCaffrey made two three-pointers and two free throws as the Commodores scored 22 points in a row.

Minnesota 91, No. 13 Iowa 85--Voshon Lenard scored 32 points and the Gophers handed the Hawkeyes their third consecutive loss in a Big Ten Conference game at Minneapolis.

Minnesota (13-7, 5-6) held Iowa’s top scorers, Acie Earl and Val Barnes, to a combined 21 points on five-of-24 shooting and beat the Hawkeyes (14-6, 3-5) for the first time in five games.

Alabama Birmingham 44, No. 15 Marquette 38--Stanley Jackson made six free throws in the final 34 seconds and the Blazers handed the Warriors their second consecutive loss after a 10-game winning streak in a Great Midwest game at Milwaukee.

The Blazers (14-10, 2-4) ran the shot clock down on nearly every possession and frustrated Marquette’s attempts at a faster tempo.

Jim McIlvaine’s three-point play with 2:01 to go put Marquette (17-4, 5-2) ahead, 35-34, but Reginald Allen worked free for his only basket of the game 30 seconds later to give Alabama Birmingham the lead for good.

No. 16 Utah 62, Hawaii 60--Josh Grant had 19 points and eight rebounds as the Utes held off the Rainbows at Honolulu to remain in a tie atop the Western Athletic Conference.

The Rainbows (4-9, 8-13) had two opportunities under their basket in the final four seconds.

Utah is 19-3 and 12-1.

No. 17 Pittsburgh 95, Illinois 79--Chris McNeal had 30 points and eight rebounds to lead the Panthers past the Illini at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois (15-7) started the second half with a 14-7 run to take a 56-55 lead, but Pitt (15-5) regained control, 67-62, and built the lead to 78-65.

Deon Thomas scored 26 points for Illinois.

No. 18 Purdue 90, Wisconsin 87--Glenn Robinson scored 42 points and blocked a potential game-tying shot in the final seconds of the second overtime and the Boilermakers struggled past the Badgers at Madison, Wis.

Robinson, the Big Ten’s leading scorer with a 26.4 average, had six points in the second overtime. His two free throws with 10 seconds remaining gave Purdue (15-5, 6-5) a 90-87 lead.

Michael Finley scored 33 points for Wisconsin (12-7, 5-5).

No. 19 Seton Hall 65, Villanova 59--Terry Dehere scored six of his 24 points in overtime and the Pirates overcame the Wildcats in a Big East Conference game at Villanova, Pa.

Dehere made a three-point shot with 24 seconds left in regulation that gave Seton Hall (18-6, 8-4) a 53-50 lead, but Lance Miller of Villanova (8-12, 3-9) made a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. Miller scored 19 points.

St. John’s 65, No. 21 Boston College 61--The Redmen retained their Big East lead by holding off the Eagles despite missing four free throws in the last 45 seconds at New York.

The Redmen (14-6, 9-3) won their 23rd consecutive game at Alumni Hall after blowing a 17-point lead in the second half.

Billy Curley had 14 points for the Eagles (13-7, 5-5).

No. 22 Massachusetts 68, George Washington 65--Mike Williams made a three-pointer with less than a second remaining and the Minutemen rallied to beat the Colonials for their 11th consecutive victory in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Washington.

Lou Roe gave Massachusetts (17-4, 10-1) its first lead of the game on a tip-in with 23 seconds left before Sonni Holland of George Washington (15-5, 5-4) tied it with two free throws with nine seconds to go.

Nebraska 80, No. 23 Kansas State 59--Eric Piatkowski scored 16 points and the Cornhuskers beat the Wildcats in a Big Eight game at Manhattan, Kan.

Kansas State (15-5, 5-3), lost for the second time in three games since climbing into the rankings and fell two games behind Kansas in the Big Eight race.

Nebraska is 16-7 and 4-4.

No. 24 Virginia 83, Clemson 78--Junior Burrough had 23 points and the Cavaliers made 10 of 12 free throws in the final minutes of an ACC victory over the Tigers at Clemson, S.C.

Clemson (12-8, 2-8) lost for the eighth time in 11 games after winning its first nine.

Virginia is 15-5 and 7-4.