COLLEGE BASKETBALL REGIONAL ROUNDUP : Northwestern Finally Wins One on the Road

Northwestern Coach Bill Foster did not need to remind his players of their struggles on the road. After all, some of them weren’t even in high school when the Wildcats last won a Big Ten road game.

“I really stayed away from it, because there’s no need to keep on them about it,” Foster said after Northwestern ended its 60-game road slump in the conference by upsetting No. 17 Purdue, 62-59, at West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday

The Wildcats (7-16, 2-12) had not won a conference road game since Feb. 20, 1986, at Minnesota. Northwestern had lost 19 in a row to Purdue and had not won at Mackey Arena since the 1972-73 season.

Northwestern took the lead for good at 59-56 on Kip Kirkpatrick’s three-pointer with 1:28 left. Glenn Robinson, who scored 29 points for Purdue (15-8, 6-8), then pulled the Boilermakers within one.

Pat Baldwin made a free throw for Northwestern with 13 seconds left, making the score 60-58. After Robinson made one of two free throws with 10 seconds remaining, Northwestern’s Cedric Neloms made two free throws with eight seconds left.

WEST

Guard Corey Rogers scored 16 points and Sam Crawford and Tracey Ware added 14 apiece to lead New Mexico State (20-6, 12-3) to an 87-66 Big West Conference victory over Nevada (8-17, 3-14) at Las Cruces, N.M. . . . Cancochet Neves scored 23 points and Ike Williams added 20 as New Mexico beat Air Force, 80-60, in a Western Athletic Conference game at Air Force Academy, Colo. New Mexico (19-11, 11-5) in in third place in the WAC. Air Force fell to 9-16, 3-13. . . . Aaron Atkinson made a three-pointer to put Colorado State ahead in the final minute as the Rams defeated San Diego State, 79-78, in a WAC game at San Diego. The Rams (16-10, 8-8) led by 68-55 with nine minutes to go, but had to come back after Chris Walters made a three-pointer to put the Aztecs (7-19, 3-14) ahead, 75-74, with 1:05 left. . . . Center Lee Mayberry grabbed 15 rebounds and scored 11 points to lead Fresno State (12-13, 7-9) to a 60-57 upset over Texas El Paso (17-10, 9-7) in a WAC game at Fresno.

MIDWEST

Bryant Vann’s free throw with 43 seconds to play capped a finishing 8-0 run as Oklahoma beat fast-fading Missouri, 69-68, in a Big Eight game at Columbia, Mo. Missouri led, 68-61, after Melvin Booker’s basket with 3:28 to play but never scored again. The Tigers (15-12, 4-8) have lost six in a row in the conference. Oklahoma is 18-6, 6-6. . . . Bryant Reeves, a 7-footer, and Randy Rutherford scored 19 points apiece as Oklahoma State ran away from Kansas State, 78-61, at Manhattan, Kan., to stay in the race for the Big Eight championship and give Coach Eddie Sutton his 500th victory. The Cowboys (18-5, 8-4) trail league-leading Kansas by one game with two league games to play. Kansas State fell to 16-8, 6-6. . . . Eric Piatkowski scored 24 points, five in the last minute, to lead Nebraska (19-8, 7-5) to a comeback 91-87 victory over Iowa State (17-9, 6-6) in a Big Eight game at Lincoln, Neb. . . . Scott Highmark scored 29 points and Erwin Claggett added 28 to lead St. Louis to its first-ever Great Midwest Conference victory--by 92-76 over DePaul at St. Louis. The Billikens (11-14, 1-7) had lost 18 conference games in the league’s two-year history. Brandon Cole scored 24 for the Blue Demons (15-12, 3-6).

SOUTH

Ty Wilson scored 17 points, including two three-pointers in the closing minutes, as Georgia (12-12, 6-8) rallied for an 81-78 Southeastern Conference victory over Louisiana State (19-8, 8-6) at Athens, Ga. LSU fell out of a share of the SEC Western Division lead with Arkansas. . . . James Robinson scored 28 points as Alabama (14-10, 6-8) beat South Carolina, 97-80, at Tuscaloosa, Ala. South Carolina (9-15, 5-9) lost its fourth in a row. Robinson was returning after being benched after a loss to Mississippi. He said he deserved the punishment because he was not playing hard enough.

SOUTHWEST

David Diaz scored 22 points and Charles Outlaw scored 15 of his 21 points during the second half as Houston (18-6, 8-4) beat Texas, 86-79, in a Southwest Conference game at Austin, Tex. Michael Richardson scored 29 points for the Longhorns (9-15, 3-9). The Cougars made 26 of 33 free throws.

EAST

Lawrence Moten’s basket with 24.5 seconds to play helped Syracuse overcome a 12-point second-half deficit to defeat Providence, 68-67, in a Big East game at Syracuse, N.Y. Moten, who finished with 19 points, and Adrian Autry, who had 21, combined for 18 of the last 22 points for the Orangemen (17-7, 9-7).