COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Massachusetts Takes Control, Eyes No. 1

The barrage of three-pointers Massachusetts Coach John Calipari braced himself for came too late to make a difference.

“I’m glad we were 10 points up with 14 seconds to go and not three up. They would have found some way to put it in from the rafters,” Calipari said Thursday night after the fourth-ranked Minutemen (7-1) won at the new Kiel Center in St. Louis, 80-74, earning a possible return to No. 1 in the nation.

Nos. 1-3 have lost in the last two days. UMass was No. 1 for a week in December before losing to Kansas in Anaheim.

Lou Roe had 29 points and eight rebounds as UMass ended the Billikens’ 22-game home winning streak with relative ease. St. Louis closed to within range in the final seconds by making nine of 18 three-point shots in the second half.

Scott Highmark got all 12 of his points in the final 6:06. “We hit some shots but it was too late,” he said. “I was nonexistent for 34 minutes.”

Roe was a presence from the start in the game, which was part of an Atlantic 10-Great Midwest Conference doubleheader. Temple beat Marquette, 69-57, in the opener.

The games drew a crowd of 21,879, a record for the Kiel Center and the largest attendance for an indoor event in St. Louis.

Massachusetts (7-1) played without 6-foot-11 Marcus Camby, who didn’t make the trip because of the death of his grandmother, but didn’t miss him too much, leading the rebounding, 39-38.

The Billikens, who start nobody taller than 6-6 and who built their 8-1 record against the likes of Missouri Kansas City, Bethune Cookman and Cal State Sacramento, got 18 points from Erwin Claggett.

“When you play someone like this you usually come out better,” St. Louis Coach Charlie Spoonhour said. “You learn from these. We’re going to have to get some toughness.”

No. 6 Connecticut 102, Hartford 77--The Huskies (9-0) used a 23-7 run midway through the first half to take charge at Hartford.

Hartford (2-6) was the fifth team in a row to be beaten by UConn by 25 points or more.

Ray Allen scored 20 points and Travis Knight had 18 to lead the Huskies’ balanced attack. Harun Ramey scored 20 points to lead Hartford, whose leading scorer, Mike Bond, was held to three baskets and finished with 17.

OTHER GAMES

Cal State Sacramento (3-10) broke a 54-game road losing streak that spanned its entire existence as a Division I school as the Hornets beat Loyola of Chicago, 68-56. . . . Tyron McCoy had 18 points to lead Virginia Commonwealth (10-3) at Richmond in a 67-63 victory over Louisville (7-4) in the Metro Conference opener for both teams, only four days after the Cardinals had beaten archrival Kentucky. . . . LeVeldro Simmons scored 23 points at New Orleans to lead Tulane (11-2), which won its sixth game in a row, 78-72, over Virginia Tech in the Metro Conference opener for both clubs. . . . Rick Brunson scored 22 points and had a key basket and assist in the final two minutes at St. Louis as Temple (5-1) held off a challenge from Marquette (8-2) for a 69-57 victory. . . . Kwame Evans made two free throws with 1:00 remaining as George Washington (8-4, 1-0) overcame a slow start and held on for a 77-72 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over St. Bonaventure (5-6, 0-1). . . . Kareem Townes scored 25 points to lead La Salle (7-2) to an 83-77 victory over Illinois Chicago (5-5) at Philadelphia. . . . Pat Garrity scored 26 points to lead Notre Dame (8-3) to a 78-68 victory over Loyola (4-6) at South Bend, Ind. . . . Adam Jacobsen and Charles Jones each scored 25 points to help Pacific (6-3) to an 86-74 victory over Nevada (5-5) in their Big West opener in Stockton. . . . Eric Franson scored 31 points and Utah State (7-2) pulled away from a halftime tie in a 71-62 victory at San Jose State (1-9) in their Big West opener. . . . Wayne Butts scored 16 points and Lelan McDougal 14 to lead a balanced UC Santa Barbara attack in a 77-61 Big West victory over Nevada Las Vegas at Santa Barbara.