COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Washington St. Stays Unbeaten, Reaches Final

For the first time in its 19-year existence, the Indiana Classic might have a classic ending.

The reason? Washington State.

The Cougars remained unbeaten and earned a berth in the tournament final by defeating Oral Roberts, 98-50, in the opening round Friday night at Bloomington, Ind.

Washington State (7-0) will meet 12th-ranked Indiana, a 117-73 winner over Tennessee Tech, tonight.

Washington State didn’t waste much time with Oral Roberts (2-4), making 22 of 29 shots in the first half to take a 52-24 lead.

“They shot the ball extraordinarily well,” Oral Roberts Coach Bill Self said. “On the year, they’ve shot around 40%. In the first half tonight, they shot 75%. A lot of that was because we let them.”

The Cougars, who made 67% of their shots, opened the second half with a 19-4 run that extended their lead to 71-28. Their biggest lead was 94-43.

Eddie Hill, a senior guard from Cleveland High in Reseda, led Washington State with a season-high 18 points.

No. 11 Purdue 114, Houston 90--Glenn Robinson scored eight of his 33 points during a 15-0 run late in the first half to spark the Boilermakers at Indianapolis.

Cuonzo Martin added 21 points, and reserves Justin Jennings and Herb Dove added career highs of 18 and 11. Purdue (6-0) had its highest scoring output of the season and came within three points of tying the school record of 69 second-half points.

Houston (2-4) made one shot in the last four minutes of the first half.

No. 16 Illinois 110, Morehead State 75--Deon Thomas scored 26 points and moved into second place on Illinois’ all-time scoring list as the Illini (3-1) romped in the first round of the Illini Classic at Champaign, Ill.

Thomas, a senior center, moved past Mark Smith on Illinois’ scoring list with 1,670 points, 21 behind Eddie Johnson.

Morehead State is 3-2.

No. 20 Cincinnati 92, Cleveland State 70--Freshman Dontonio Wingfield scored 18 points to lead the Bearcats (5-1) in the opening round of the Bearcat Classic at Cincinnati.

Sam Mitchell led Cleveland State (1-4) with 21 points.

No. 24 George Washington 76, Long Island 60--Yinka Dare had 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Colonials (3-1) in the opening round of the Red Auerbach Colonial Classic at Washington.

Long Island is 1-2.

No. 25 California 80, Maryland Baltimore County 48--Lamond Murray scored 22 points and Jason Kidd had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to lead the Bears (3-2) over the Retrievers (1-3) in the first round of the Otis Spunkmeyer Classic at Oakland.

Cal took control by outscoring the Retrievers, 32-2, during a second-half run.