COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Seniors Sit, so Freshmen Lead Tar Heels

Eric Montross, an All-American, was playing poorly, and then he wasn’t playing at all.

Brian Reese, a good shooter and rebounder, wasn’t doing either, so he was sitting with Montross.

Kevin Salvadori was a 7-foot starter who didn’t start.

They are all seniors, and North Carolina Coach Dean Smith has always put a lot of stock in his seniors.

But on Saturday, the coach of the No. 2 Tar Heels sent them a message: play hard or sit.

Salvadori didn’t start, and Montross and Reese were benched to start the second half after combining for four points and three rebounds in the first half of Saturday’s 69-56 victory over Virginia at Chapel Hill, N.C.

It broke a two-game losing streak, something North Carolina isn’t used to.

“Maybe I just wanted to shake them up, make them mad at me and maybe play better,” Smith said. “Doc Gooden gets taken out some, too--sometimes as early as the third inning. The difference is, he can’t come back in.”

Montross, who finished two for 10 from the field for seven points, said he deserved to be benched.

“I wasn’t playing well and for someone else to go in who was playing better at the time was probably a good move,” he said.

Freshman Jeff McInnis scored a season-high 16 points and North Carolina had a 19-2 second-half run while holding Virginia without a basket for more than 11 minutes.

The Tar Heels, 21-5 overall and 9-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, trailed by as many as eight points in the first half.

But McInnis and freshman Jerry Stackhouse, who had 17 points, picked up the slack as North Carolina beat Virginia (13-9, 7-6) at home for the 50th time in 53 games.

*

No. 1 Arkansas 90, Mississippi 73--Corliss Williamson, who played only five minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, scored 19 points in the second for the Razorbacks at Memphis, Tenn.

His successive baskets put Arkansas (20-2, 10-2 Southeastern Conference) on top, 44-40, early in the second half and the Rebels (11-11, 4-8) never caught up.

*

No. 3 Connecticut 81, Providence 73--Donyell Marshall scored 27 points at Storrs, Conn., where the Huskies remained unbeaten in 13 games this season.

After trailing by two points at halftime, UConn (22-3, 12-2 Big East) took charge with a 20-10 run that included three three-pointers and two dunks from Marshall and Ray Allen.

Providence (12-9, 5-8) has lost four of its last five.

*

No. 7 Michigan 72, No. 20 Minnesota 65--Jalen Rose scored 25 points at Ann Arbor, Mich., as the Wolverines won their eighth in a row and ended Minnesota’s four-game losing streak.

The victory left Michigan (19-4, 11-2) alone atop the Big Ten while the Gophers (18-8, 8-5) dropped three games off the pace.

The Wolverines are unbeaten since a 63-58 defeat at Minnesota on Jan. 20. But they played that game without Juwan Howard and Jimmy King, both of whom had the chicken pox. Howard had 19 points and King 11 this time.

*

No. 16 Indiana 82, No. 9 Purdue 80--Todd Lindeman hit two free throws with seven seconds to play at Bloomington, Ind., where the Hoosiers won their 42nd game in a row despite 39 points by the Boilermakers’ Glenn Robinson, the nation’s leading scorer.

Purdue (21-4, 9-4) rallied from 10 points down with six minutes to go, catching Indiana, 80-80, with 23 seconds to play.

Then Lindeman was fouled while going up for a dunk, hit his free throws and a last-second shot by Purdue’s Matt Waddell was blocked by Alan Henderson.

*

No. 11 Kentucky 77, Vanderbilt 69--Coach Rick Pitino benched Travis Ford, Tony Delk and Gimel Martinez in the first half and the Wildcats responded with a 17-4 run in putting away the Commodores at Nashville, Tenn.

Ford finished with 22 points for Kentucky (20-5, 9-3 SEC), which took advantage of 22 turnovers by Vanderbilt (13-9, 6-6).

