COLLEGE BASKETBALL THE TOP 25 : Dehere Lifts Seton Hall to Title, 92-73

Seton Hall won its first outright Big East Conference championship Saturday, defeating St. John’s, 92-73, at East Rutherford, N.J., as Terry Dehere set the conference career scoring record.

It was the last home game of the season for Seton Hall, which is 24-6 overall and finished 14-4 in the Big East, and Dehere’s number was retired during a pregame ceremony.

He made it a special day when his third three-point basket of the game--he already was the conference’s career leader in that department--gave him 1,293 points, three more than Chris Mullin scored from 1981-85 for St. John’s.

“To be the Big East’s all-time leading scorer is a thrill,” Dehere said. “But in all fairness to Chris Mullin, the great shooter that he is, he wasn’t able to utilize the three-point line and I had four extra games because of the addition of Miami to the conference.”

Dehere, who scored a career-high 41 points against St. John’s last month, scored 36 this time as the Pirates cruised to their eighth consecutive victory. They will be the top-seeded team in the Big East tournament for the second year in a row.

Shawnelle Scott scored 17 points for St. John’s (17-9, 12-6), which finished alone in second place after being picked ninth in a preseason coaches’ poll.

No. 7 Vanderbilt 77, South Carolina 73--The Commodores, establishing a school record for most victories in a season, lost almost all of a 23-point lead, but made seven of nine free throws during the final minute of a Southeastern Conference victory at Columbia, S.C.

Bill McCaffrey scored 19 points to lead Vanderbilt (25-4, 14-2), which won its first outright SEC championship since 1965. The Commodores have won their last eight games.

Troy McKoy scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half for South Carolina (9-17, 5-11), which trailed, 70-68, with 1:06 to play.

The Gamecocks had the ball and were down, 76-73, with 18 seconds left, but a long three-point try by Jamie Watson bounced off the right side of the rim. McCaffrey grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made one of two foul shots to seal the victory.

The loss was the sixth in a row for South Carolina.

No. 12 Cincinnati 78, Memphis State 55--In a showdown for the Great Midwest Conference championship, the Bearcats (22-4, 8-2) won easily at Cincinnati, taking control midway through the first half and shutting down Anfernee Hardaway.

After putting together a 17-2 run to open a 32-12 lead, Cincinnati never led by less than 13 points the rest of the way.

Hardaway, whose average of 23.3 points is the best in the conference, scored only nine points as Memphis State (19-10, 7-3) lost to Cincinnati in a key game for the third time in less than a year. Last season, the Tigers lost to the Bearcats in the conference tournament final and the Midwest Regional final.

Erik Martin and Nick Van Exel both scored 21 to lead Cincinnati.

Auburn 81, No. 13 Arkansas 80--The Tigers rallied from a 15-point deficit during the last eight minutes of the SEC game at Auburn, Ala., winning on a three-point shot by Wesley Person with two seconds to play.

Ronnie Battle scored 28 points for Auburn (15-10, 8-8) and Person scored 27 despite missing 10 of 13 shots during the second half.

Arkansas (19-7, 10-6) put together a 19-0 run after halftime and led, 74-59, after Robert Shepard’s basket with 7:53 remaining. But Auburn then put together its spurt, outscoring the Razorbacks, 16-2, during the next 4 1/2 minutes.

A three-point shot by Person pulled the Tigers even at 78-78 with 1:56 to play. After Corey Back gave Arkansas the lead at the other end, Auburn got three shots during its final possession.

Person was carried off the floor by Auburn fans.

No. 14 Wake Forest 80, North Carolina State 68--Randolph Childress scored 28 points as the Demon Deacons completed their most successful regular season in nine years, pulling away in the second half for an Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Wake Forest (19-7, 10-6) used a 14-0 run to pull away after North Carolina State (8-18, 2-14) opened a 45-43 lead with 15:32 left.

Childress, who made only 18 of 56 shots overall and 11 of 39 three-point attempts during his previous four games, made eight of 12 shots, five of eight from three-point range.

Rodney Rogers, who left the floor after the game to chants of “One more year!” scored 18 points for Wake Forest.

No. 24 Purdue 69, No. 15 Iowa 58--Glenn Robinson, the leading scorer and rebounder in the Big Ten, scored 30 points and took 12 rebounds to lead the Boilermakers (17-8, 8-8) at West Lafayette, Ind.

Iowa, trailing by eight points at halftime, cut its deficit to 59-56 on a basket by James Winters.

But the Hawkeyes (19-8, 8-7) hurt themselves at the free-throw line, scoring only two points during the final four minutes. Kenyon Murray missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3:40 to play and Russ Millard did the same with 2:49 remaining.

No. 17 New Orleans 63, Louisiana Tech 52--The Privateers (25-2) survived the absence of center Ervin Johnson, extending their winning streak to 12 games in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament at Biloxi, Miss.

Johnson, who is averaging 18.3 points and 12.3 rebounds and was the Sun Belt player of the year, sat out because of a sprained right ankle.

New Orleans, the top-seeded team, was outrebounded without Johnson in the lineup, but never led by less than six points during the last 15 minutes.

Reggie Garrett led the Privateers with 20 points.

Louisiana Tech (7-21) got 16 points from Andre Jackson.

Duquesne 88, No. 18 Xavier 72--Alan Watkins, Derrick Alston and Kenya Hunter all scored 20 points during the Midwestern Collegiate Conference game at Pittsburgh, helping the Dukes end Xavier’s nine-game winning streak.

Xavier (21-4, 12-2) lost for the first time since Jan. 27, when it was defeated at Cincinnati, 78-67, its most lopsided loss of the season before Saturday. The Musketeers had also won 12 consecutive conference games since Jan. 9, when they were defeated in overtime by Detroit Mercy.

Duquesne (12-14, 5-9) made 18 of 20 free throws during the last 4 1/2 minutes, when Xavier was forced to foul.

The Dukes scored a season-best 59 points during the second half, putting together an 11-0 run midway through the half to pull ahead to stay.

No. 20 Tulane 91, South Florida 75--Anthony Reed, whose number was retired before the game, scored 23 points to move into first place on the school’s all-time scoring list and lead the Green Wave to the Metro Conference victory at New Orleans.

C.J. Hunter scored 17 points for Tulane (21-7, 8-3), which ended a three-game losing streak.

South Florida (8-17, 2-9) was led by Derrick Sharp, who scored 23 points.

New Mexico 79, No. 21 Brigham Young 76--Steve Logan scored 21 points, including four free throws in the final 27 seconds, as the Lobos (21-6, 13-5), after defeating No. 9 Utah on Thursday night, completed a season-ending sweep of nationally ranked Western Athletic Conference teams at Albuquerque, N.M.

Gary Trost scored 26 points to lead BYU (23-7, 15-3).

New Mexico, which tied a WAC record by making 14 three-point shots, made 10 consecutive free throws during the last 1:44.