COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Georgia Tech Defeats Vanderbilt in Overtime

Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins wouldn’t give all the credit to his players.

“The horseshoe is still in my pocket,” the Georgia Tech coach said after his 14th-ranked Yellow Jackets overcame a six-point deficit in the final 42 seconds of regulation and beat No. 24 Vanderbilt, 86-77, in overtime Saturday at Atlanta.

Georgia Tech (6-1) got the break it needed when Vanderbilt’s Billy McCaffrey missed two free throws with 22 seconds to play, enabling Fred Vinson to force overtime when he made a three-pointer from the left corner with 11 seconds remaining.

In overtime, Ivano Newbill broke the 72-72 tie with a short hook to put the Yellow Jackets ahead to stay.

“The game just came down to making the free throws at the end,” McCaffrey said. “Usually we make them, but I didn’t, and I take responsibility for that.”

No. 1 Arkansas 96, Jackson State 80--Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman scored the first 16 points of the second half for the Razorbacks at Fayetteville, Ark.

Arkansas (6-0) led by 14 at the half and the Razorbacks led by at least 12 points thereafter. Williamson finished with 25 points.

Ryan Lorthridge and John Taylor scored 18 for the Tigers (4-3).

No. 2 North Carolina 81, Ohio State 68--Donald Williams scored 16 of his 26 points during a six-minute stretch of the second half as the Tar Heels won at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Ohio State, which trailed by 14 points in the first half, rallied to tie the score, 58-58. But Williams started his streak with a jumper with 6:47 to play to break the tie. Jerry Stackhouse added a free throw at 6:23, and Williams came back with a three-pointer as the Tar Heels (8-1) pulled away.

Jamie Skelton led Ohio State (4-2) with 27 points.

No. 6 Kansas 89, Georgia 79--Kansas used a 19-5 run sparked by freshman Jacques Vaughn and Steve Woodberry to build a 16-point lead and the Jayhawks held on to win at Atlanta.

It was the fifth victory in a row for the Jayhawks (9-1). Woodberry and Richard Scott led Kansas with 23 points each and Vaughn, from Pasadena Muir High, had 17.

Bernard Davis led Georgia (3-3) with 21.

No. 10 Louisville 72, Wyoming 55--Louisville, getting 18 points and 14 rebounds from Clifford Rozier, used a 15-5 run in the closing minutes to win at Laramie, Wyo.

The Cardinals (4-1) capitalized on poor shooting by the Cowboys. Wyoming (3-2) shot 39% and made only 12 of 22 free throws.

No. 11 Purdue 97, Georgia Southern 59--Glenn Robinson scored 28 points to lead the Boilermakers (8-0) at West Lafayette, Ind.

Lonnie Edwards led Georgia Southern (4-2) with 18 points in the first meeting between the schools.

No. 12 Indiana 91, Eastern Kentucky 80--Damon Bailey matched his career high with 32 points and helped the Hoosiers pull away in the second half at Bloomington, Ind.

The victory raised Indiana’s home winning streak to a nation-best 35 games, tying an Assembly Hall record set from 1973-76.

The Hoosiers (5-1) won their fifth in a row.

DeMarcus Doss led the Colonels (4-3) with 19 points.

No. 17 Cincinnati 95, Youngstown State 55--LaZelle Durden scored 22 points to lead the Bearcats at Cincinnati.

Dontonio Wingfield added 15 points and 13 rebounds as Cincinnati (7-2) shot a season-high 60% against the Penguins (0-4).

No. 19 Illinois 121, Chicago State 52--The Illini posted their most lopsided victory ever against the Cougars at Champaign, Ill.

Freshman guard Kiwane Garris had a team-high 23 points for Illinois (5-1). Chicago State is 0-7.

No. 21 Syracuse 108, Maryland Eastern Shore 71--Lucious Jackson’s 17 points paced six players in double figures as the Orangemen won at Syracuse, N.Y.

Freshman center Otis Hill added 15 points for Syracuse (6-1). Maryland Eastern Shore (3-3) got 20 points from Zack Allison.

No. 22 Oklahoma State 85, UC Davis 41--The Cowboys seemed to do little more than go through the motions in improving to 6-2 against the Division II Aggies at Stillwater, Okla.

UC Davis (3-5) shot only 32% and committed 25 turnovers.

OTHER GAMES

Kerry Kittles scored 23 points to lead five Villanova players in double figures as the Wildcats (3-2) posted an 89-78 victory over St. Mary’s at Villanova, Pa. . . . James Scott scored 28 points to lead St. John’s (5-2) to a 98-72 victory over Fordham (2-3) at Uniondale, N.Y. . . . Tom Kleinschmidt led all scorers with 25 points as DePaul (5-1) posted a 90-83 victory over Jacksonville (4-2) at Jacksonville, Fla. . . . Sharone Wright scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Clemson (4-1) scored a 76-64 victory over The Citadel (3-2) at Clemson, S.C. . . . Kevin Randle scored 10 points in an opening 12-0 run that sent Northwestern (6-0) to a 67-48 victory over Texas A&M; (3-2) at College Station, Tex.