COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : George Washington Surprises UMass, Clinton Gets an Assist

With America’s No. 1 fan in the stands and No. 1 Massachusetts on the court, George Washington Coach Mike Jarvis thought it was time to take some advice from President Clinton.

Recalling the President’s suggestion to mix some zone defense with his usual man-to-man, Jarvis’ Colonials went on to upset the Minutemen, 78-75, in an Atlantic 10 game at Washington, ending their 16-game winning streak.

“When you go to war, you try to do something maybe the enemy doesn’t expect,” said Jarvis.

Clinton attended the game with his daughter, Chelsea.

Kwame Evans scored 27 points and George Washington (14-8, 7-3) made its free throws late to hold on against Massachusetts (17-2, 9-1), which played without top shot-blocker Marcus Camby, who has a hamstring injury.

No. 2 North Carolina 82, North Carolina State 63--Jack Stackhouse scored 21 points and the Tar Heels shot 56% at Chapel Hill, N.C., to gain revenge for a loss to the Wolfpack on Jan. 4. The victory put the Tar Hills (18-1, 8-1) in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wolfpack fell to 10-9, 2-7.

No. 3 Kansas 91, No. 11 Iowa State 71--Greg Ostertag erased the Big Eight career record for blocks and the torrid Jayhawks (17-2, 6-1) sank their first 10 shots of the second half in crushing the Cyclones (17-5, 3-4) in a Big Eight game at Lawrence, Kan.

Ostertag, a 7-2 senior, had five blocks, raising his total to 231 and breaking the Big Eight record Stacey King set for Oklahoma with 228. Kansas’ Sean Pearson had a career-best 24 points.

No. 4 Connecticut 99, St. John’s 82--Brian Fair made five three-pointers in a 5:25 span of the second half to lead the Huskies over St. John’s at New York. UConn (17-1, 10-0) set a Big East record with its 15th consecutive conference victory. St. John’s (9-9, 2-8) has lost eight consecutive Big East games.

No. 21 Georgia Tech 100, No. 5 Maryland 91--Travis Best scored 30 points and freshman Matt Harpring 28 in an ACC game at Atlanta as the Yellow Jackets (15-6, 6-3) ended a six-game winning streak for the Terrapins (17-4, 7-2).

Mississippi State 83, No. 8 Arkansas 62--Darryl Wilson scored 25 points as the Bulldogs (14-4, 6-2) upset the Razorbacks (17-5, 6-4) in a Southeastern Conference game at Starkville, Miss., taking over the lead in the SEC Western Division and making a strong case for a top-25 ranking. Corliss Williamson had 20 points for Arkansas, which made 21 of 57 shots (37%).

No. 9 Michigan State 67, Ohio State 58--Shawn Respert had 32 points, became Michigan State’s career scoring leader and scored his team’s final 13 points as the Spartans (16-2, 8-1), off to their best start ever, won a Big Ten game at Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes (4-15, 0-9) are off to their worst start in 96 years.

Miami 67, No. 13 Georgetown 61--The Hurricanes took advantage of a late technical foul against Hoya Coach John Thompson to pull off the Big East upset at Miami. The technical, which came when Thompson protested a foul call with 4:14 left, cost Georgetown (14-5, 7-4) momentum and allowed the Hurricanes (9-8, 4-6) to score four points on their next possession for a 60-49 lead.

No. 14 Wake Forest 68, Winthrop 54--Randolph Childress scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and Tim Duncan had 13 points and a career-high 23 rebounds to lead the Demon Deacons (14-4) to a victory over Winthrop (6-13) at Rock Hill, S.C.

No. 15 Virginia 76, Florida State 63--The Cavaliers (13-6, 6-3) won their eighth consecutive overtime game as Harold Deane scored 11 of 17 extra-period points against the slumping Seminoles (10-8, 3-6) in an ACC game at Charlottesville, Va.

No. 18 Missouri 77, Kansas State 60--Julian Winfield scored 18 points and the Tigers (16-3, 5-2) went on a 15-2 run at the start of the second half to beat the Wildcats (11-9, 2-6) in a Big Eight at Manhattan, Kan.

No. 19 Villanova 79, Pittsburgh 76--Kerry Kittles scored 10 of his 26 points in overtime and the Wildcats (15-5, 8-2) rallied from a late 10-point deficit to beat Big East doormat Pitt (5-14, 1-10) at Pittsburgh. Villanova had 21 turners, was outrebounded, 43-29, and trailed, 56-46, before rallying.

Georgia 72, No. 20 Alabama 58--Katu Davis scored 25 points and made 13 of 14 foul shots as the Bulldogs (13-5, 4-4) defeated the Crimson Tide (15-5, 6-3) in an SEC game at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

OTHER GAMES

Merl Code and Greg Buckner scored 14 points each to lead Clemson (12-6, 3-6) to a 51-44 ACC victory over Duke (10-11, 0-9) at Clemson, S.C. The victory represented the Tigers’ first sweep of Duke since the 1976-77 season. . . . Leonard Bush scored 17 points as Alabama Birmingham (11-11, 3-4) defeated St. Louis (14-5, 4-3), 70-54, in a Great Midwest game at Birmingham, Ala., in the school’s first game in 17 years without Coach Gene Bartow, suspended for a game for bumping an official in a previous game. . . . Townsend Orr scored 20 points and Voshon Lenard added 19 as Minnesota (15-6, 6-3) handed Michigan (12-9, 6-3) its worst loss of the season, 80-58, in a Big Ten game at Minneapolis. . . . Michael Finley scored 27 points to lead Wisconsin (10-8, 4-5) to a 73-60 Big Ten victory over Illinois (14-7, 5-4) at Madison, Wis. . . . Alan Henderson scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half and Indiana (13-8, 5-4) rallied after losing a big early lead in an 88-67 victory over Northwestern (5-13, 1-8) in a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill.