COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : McInnis Saves Tar Heels With Late Steal

Jeff McInnis’ steal with time running out saved third-ranked North Carolina, preserving an 80-78 victory over Florida State on Saturday at Tallahassee, Fla., that moved the Tar Heels into a three-way tie with Maryland and Virginia for the lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

With two seconds left, McInnis tipped the ball away from Florida State’s Bobby Sura, who was trying to tie or win the game for the Seminoles (12-13, 5-10).

North Carolina (21-3, 11-3) led, 46-39, at halftime and by as many as 10 points in the second half but couldn’t put the game away.

North Carolina was led by sophomores McInnis with 19 points, Jerry Stackhouse with 17 and Rasheed Wallace with 15.

No. 1 Kansas 88, No. 14 Missouri 69--Jerod Haase scored 12 of Kansas’ first 14 second-half points and finished with 26 as the Jayhawks (21-4, 10-3) recovered from a bad start to beat the Tigers (18-6, 7-5) and move within a game of the Big Eight title at Lawrence, Kan.

No. 4 Connecticut 75, Seton Hall 61--Donny Marshall scored 16 points and Ray Allen added 14 as the Huskies (22-2, 15-1) put together two runs in the last 12 minutes en route to a Big East victory over Seton Hall (16-10, 7-9) at Storrs, Conn.

No. 5 Massachusetts 77, St. Joseph’s 58--Lou Roe made nine of 10 shots, scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Minutemen (21-4, 11-3) past the Hawks (15-10, 8-7) in an Atlantic 10 game at Philadelphia.

Sophomore center Marcus Camby played sparingly because of an upset stomach.

No. 6 Kentucky 71, Vanderbilt 60--Tony Delk scored 22 points and the Wildcats (20-4, 12-2) used a 13-1 run in the final four minutes to beat the Volunteers (12-12, 6-8) in a Southeastern Conference game at Nashville, Tenn.

No. 7 Maryland 84, Clemson 68--Joe Smith matched his career high with 33 points as the Terrapins (22-5, 11-3) finished unbeaten at home (16-0) for the first time in 15 years by defeating the Tigers (13-11, 3-11) in an ACC game at College Park, Md.

No. 8 Arkansas 122, Montevallo 64--Alex Dillard and Davor Rimac hit five three-point shots in four minutes and the Razorbacks (23-5) had five players scoring in double figures, none of the starters, in overwhelming Montevallo (9-18), an Alabama school in the NAIA, at Fayetteville, Ark.

No. 9 Villanova 74, St. John’s 70--Eric Eberz scored 23 points, including all of the Wildcats’ (21-6, 13-3) in a 10 1/2-minute span of the second half, and they held on to beat the Red Storm (12-12, 5-11) in a Big East game in Philadelphia.

No. 12 Michigan State 83, Northwestern 60--Shawn Respert scored 20 points and Quinton Brooks scored seven points to lead a 16-4 run to open the second half and push the Spartans (20-4, 12-3) past the Wildcats (5-19, 1-14) in a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill.

No. 16 Mississippi State 46, Mississippi 42--Darryl Wilson made a three-point shot with 35 seconds left as the Bulldogs (19-5, 11-3) struggled past the Rebels (8-16, 3-11) to win their fourth consecutive Southeastern Conference road game.

No. 20 Alabama 69, Florida--Eric Washington made a three-point basket with 2.7 seconds remaining to cap an 8-2 run over the final two minutes as the Crimson Tide (19-7, 9-5) edged the Gators (14-10, 7-7) in an SEC game at Gainesville, Fla.

Ohio State 73, No. 22 Minnesota 65--Rick Yudt scored 18 points, including six during an 8-0 second-half spurt, as the Buckeyes (6-19, 2-13) beat the Gophers (17-9, 8-6) in a Big Ten game at Columbus, Ohio.

No. 25 Georgia Tech 72, North Carolina State 68--C.J. Williams scored all eight of his points in the final 2:20 as the Yellow Jackets (17-10, 7-7) had a 14-2 spurt to defeat the Wolfpack (12-12, 4-10) in an ACC game at Raleigh, N.C.

No. 25 Oklahoma 82, No. 18 Oklahoma State 74--Ryan Minor scored 32 points, including a key three-point basket in overtime, to help the Sooners (21-6, 8-4) beat the Cowboys (19-8, 9-3) in a Big Eight game that completed Oklahoma’s first 15-0 season at home since 1989-90.

OTHER GAMES

Manhattan (23-3, 12-2) had its 14-game winning streak ended as Micheal Meeks scored 18 points to lead Canisius (17-11, 10-4) to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory at New York. . . . Jeff Massey scored 27 points and Tavares Johnson added 20 as Xavier (23-3, 13-0) defeated Butler (15-11, 8-7), 81-66, in a Midwestern Collegiate Conference game at Indianapolis. . . . Ace Curtis scored 18 points and had five steals as Virginia Tech (19-8, 5-6) downed South Florida (14-10, 4-7), 74-64, in a Metro Conference game at Blacksburg, Va. . . . Tulsa (19-6, 14-3) won consecutive outright Missouri Valley Conference titles for the first time in school history with a 74-68 victory over Bradley (18-8, 12-6) at Tulsa, Okla. Senior guard Alvin Williamson scored 22 points. . . . Tom Kleinschmidt’s four-point play on a three-pointer and free throw with 11.4 seconds left lifted DePaul (15-8) to an 82-81 victory over Louisville (15-12) at Rosemont, Ill. He finished with a game-high 30 points. . . . Terrence Rencher had 25 points and 10 rebounds in leading Texas (18-6, 9-3) to a 109-75 victory over Baylor (9-17, 3-9), the Longhorns’ 24th in a row at home. . . . Alan Henderson had 23 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh consecutive double-double as Indiana (16-10, 8-6) defeated Penn State (15-9, 7-8), 73-60, in Big Ten play at Bloomington, Ind. . . . Anthony Pieper and Tony Miller sank clutch free throws in the waning seconds to give Marquette (15-10) a 65-63 victory over Notre Dame (14-12) at South Bend, Ind.