COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : No. 1 Kentucky Can’t Get Past Camby or Massachusetts, 92-82

Massachusetts center Marcus Camby is proving to be more than merely a slick shooter. The 6-foot-11 junior is also a defensive force.

Camby scored 32 points, 16 in each half, blocked five shots and pulled down nine rebounds as No. 5 Massachusetts opened its season with a 92-82 victory over No. 1 Kentucky (1-1) in the Great Eight basketball festival Tuesday night at Auburn Hills, Mich.

“We were intimidated by Marcus Camby out there tonight, looking for him to block all our shots,” Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said. “He’s such a great player, when you double him he can find the open man. He’s a good offensive and defensive player; the complete package.”

Said Massachusetts Coach John Calipari: “We’ve got a long way to go to get where we want to be, but tonight we played UMass style basketball. We played hard, and when you do that you give yourself a chance to win.”

Massachusetts used one of Kentucky’s favorite tactics, the full-court press, to open an 18-point lead midway through the first half. But the Wildcats, getting two three-point baskets by Tony Delk and one each from Allen Edwards and Walter McCarty, battled back for a 45-45 halftime tie.

The Minutemen opened the second half with an 11-1 run and led the rest of the way.

“At halftime we talked about what we had to do to handle Kentucky’s pressure in the second half,” Calipari said. “And if we didn’t do it we could lose this game by 25 points.”

The Wildcats also hurt themselves at the free throw line, missing 10 of 28. Massachusetts made 31 of 37 free throws. Kentucky shot 48.5% while Massachusetts shot 52.7%.

Delk had 21 points for Kentucky.

No. 7 Memphis 90, Jackson State 67--Center Lorenzen Wright scored 36 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead the Tigers (2-0) at Memphis.

Wright connected on 12 of 23 shots from the field and 12 of 18 free throws to lead Memphis, which outrebounded Jackson State, 62-33.

Titus Hooten led Jackson State (0-2) with 20 points.

No. 8 Mississippi State 77, North Carolina Wilmington 54--Darryl Wilson scored 18 points to lead four Bulldogs in double figures at Starkville, Miss.

Mississippi State (2-0) opened the second half with a 25-4 run that put away UNC Wilmington (0-2).

No. 11 Iowa 98, Drake 66--Russ Millard had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Chris Kingsbury came off the bench to score 14 points, including four three-point baskets, to pace the Hawkeyes (3-1) at Iowa City.

It was Iowa’s 17th victory in a row over Drake (1-1), which hasn’t won in Iowa City since 1967.

No. 17 North Carolina 83, Richmond 76--Shammond Williams converted a three-point play and Dante Calabria scored eight points in a critical stretch of the second half to lead the Tar Heels (3-1) at Chapel Hill.

Richmond (1-1) made 10 of 16 three-point shots in the second half and trailed, 72-71, with 4:09 left, when Williams made a steal and was fouled on his breakaway basket. Calabria made five free throws to keep the Tar Heels in command.

No. 22 Virginia Tech 93, Coastal Carolina 49--Ace Custis scored 19 points, including five dunks, and reserve Jim Jackson added 15 points to lead the Hokies (1-0) at Blacksburg, Va.

Virginia Tech scored 17 unanswered points to go ahead, 19-4, with 13:36 remaining in the first half against a team with only two returning starters and four junior college transfers.

Coastal Carolina (0-1) was held to two field goals in the first nine minutes.

Michigan State 75, No. 25 Arkansas 72--Jon Garavaglia scored six of his 14 points down the stretch and the Spartans (2-2) defeated the Razorbacks (1-2) in the first game of the Great Eight basketball festival at Auburn Hills, Mich.

The Razorbacks had been idle since losing to Arizona in the second round of the Preseason NIT.

The Arkansas press forced 16 Michigan State turnovers, but the Spartans had a 47-23 edge in rebounds with Jamie Feick and Garavaglia each pulling down 12.

PACIFIC 10

Arizona State 82, Southern Utah 76--Ron Riley scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half as the Sun Devils (2-0) downed the Thunderbirds (1-2) at Tempe.

Southern Utah, playing its third game in five nights, led, 35-33, at halftime behind Jon Gaines’ 16 points.

But Arizona State used a series of three-point baskets, including the third from Riley, to go ahead for good, 41-38, with 16:55 to play.

Jeremy Veal made a pair of free throws with 26.8 seconds left to seal the game. Veal had 17 points.

San Francisco 59, No. 16 Stanford 58--Michael Colter made a short bank shot with five seconds left as the Dons (1-1) upset the Cardinal (2-1), which could not overcome a subpar game by star point guard Brevin Knight (eight points, one assist and five turnovers) at San Francisco.

Arthur Lee, a freshman playing because Knight had fouled out, made the second of two free throws with 33 seconds left to give Stanford a 58-57 lead.

Colter drove to the left side of the basket and made his shot with 4.8 seconds left, and a last-second shot by Stanford’s Dion Cross missed.

OTHER GAMES

Chucky Atkins made four three-point shots in the first half and finished with a game-high 24 points to lead South Florida (2-0) to a 73-58 victory over Florida (0-1) at Tampa, Fla. . . . Brian Evan had 13 points and 14 rebounds to lead Indiana (2-2) to a 73-53 victory over Notre Dame (1-1) at Bloomington, Ind. . . . Fred Lyson sank two free throws with 3.3 seconds left, clinching a 71-68 come-from-behind victory for St. John’s (2-1) over Manhattan (0-2) at New York. . . . David Morgan scored his only points when he sank a layup at the buzzer to lift Nevada (1-0) to a 79-77 victory over Brigham Young (1-1) at Reno. . . . Todd Burgan scored eight of his 17 points during an early 17-4 spurt as Syracuse (2-0) handed Colgate (0-2) its second rout of the season by a Big East team, 89-55, at Syracuse, N.Y. . . . God Shammgod had 19 points and led a fast-break attack with a game-high eight assists as Providence (2-0) overwhelmed Brown (0-1), 100-67, in a non-conference game at Providence, R.I. . . . James Collins scored 21 points and Kirk Luchman added a career-high 18 points and 10 rebounds as Florida State (2-0) rolled to a 92-44 victory over Florida International (1-1) at Tallahassee, Fla.