COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Mark for Cheaney, Title for Hoosiers

Calbert Cheaney set a Big Ten career scoring record Thursday night, scoring 35 points as second-ranked Indiana clinched at least a share of the conference championship by routing Northwestern, 98-69, at Bloomington, Ind.

The Hoosiers’ 6-foot-7 senior forward passed three players--Glen Rice of Michigan, Hoosier Steve Alford and Mike McGee of Michigan--and now has 2,468 points for his career.

Overall, it was a record night for the Hoosiers, who are 26-3 overall and 15-1 in the Big Ten.

The conference title is a record 19th for Indiana and record-tying 11th for Coach Bob Knight, matching the mark of former Purdue Coach Piggy Lambert. The Hoosiers can guarantee the outright conference championship with a victory at home next Wednesday against Michigan State.

Northwestern (7-17, 2-13) was coming off a 62-59 upset of No. 24 Purdue, but Indiana built upon a 45-35 halftime lead by outscoring the Wildcats, 12-0, to start the second half.

New Mexico 69, No. 9 Utah 59--Ike Williams scored 26 points in the Western Athletic Conference game at Albuquerque, N.M., as the Lobos bolstered their chances of attracting a bid to the NCAA tournament.

The victory for New Mexico (20-6, 12-5) over the conference-leading Utes (22-4, 15-2) gave the Lobos their seventh consecutive season of 20 or more victories.

New Mexico, North Carolina and Duke are the only three Division I teams to have won 20 or more games in each of the last seven seasons.

Forward Josh Grant scored 18 points for Utah, which had a seven-game conference winning streak ended and lost for only the second time in 19 games. Two months ago, the Utes defeated New Mexico by 33 points at Salt Lake City.

This time, though, the Lobos made 10 three-point shots.

No. 11 Florida State 83, Georgia Tech 82--The Seminoles squandered a 15-point lead before rallying during the final 10 minutes at Atlanta to end a two-game losing streak.

Bob Sura scored 22 points to lead Florida State (22-8, 12-4), which clinched second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season race.

Sura’s two free throws with 16 seconds to play gave the Seminoles an 83-80 lead.

At the other end, Malcolm Mackey of Georgia Tech (15-10, 7-8) made a dunk with three seconds left after Travis Best was unable to work himself free for a three-point attempt.

No. 19 Oklahoma State 114, Oral Roberts 85--Fred Burley, Brooks Thompson and Bryant Reeves combined for 99 points and the Cowboys made 24 of 30 shots in the second half to hold off the Titans at Stillwater, Okla.

Oral Roberts, which ended the season with a 5-22 record, worst in the school’s 28-year history, stayed close until the final six minutes, when it was outscored, 26-2.

Oklahoma State (19-6) made 14 consecutive shots at one points during the second half.

Virginia Commonwealth 77, No. 20 Tulane 65--Sherron Mills had 19 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Rams to the overtime Metro Conference victory at New Orleans.

Virginia Commonwealth (18-7, 7-4) made only one of five free throws during regulation, but made 12 of 15 during overtime, outscoring the Green Wave, 21-9.

Tulane (20-7, 8-3) got 15 points from Anthony Reed.

No. 21 Brigham Young 84, Texas El Paso 63--The Cougars won easily at El Paso, moving into a tie for first place with Utah in the Western Athletic Conference.

BYU (23-3, 15-2) got 16 points from Gary Trost and 15 from Nick Sanderson.

UTEP (17-11, 9-8) made only 39% of its shots.

No. 22 Louisville 82, Virginia Tech 61--Greg Minor had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Clifford Rozier had 13 points and 11 rebounds at Louisville as the Cardinals (17-8, 11-1) clinched their first Metro Conference championship since 1990 and their 10th in 17 years.

Louisville’s 11-1 conference record is its best since 1983, when it was 12-0.

For Virginia Tech (9-16, 1-9), the loss was its fifth in a row and ninth in its last 10 games. The Hokies never got closer than eight points during the second half.

No. 23 Massachusetts 61, St. Joseph’s 41--The Minutemen scored 21 consecutive points during the second half and won easily in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Amherst, Mass.

Louis Roe scored 12 points for Massachusetts (20-5, 11-3), which led by only 29-28 before starting its 21-0 run.

Bernard Blunt scored 10 points for St. Joseph’s (17-9, 8-6), but made only three of 15 shots against the conference’s No. 1 defense.

OTHER GAMES

Pervires Greene scored 12 of his 16 points during the second half to lead West Virginia (16-10, 7-7) to an 82-67 victory over St. Bonaventure (10-16, 0-14) in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Olean, N.Y., that was delayed for about 30 minutes when security officials emptied the Reilly Center after a bomb threat was received. . . . Paul Johnson scored 21 points and took nine rebounds, leading UC Santa Barbara (16-9, 9-8) to a 73-65 Big West Conference victory over Pacific (15-10, 11-6) at Santa Barbara. . . . Theo Ratliff had 21 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots for Wyoming (12-14, 6-11) during a 77-55 Western Athletic Conference victory over Fresno State (12-14, 6-13) at Laramie, Wyo. . . . Bernard Haslett scored 21 points to help Southern Mississippi (9-16, 5-6) to a 90-60 rout of South Florida (8-17, 2-9) at Hattiesburgh, Miss.