COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Johnson Powers New Orleans

Ervin Johnson scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed a school-record 27 rebounds Thursday night, leading No. 21 New Orleans to an 84-73 Sun Belt Conference victory over Lamar at Beaumont, Tex.

Johnson, a 6-foot-11 senior center, made 13 of 21 shots and helped the Privateers (20-2, 14-0) outrebound Lamar, 51-28.

“He’s a great player,” Lamar Coach Mike Newell said. “They’re a one-man team when you get down to it. It was just a situation of too much Ervin Johnson.”

Lamar (13-9, 7-8) got 21 points from Keith Veney.

No. 23 Virginia 58, No. 7 Duke 55--The Cavaliers completed a sweep of the defending national champions at Charlottesville, Va., dropping the Blue Devils into the lower half of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.

Cory Alexander scored 20 points to lead Virginia (16-5, 8-4), which last month ended Duke’s 36-game ACC home winning streak.

Duke (19-5, 7-5), playing its first game since losing leading scorer Grant Hill because of a sprained toe, got 16 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore Cherokee Parks and 14 points from Thomas Hill, who missed a shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime.

No. 12 Utah 87, Air Force 61--Josh Grant scored 15 points and took 15 rebounds, leading the Utes (20-3, 13-1) to the Western Athletic Conference victory at Salt Lake City.

Air Force (9-13, 3-10) got 19 points from Steve Haase.

No. 18 Tulane 75, North Carolina Charlotte 70--Carlin Hartman scored 21 points at New Orleans as the Green Wave (19-4, 8-1) avenged a Metro Conference loss to Charlotte last week.

Andre Davis led Charlotte (13-9, 5-3) with 18 points.

No. 19 Massachusetts 96, Buffalo 67--The Minutemen opened a 25-8 lead and romped in the nonconference game at Amherst, Mass.

Massachusetts (18-4) got 18 points from Tony Barbee.

Buffalo (5-18), playing its first game against a ranked opponent in two years at the Division I level, got 15 points from Modie Cox.

OTHER GAMES

Ralph Davis scored 19 points to lead Texas El Paso (15-9, 7-6) to a Western Athletic Conference victory over San Diego State (6-17, 2-12) at El Paso. . . . Tariq Saunders scored 17 points to help Coppin State (17-7, 14-0) to a 75-69 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference victory over South Carolina State at Baltimore.

New Mexico (17-5, 9-4) romped to an 82-58 victory over Hawaii (8-14, 4-10) in a WAC game at Albuquerque, N.M. . . . Minnesota (14-7, 6-6) made 53.7% of its shots during an 85-71 Big Ten Conference victory over Wisconsin (12-8, 5-6) at Minneapolis. . . . Glen Griffin scored 21 points to lead Pacific (13-9, 9-5) to a 72-62 Big West Conference victory over Utah State (9-13, 6-8) at Logan, Utah.

Gray Trost scored six of his 19 points during an 18-1 run that lifted Brigham Young (20-5, 13-1) to a 90-74 WAC victory over Fresno State (10-12, 5-8) at Provo, Utah. . . . Santa Clara (13-10, 7-4) jumped to an 18-2 lead during a 66-60 West Coast Conference victory over Portland (8-15, 2-9) at Santa Clara. . . . Jon Kinloch scored 16 points to help Gonzaga (16-7, 8-3) to a 69-63 WCC victory over San Diego (10-12, 5-6) at San Diego. . . . Nevada (8-15, 3-12) ended a 10-game losing streak with a 68-64 victory over San Jose State (6-13, 3-9) at Reno.