COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Cal Upsets No. 9 Arizona, 74-72

K.J. Roberts did exactly what he wanted and what California Coach Todd Bozeman expected.

The Golden Bears’ backup point guard brought the ball downcourt with less than 14 seconds to play at Tucson and drove the lane against Damon Stoudamire of ninth-ranked Arizona. His only basket Sunday, a 10-foot jumper with 1.6 seconds to play, gave Cal, 12-8 overall and 4-7 in the Pacific 10 Conference, a 74-72 victory, its second road victory over a top-10 team in the last 16 days.

The shot ruined a furious comeback attempt by Arizona, which fell a game behind UCLA in the Pac-10 race.

“I wanted to maneuver around him and use my athleticism to get a good look at the basket,” Roberts said. “I crossed over and had him on his heels a little bit.”

The Golden Bears built a 17-point lead early in the second half, but Arizona (18-5, 8-3) came back to tie the score twice. The last deadlock--72-72 when Joseph Blair scored on a tip-in with 14 seconds remaining--set the stage for Roberts.

No. 1 North Carolina 85, No. 18 Georgia Tech 81--Rasheed Wallace scored 27 points, including seven dunks, to lead the Tar Heels in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Atlanta.

Wallace scored 10 points in the final 5:37 as the Tar Heels (19-2, 9-2) held off the Yellow Jackets (15-8, 6-5), who twice cut the North Carolina lead to one.

No. 3 Connecticut 77, No. 10 Syracuse 70--The Huskies extended their Big East record with their 17th consecutive regular-season conference victory.

The victory at Syracuse gave Connecticut (19-1, 12-0) a two-game lead over the Orangemen (17-4, 10-2).

The game wasn’t decided until the final 2:22, when the Huskies took the lead for good at 69-68 on a free throw by Travis Knight. Connecticut, which struggled from the outside throughout, scored the next eight points as the Orangemen missed all four of their shots.

No. 5 Kentucky 97, Notre Dame 58--Walter McCarty scored 12 of his 20 points in the first five minutes at South Bend, Ind. It was the worst home loss for the Irish (14-9) since 1898, when they lost to First Regiment, 64-8. It also was the fifth win in a row for the Wildcats (17-3) over the Irish.

No. 17 Virginia 75, Nevada Las Vegas 65--Freshman Curtis Staples made a school-record nine three-point shots to lead the Cavaliers (16-6) over the Runnin’ Rebels (9-10) at Charlottesville, Va.

Staples finished with 27 points as Virginia won its fourth in a row.

Indiana 82, No. 25 Purdue 73--Alan Henderson scored 26 points and freshman Charlie Miller had a season-high 21 in a Big Ten game at Bloomington, Ind., as the Hoosiers (14-9, 6-4) ended Purdue’s six-game winning streak.

The 6-foot-7 Miller, whose best previous game was 16 points against Northwestern, had 12 points in the final 10 minutes after Purdue (16-6, 7-3) cut a 16-point Indiana lead to three.

A three-point shot by Chad Austin midway through the second half pulled Purdue within 51-46, then two minutes later a fast-break dunk by Justin Jennings brought Purdue within 55-52.

Miller then made a three-point shot to put the Hoosiers up, 58-52.

OTHER GAMES

Marlon Garnett scored 19 points as Santa Clara (19-4, 10-1) completed its first perfect home regular season since 1970 with a 74-62 West Coast Conference victory over San Diego (9-12, 4-6). . . . Johnny Miller made a three-point shot from the corner with 51.9 seconds to play as Temple (12-7) won, 53-48, at Louisville (15-9). . . . Dayton (7-13, 0-6) suffered its worst-ever loss as Cincinnati (16-8, 6-3) rode its dominant front line to a 116-63 Great Midwest Conference victory at Cincinnati.