COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Michigan Overcomes Purdue

Michigan center Juwan Howard put back an offensive rebound with 21.1 seconds to play and Purdue missed three shots in the final seconds, allowing the 13th-ranked Wolverines to overcome an 11-point deficit and defeat the No. 8 Boilermakers, 63-62, Tuesday at West Lafayette, Ind.

“It’s unfortunate that we can’t block out, and that’s what beat us,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said after his team was outrebounded, 52-40, with Howard grabbing 17 to go with his 17 points.

The Wolverines (14-4, 6-2 in the Big Ten Conference) overcame a 36-point performance by Glenn Robinson to win a game for first place in the league.

“Two teams playing awfully hard defensively led to an ugly looking game at times,” said Michigan Coach Steve Fisher, who watched his Wolverines shoot 38.1% and Purdue 38.5%. “It was two tough defensive efforts that you saw from the offensive end.”

Purdue (17-3, 5-3) took its biggest lead of the night, 53-42, on a jump shot by Robinson with 8:31 to play. But poor free throw shooting cost Purdue dearly down the stretch. The Boilermakers missed 10 of 15 in the second half. Purdue made only eight of 20 for the game.

No. 15 Syracuse 108, No. 5 Connecticut 95--Lawrence Moten scored 31 points and John Wallace added 25 as the Orangemen matched their highest point total for a Big East Conference game in defeating the Huskies at Syracuse.

“As a team, we played a perfect game tonight,” said Moten, who also had 10 rebounds. “We couldn’t have played any better. I would never have believed we could score 108 points on Connecticut.”

Syracuse (14-3, 7-3) moved into a second-place tie with Boston College by ending a 10-game winning streak by the Huskies (18-2, 8-1), who played their second game without Coach Jim Calhoun, who has been hospitalized with pneumonia.

Donyell Marshall had 30 points to lead Connecticut, which pulled to within 92-88 on Nantambu Willingham’s basket with 3:39 to play. But Syracuse went on an 11-2 run to lead 103-90 with a minute left.

“The most difficult thing about the game is giving up 108 points,” Marshall said. “We prided ourselves on being a good defensive team. But, we’re still No. 1 in the conference. Everybody still has to catch us.”

No. 6 Arkansas 89, Vanderbilt 76--Roger Crawford and Scotty Thurman scored three baskets each during a 19-0 run that helped lead the Razorbacks to victory at Fayetteville, Ark.

Frank Seckar’s fourth three-point basket in six attempts cut the Arkansas lead to 46-43 before the Crawford-Thurman spree. The Commodores (10-7, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) suffered four turnovers during the five-minute period.

“They went on a UNLV-type run of a few years ago, which put them ahead for good,” Vanderbilt Coach Jan van Breda Kolff said. “We haven’t played a team that has gone on runs like they did, and it is hard to prepare for these runs.”

Corliss Williamson led Arkansas (15-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) with 24 points, while Crawford added 16. Ronnie McMahon led Vanderbilt with 26, with Billy McCaffrey scoring 17.

No. 10 Temple 84, Rutgers 45--With leading scorer Aaron McKie on the bench because of foul trouble, Eddie Jones matched a career high with 30 points to lead the Owls to a blowout victory over Rutgers in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Philadelphia.

“Everything I threw up seemed to fall in,” said Jones, who was 11 for 15 from the field, including three of five from three-point range. “I kept getting the ball in my sweet spots. The shots were just dropping for me.”

Jones personally outscored Rutgers, 18-3, immediately after McKie sat down with two personal fouls in the first half. Jones finished with 25 in the half, one short of the home-court record set last year by McKie against Rutgers.

Temple (14-2, 7-1) posted its eighth consecutive victory and is second in the Atlantic 10 behind Massachusetts. Rutgers (6-11, 2-6) was led by Charles Jones’ 16 points.