*

Boston College 89, No. 14 Syracuse 83--Bill Curley scored 23 points and keyed a decisive run at Newton, Mass., where the Eagles completed their first regular-season sweep of Syracuse since 1981-82.

The Orangemen (17-5, 9-5 Big East) led 75-72 before Curley’s two free throws with 5:48 to play started a 9-0 spurt by Boston College (18-7, 9-5).

Howard Eisley scored 21 points for the Eagles. Lawrence Moten paced Syracuse with 26 points.

*

No. 17 Florida 88, South Carolina 64--Dan Cross had a career-high six three-pointers and finished with 24 points at Gainesville, Fla., where the Gators (21-4, 11-2 SEC) never trailed and committed only one first-half turnover.

South Carolina (6-16, 2-10) was led by Jamie Watson, who had 12 points on four-for-15 shooting.

*

No. 18 Saint Louis 73, No. 21 Alabama- Birmingham 72--H Waldman made two three-pointers in overtime and clinched the victory at St. Louis with two free throws with 4.4 seconds to play.

Saint Louis (20-3, 6-3 Great Midwest) stretched its home winning streak to 14, rebounded from consecutive road losses and ended a seven-game losing streak against Alabama-Birmingham (18-6, 6-4).

*

Northwestern 75, No. 24 Wisconsin 71--Kevin Rankin, a De Pere, Wis., native who got away from the state university, scored 23 points in an upset victory for the Wildcats at Madison.

Northwestern (11-10, 2-10) won it at the free-throw line, making 22 of 26, while Wisconsin (15-7, 6-7) was 10 for 13.

*

No. 25 Georgia Tech 71, Wake Forest 69--James Forrest scored 23 points at Atlanta, where the Yellow Jackets (14-9, 5-7 Atlantic Coast) held off a Wake Forest (16-9, 6-6) rally.

OTHER GAMES

Maurice Woods and Scott Didrickson each scored 14 points as Washington (5-17, 3-10) climbed out of the Pacific 10 cellar with a 62-49 victory over Oregon State (6-15, 2-10) at Seattle. . . . Orlando Williams scored a career-high 40 points as hot-shooting Oregon (8-13, 4-8 Pacific 10) took an early lead in a 98-87 victory over Washington State (16-9, 6-7) at Pullman, Wash. . . . Jamie Skelton scored a game-high 20 points to lead Ohio State (11-13, 4-9 Big Ten) to a 60-57 victory over Penn State (10-11, 3-9) at State College, Pa. . . . Bernard Davis scored 23 points and Charles Claxton had 14 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots to lead Georgia (12-12, 6-6 Southeastern) to a 100-84 victory over Louisiana State (11-11, 5-8) at Baton Rouge, La. . . . Kansas State (16-8, 4-7 Big Eight) scored eight points in two seconds during a 19-2 run in the second half and went on to an 89-76 victory over Oklahoma (14-8, 5-5) at Manhattan, Kan. . . . Julius Michalik scored on a missed free throw with 39 seconds left to give Iowa State (12-10, 2-8 Big Eight) an 81-78 victory over Colorado (12-10, 2-8) at Boulder, Colo. . . . Bob Sura scored 22 points and Charlie Ward and Chuck Graham added 17 each for Florida State (12-10, 5-8 Atlantic Coast) in a 79-71 victory over Clemson (13-12, 4-8) at Clemson, S.C. . . . Jamal Faulkner scored 25 points to lead Alabama (14-8, 9-4 Southeastern) to an 84-70 victory over Tennessee (54-17, 2-10) at Tuscaloosa, Ala. . . . Eric Eberz scored six points in the second overtime period to help Villanova (12-9, 8-6 Big East) to its sixth victory in a row, 93-88, at Pittsburgh (13-10, 7-8). . . . Bryant Reeves scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Oklahoma State (18-7, 7-3 Big Eight) in a 98-80 victory over Nebraska (14-8, 4-6) at Stillwater, Okla.