COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Gene Bartow Gets His 600th Victory

Gene Bartow got his 600th coaching victory late Saturday night as Alabama Birmingham won the Tip-Off Tournament at Honolulu by defeating Hawaii, 79-59.

The Blazers’ Robert Shannon scored 22 points and made four three-pointers to beat Hawaii (1-5) and help Bartow become the eighth active Division I coach to reach 600 victories, the 27th in history. Alabama Birmingham is 5-1.

“Anytime you record a milestone victory, it’s a little special,” Bartow said. “I’ve had a lot of good players and good assistants, and if you stay in it long enough, you’ll get some wins.”

Bartow, who started the UAB basketball program in 1978, began his career at Central Missouri State in 1961. He was 47-21 before moving to Valparaiso, where he was 93-69 over six seasons.

In 1970, he was hired at Memphis State, and took the team to the 1973 NCAA title game, where it lost to UCLA. His only losing season was at Illinois, where he was 8-18 in 1974-75. The next season he succeeded John Wooden at UCLA for two years before leaving for Alabama because of the pressure in Westwood.

No. 25 California 83, Tulane 73--Lamond Murray’s 25 points led five Golden Bears in double figures as Cal (4-2) won the Otis Spunkmeyer Classic at Oakland.

The Green Wave (4-2), whose two losses have come against ranked teams, trailed by 10 at halftime, and never threatened in the second half.

After starting the last three games, Cal freshman Randy Duck came off the bench to score 15 points. Freshman Anwar McQueen added 11, and Ryan Jamison of Los Angeles had 10 before fouling out with 8:40 left. Jason Kidd finished with 12.

Princeton 67, Maryland Baltimore County 55--Rick Hielscher scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Tigers (4-3) in the consolation game of the Otis Spunkmeyer tournament.

Idaho 78, Oregon 66--Orlando Lightfoot scored 37 points for the Vandals at Moscow, Ida. Idaho (4-2) outscored the Ducks (1-2), 16-0, in the first 6:36 of the second half to rebound from a 35-31 deficit.

It was Oregon’s 26th consecutive road loss to a Division I opponent.

Marquette 86, Ohio State 66--Damon Key scored 17 points during a 33-15 second-half run as the Warriors handed the Buckeyes their first loss of the season in a game at Milwaukee. Key had 29 points and 14 rebounds for Marquette (5-2), which trailed by one at the half after shooting 36%.

Ohio State (3-1) was led by Derek Anderson with 17 points.

St. John’s 70, Hofstra 42--The Redmen (4-2) won the Joe Lapchick Memorial Tournament at New York for the 19th consecutive year.

Michigan St. 74, Detroit Mercy 63--Shawn Respert scored 29 points, including three three-pointers in the second half, and had 11 rebounds for the Spartans (5-2) at East Lansing, Mich.