COLLEGE BASKETBALL THE TOP 25 : Georgia Tech Does About-Face, Upsets No. 10 Wake Forest

Just about everything pointed to a victory for No. 10 Wake Forest in its game against Georgia Tech Saturday at Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Demon Deacons had won nine of their past 10 games, and Georgia Tech had been slumping after a 9-1 start.

Somehow, the roles got reversed, and Georgia Tech came away with a 69-58 upset.

It was only a month ago that Wake Forest defeated the Yellow Jackets, 81-58, in Atlanta, sending them into a 5-9 tailspin.

But on Saturday, Drew Barry keyed a 13-5 game-closing run as Georgia Tech pulled away after Wake Forest got within 56-53 with 4:28 to play.

Barry had six points during the run, including four consecutive free throws in the final 1:28. He had 12 of his 16 points in the second half.

Malcolm Mackey had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets, who are 14-8 overall and 6-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“Maybe this could have been a steppingstone to that chemistry and leadership that we so badly need,” Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said.

Wake Forest (17-5, 8-4) fell into a third-place tie with Virginia in the ACC.

The Demon Deacons, the ACC’s top rebounding team, were outrebounded, 45-28. They shot only 35.5% and were held to a season-low point total.

Rodney Rogers, averaging 28.8 points over the last five games, finished with 17 points, but wasn’t much of a factor inside against the Yellow Jackets’ collapsing 2-3 zone. Rogers, who was 59 for 80 during that five-game stretch, was seven for 20 from the field Saturday.

Randolph Childress led Wake Forest with 21 points.

No. 2 Kentucky 86, Georgia 70--Jamal Mashburn scored nine of his 30 points during a 17-2 first-half run as the Wildcats beat the Bulldogs in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky (20-2, 10-2) trailed, 13-5, but Georgia (11-11, 5-7), seeking its third consecutive victory on the road, could not hold the lead.

Georgia was led by Cleveland Jackson with 14 points.

No. 5 Michigan 84, Minnesota 69--The Wolverines used their pressing defense to break up a close Big Ten game at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Michigan forced 19 turnovers, the most for Minnesota in a Big Ten game this season.

The Wolverines (21-4, 10-3) have beaten Minnesota (14-8, 6-7) in 24 of their last 25 meetings.

“This was a big game for Minnesota, so I was really pleased with our effort,” Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. “We played really well.”

Michigan’s Chris Webber led all scorers with 26 points, his career high for a Big Ten game.

Voshon Lenard led the Golden Gophers with 25 points, including 20 in the second half.

No. 6 Kansas 77, Kansas State 64--The Jayhawks made 10 of 11 shots during one stretch and easily defeated the Wildcats in a Big Eight game at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas (21-4, 8-2) forced 20 turnovers and never let Kansas State (15-7, 5-5) cut the lead to single figures in the second half.

Richard Scott scored 19 points as the Jayhawks beat their state rivals for the 21st time in their last 25 meetings.

Anthony Beane had 20 points for Kansas State.

No. 9 Florida State 102, Clemson 92--Sam Cassell scored 25 points and started an 8-0 game-ending run as the Seminoles beat the Tigers at Tallahassee, Fla., to take over sole possession of first place over idle North Carolina in the ACC.

Clemson pulled to within 94-92 with 27.5 seconds to play on Bruce Martin’s fourth three-point basket of the game before Cassell made two free throws to begin the game-clinching run.

“We had no defensive effort for about 10 minutes, and their kids handled our big kids,” Florida State Coach Pat Kennedy said.

Bob Sura and Douglas Edwards added 20 points apiece for the Seminoles, who have won 13 of their last 14 games to improve to 21-6 and 11-2.

Jeff Brown and Devin Gray led Clemson (12-10, 2-10) with 21 points each, and Sharone Wright had 20 and 15 rebounds.

No. 11 Vanderbilt 82, Florida 64--Kevin Anglin scored 23 points to help the Commodores (21-4, 10-2) beat the Gators (14-8, 7-5) in an SEC game at Nashville, Tenn.

