COLLEGE BASKETBALL : Tar Heels Cool Off Virginia

Virginia’s uncanny road success ended in a likely place Wednesday night, when No. 3 North Carolina beat the No. 18 Cavaliers, 79-76, at Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Cavaliers had won three consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference games.

Donald Williams scored a season-high 23 points for the Tar Heels, who moved into a tie for first place in the ACC.

The Cavaliers, 10-4 and 4-1 in the ACC, lost for the 14th time in a row in Chapel Hill, falling to an 0-10 record in the Smith Center. The Tar Heels (13-1, 4-1) have beaten the Cavaliers in 10 of the last 12 meetings.

No. 5 Kentucky 82, Mississippi 65--Rodrick Rhodes scored 23 points and Tony Delk added 18 to lead the Wildcats (11-2, 5-0) to a Southeastern Conference victory at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn.

Rhodes was only three for nine from the field, but made 16 of 20 free throws as Kentucky (11-2, 5-0) made 33 of 42 free throws.

Anthony Boone led the Rebels (5-9, 1-4) with 15 points,

No. 7 Kansas 78, Kansas State 74--Sean Pearson made a three-pointer with just over two minutes to play as Kansas (12-2, 2-1) survived the Wildcats’ bid for an upset in Lawrence, Kan., for the second consecutive year in the Big Eight conference game.

No. 9 Arkansas 84, Georgia 82--Scotty Thurman made three free throws in the final 30 seconds and Corey Beck scored two big baskets down the stretch as the Razorbacks (14-3, 3-2) beat the Bulldogs (11-4, 2-3) at Fayetteville in the Southeastern Conference game.

No. 12 Michigan State 93, Northwestern 56--Eric Snow scored 21 points and Shawn Respert added 16 to move into second place on Michigan State’s career scoring list as the Spartans (11-2, 3-1) won a Big Ten game at East Lansing, Mich.

Respert failed to lead Michigan State in scoring for the first time in 29 games, dating to Jan. 15, 1994, when Anthony Miller led the Spartans in a game against Northwestern (4-9, 0-4).

No. 14 Iowa State 70, Creighton 52--The Cyclones (14-2), playing their first game since beating then-No. 3 Kansas, overcame an early spell of cold shooting to win in Omaha in a nonconference game against the Blue Jays (5-8).

No. 16 Missouri 86, Jackson State 72-- Julian Winfield scored 17 points to lead five Missouri players in double figures as the Tigers (13-2) became the first top 25 team to ever visit Jackson State (5-12).

No. 24 Florida 71, South Carolina 59--Dametri Hill had 21 points on nine-for-10 shooting for the Gators (8-5, 2-2), who snapped a two-game losing streak with a Southeastern Conference victory at Columbia, S.C.

The Gators went on a 12-1 run in the final two minutes to take a 44-30 halftime lead and were unchallenged by the Gamecocks (3-10, 0-4) afterward.

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OTHER GAMES

In its first game as an unranked team since the fifth week of the 1986-87 season, Duke (9-7, 0-5) suffered its school-record fifth consecutive ACC loss, 77-60, to North Carolina State (10-4, 2-2). The Wolfpack broke a 19-game conference losing streak on the road behind Ishua Benjamin’s 23 points. . . . Brian Evans scored 17 points and made three free throws in the final 1:12 as Indiana (11-6, 3-2) defeated Penn State, 71-69, in a Big Ten game at State College, Pa. . . . Ray Donald’s three-pointer with 1:10 remaining broke a 55-55 tie and Auburn (10-4, 3-2) went on to beat Tennessee (7-3, 2-3), 61-57, at Auburn in an SEC game. . . . Jason Sasser scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, helping Texas Tech (7-6, 2-1) in an 84-66 victory at Houston. . . . Junior forward Eric Eberz scored 25 points to help Villanova (10-5, 3-2) defeat Pittsburgh (4-10, 0-6), 71-69, at Villanova in the Big East.