COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : No. 1 North Carolina Beats Virginia

Weather conditions forced an interruption of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Saturday, but players from top-ranked North Carolina were concerned more with whether point guard Derrick Phelps will be available for the NCAA tournament.

Phelps was injured with 1:52 to play in North Carolina’s 74-56 semifinal victory over Virginia at Charlotte, N.C.

North Carolina (28-3) extended its win streak to 11 games, and advanced to the ACC championship for the 21st time in the event’s 40-year history. North Carolina will play Georgia Tech, a 69-61 winner over Clemson in the other semifinal.

North Carolina’s victory, delayed 29 minutes in the second half by a power outage, may prove costly.

Phelps, who bruised an elbow two weeks ago at Florida State, was carried off the court on a stretcher after he was knocked to the floor by Virginia’s Jason Williford. After X-rays, team officials said he severely bruised his lower back but had no broken bones. It was unclear if Phelps would be running North Carolina’s offense today.

“When a guy is in the air you know that when you hit down that hard something is going to happen and it’s not going to be good,” North Carolina center Eric Montross said.

Williford said he felt bad for Phelps and went to see if he was hurt after the play.

“I was just going for the ball,” Williford said. “I thought I made a hustle play. I didn’t intentionally try to hurt him.”

The victory moved North Carolina Coach Dean Smith into second place on the NCAA Division I victory list with 768, one more than Henry Iba. Smith, who has a 50-20 record in ACC tournament play, is 108 victories behind former Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp.

Virginia (19-10) lost to the Tar Heels by 20 and 22 points during the regular season.

North Carolina led, 43-39, early in the second half when the lights went out in the Charlotte Coliseum because of the snowstorm. When play resumed, the Tar Heels went on a 14-2 run.

Montross, held without a basket during the first half, scored six points during the run as North Carolina took a 57-41 lead with 11:12 to play.

“I don’t have anything against Indiana or Michigan, but I can’t see anybody else’s defense being as good as Carolina’s,” Alexander said. “As good as they are offensively, it doesn’t compare to their defense.”

Georgia Tech 69, Clemson 61--James Forrest scored 26 points as the Yellow Jackets advanced to the championship game.

Clemson (16-12) stayed within striking distance throughout the second half but never made the key shot to catch Georgia Tech (18-10).

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

BIG EAST CONFERENCE

No. 9 Seton Hall 69, Providence 60--At Madison Square Garden in New York, the Pirates (26-6), advanced to the final with their 10th consecutive victory.

Terry Dehere, the Big East Player of the Year and the league’s all-time leading scorer, led Seton Hall with 28 points, including two three-point baskets when Providence (17-11) made a run late in the second half.

Syracuse 84, St. John’s 72--The Orangemen, barred from the NCAA tournament and NIT because they are on probation, continued to play Big East spoilers as Lawrence Moten scored 26 points and Adrian Autry added 19 in the semifinal victory.

The game was interrupted twice in the first half, once when condensation on the roof caused droplets of water on the court and later when a power surge caused the building’s light to blink briefly.

Moten scored 20 points in the second half for Syracuse (20-8).

St. John’s (18-10) had beaten Syracuse in both regular-season meetings.

BIG EIGHT CONFERENCE

Kansas State 74, No. 7 Kansas 67--Vincent Jackson scored 25 points and Anthony Beane had 19 for the Wildcats in the semifinal victory at Kansas City, Kan.

Kansas State (19-9) improved to to 17-1 in games in which it held an opponent under 70 points and ended an eight-game losing streak against Kansas (25-6).

Missouri 67, Iowa State 63--The Tigers, who finished seventh in the conference with a 6-9 record and endured a seven-game losing streak, advanced to the championship with the victory. Chris Heller scored 20 points to lead Missouri (18-13). Iowa State is 20-10.

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

New Mexico 76, Texas El Paso 65--The Lobos tied a tournament record by making 11 of 25 three-point shots during the championship game victory at Salt Lake City.

New Mexico (24-6) tied the tournament record for most three-point baskets set by Wyoming in 1989. The Lobos made 25 three-point shots in the three-game tournament, eclipsing Brigham Young’s 1992 record of 21.

Eddie Rivera scored 19 points for UTEP (20-12), which along with WAC co-champions Utah and BYU, is hoping for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.

GREAT MIDWEST CONFERENCE

No. 11 Cincinnati 77, Memphis State 72--Terry Nelson made two free throws with 7.9 seconds left at Memphis as the Bearcats won their second consecutive conference tournament title.

Erik Martin scored 25 points for Cincinnati (24-4), which defeated Memphis State (20-11) for the regular-season championship.

METRO CONFERENCE

No. 16 Louisville 71, North Carolina Charlotte 59--The Cardinals overcame a 16-point deficit in the semifinals at Louisville, Ky.

Cliff Rozier scored 16 of his 20 points during the second half for Louisville (19-8), which used relentless defensive pressure to overcome the 49ers (15-13).

Virginia Commonwealth 85, Virginia Tech 71--Kenny Harris scored 16 of his 21 points during the first half to lead Virginia Commonwealth (20-8) to the semifinal victory.

Jay Purcell made five three-point baskets and finished with 21 points for Virginia Tech (10-18).

SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE

Houston 58, Texas 50--The Cougars (21-7) advanced to the final at Dallas despite making only 27% of their shots in the second half and enduring a span of 5:31 without scoring. Texas finished 11-17.

Texas Tech 76, Texas Christian 59--Will Flemons scored 21 points and 11 rebounds at Dallas as the Red Raiders (17-11) advanced to the SWC tournament title game for the first time since 1986. TCU finished 6-22.

OTHER GAMES

Jamie Matthews, averaging 10.8 points, came off the bench to score 31 for Ball State (26-7) in a 79-64 victory over Western Michigan (17-12) to win the Mid-American Conference tournament at Columbus, Ohio. . . . Chris Webber scored 24 points to lead No. 3-ranked Michigan (26-4, 15-3) to a 86-60 rout of Northwestern (8-19, 3-15) in a Big Ten Conference game at Ann Arbor, Mich.

James Winters combined with reserve Russ Millard to score 17 points and lead an early second-half surge as No. 17-ranked Iowa (22-8, 11-7) beat Illinois (18-12, 11-7), 63-53, in a Big Ten game at Iowa City. . . . Shawn Respert of Michigan State (15-12, 7-11) scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds during a 70-53 Big Ten victory over Penn State (7-20, 2-16) at East Lansing, Mich.

Lindsey Hunter scored 23 points to lead Jackson State (24-7) to a 85-75 victory over Mississippi Valley State (13-15) in the semifinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament at Baton Rouge, La.