Florida beat the Commodores, 62-61, in January on a last-second shot by Stacey Poole, who later admitted he had traveled before putting the ball in the air.

No. 12 Utah 75, Fresno State 65--Josh Grant scored 25 points to lead the Utes to a Western Athletic Conference victory over Fresno State at Salt Lake City.

Utah (21-3, 13-1) remained tied for first with Brigham Young in the WAC. Utah has won 16 of its last 17 games and is undefeated in 14 home games.

Fresno is 10-13, 5-9.

No. 15 Nevada Las Vegas 97, New Mexico State 81--Reggie Manual and Dexter Boney each scored 21 points to lead the Rebels (17-3, 10-2) at Las Vegas to take over sole possession of first place in the Big West.

Cliff Reed scored 24 points to lead the Aggies (18-6, 10-3).

UNLV’s J.R. Rider, the conference’s leading scorer at 29.8 points per game, was benched at the start of the game and scored only 17 points. Coach Rollie Massimino did not explain the benching.

No. 13 Arkansas 115, Mississippi State 58--The Razorbacks converted the Bulldogs’ 18 first-half turnovers into a big lead to easily win this SEC game at Fayetteville, Ark., and avenge an earlier loss to Mississippi State.

“We had a big peak after coming out of a valley,” Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said.

Arkansas (17-6, 8-5) beat No. 2 Kentucky 10 days ago and then lost two in a row.

The Bulldogs (12-12, 4-9) beat Arkansas in overtime less than a month ago.

Roger Crawford led Arkansas with 17 points.

Orien Watson had 18 for the Bulldogs.

Connecticut 81, No. 17 Pittsburgh 80--The Huskies built a 15-point halftime lead and withstood a furious second-half rally to defeat the Panthers in a Big East game at Pittsburgh.

The victory was the fourth in a row for Connecticut (13-8, 8-6). Kevin Ollie scored 17 points and made five free throws in the final 2:04 for the Huskies, who moved into a third-place conference tie with Boston College.

Chris McNeal had 17 points for Pittsburgh (15-7, 7-7), which lost for the fifth time in seven games.

No. 18 Tulane 87, Florida Atlanta 62--With Mardi Gras parades only blocks away in New Orleans, the Green Wave staged its own party against a Division II opponent and improved to 20-4.

Last season Tulane was 22-9 and won the Metro Conference championship. This season, the Green Wave is tied with Louisville for the conference lead at 8-1.

Anthony Reed showed no ill effects from a recent hand injury, scoring 16 points and grabbing five rebounds in 26 minutes.

No. 20 Iowa 75, Northwestern 63--Wade Lookingbill matched his season high with 14 points and had a career-high 11 rebounds as the Hawkeyes recorded a Big Ten victory at Evanston, Ill.

“I’m getting more minutes. My confidence is high and I’ve always been a good free-throw shooter,” Lookingbill said of his six for six from the line.

Acie Earl scored 19 points for Iowa (16-6, 5-5).

Northwestern (6-15, 1-11) lost its second consecutive game since its only conference victory, over Penn State.

Patrick Baldwin led Northwestern with 17 points.

No. 24 Marquette 63, Wisconsin Green Bay 46--The key to this game at Milwaukee was that the Phoenix could not score from three-point range.

Green Bay, making 46% of its three-pointers entering the game, made only five of 21 and shot only 34% overall.

Ron Curry had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Marquette (19-4).

Dean Rondorf, Green Bay’s leading scorer, was limited to 11 points and was only one for six from three-point range.

The Phoenix fell to 11-10.

Miami 82, No. 25 St. John’s 77--Constantin Popa, playing the last 10 1/2 minutes with four fouls, scored 21 points and rallied the Hurricanes (9-13, 6-8) to a Big East victory over the Redmen (14-8, 9-5).

Miami has won five in a row at home, four against Big East teams.

Popa, Miami’s leading rebounder and shot-blocker, picked up his fourth foul with 16:42 to play. He did not return until 10:40 remained and with Miami trailing, 63-55.

Popa’s emergence ignited the Hurricanes with a 9-0 run.