COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Arkansas Little Rock Springs to Life

In 1986, unheralded Arkansas Little Rock reached national basketball prominence in the NCAA Midwest Regional, stunning third-seeded Notre Dame in the first round before falling in double overtime to North Carolina State.

And, while Arkansas Little Rock would make NCAA tournament appearances in 1989 and 1990, it hadn’t made an impact on a grand scale like 1986 until Saturday night in Starkville, Miss.

Derrick Crayton’s tip-in basket with 0.6 seconds left gave Arkansas Little Rock a 70-68 victory over No. 8 Mississippi State--which had beaten its four previous opponents by an average of 30 points. The lead changed nine times in the second half.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of any kids I’ve coached,” said Arkansas Little Rock Coach Wimp Sanderson, who led Alabama to 10 NCAA tournament appearances from 1982-92.

Mississippi State (4-1) shot 38% --with usually accurate guards Marcus Bullard and Darryl Wilson making only seven of 19 shots--and committed 22 turnovers. Center Erick Dampier had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Arkansas Little Rock (3-1) shot 44%, but made all 10 of its free throws. Derek Fisher had a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds.

No. 1 Kansas 101, San Diego 71--Freshman forward Paul Pierce had a season-high 24 points to lead the Jayhawks (5-0) at San Diego.

Kansas point guard Jacque Vaughn left the game in the second half when he injured his wrist in falling after a layup. The injury is not believed to be serious.

Scot Pollard, who went to San Diego’s Torrey Pines High, had 14 points for the Jayhawks.

No. 3 Massachusetts 65, Boston College 57--Marcus Camby blocked a shot by the Big East’s top returning scorer, Danya Abrams, with 59.6 seconds left to allow the Minutemen to hold off a late challenge at Boston.

Gov. Bill Weld and former Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie were among the sellout crowd of 18,974 at the FleetCenter watching the cross-state rivals play for only the second time since 1979.

Camby had 19 points and five blocked shots, while Donta Bright had a game-high 24 points for Massachusetts (5-0). Abrams led Boston College (4-2) with 23 points, and 5-foot-10 freshman guard Scoonie Penn had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

No. 5 Kentucky 83, No. 16 Georgia Tech 60--The Wildcats (4-1) used a 12-0 run midway in the second half to take control at Lexington, Ky.

Five players scored in double figures for Kentucky, which had a 54-30 rebounding edge.

Matt Harpring led Georgia Tech (5-2) with 23 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Stephon Marbury scored 17 points, all in the first half.

No. 10 Wake Forest 77, Florida 53--Tim Duncan bounced back from a subpar game against Massachusetts for the Demon Deacons (4-1) at Gainesville, Fla.

Duncan had 14 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and seven blocked shots--being particularly intimidating against Florida’s top scorer Dametri Hill, who had nine points on three-of-14 shooting.

Duncan had scored only nine points and missed 14 of 18 shots in his matchup against Camby.

No. 12 Iowa 56, Iowa State 50--The Hawkeyes (7-1) struggled to take a 19-14 halftime lead and then turned back rallies in the final two minutes which had pulled the Cyclones (5-1) within two points on three occasions at Ames, Iowa.

No. 14 Utah 59, Utah State 43--The Utes (5-1) held high-scoring Silas Milas to nine points, almost 15 below his season average, in stretching their home winning streak at Salt Lake City to 23--the second-longest in the nation.

No. 15 Virginia 67, Richmond 52--Harold Deane scored 12 of his game-high 27 points during a late 19-6 run by the Cavaliers at Richmond, Va.

Deane provided almost all the offense in the second half for Virginia (3-2), scoring 20 of the team’s 33 points. Deane also made 12 of 15 free throws in the second half, while his teammates managed to make two of 21 shots from the floor.

No. 17 Cincinnati 82, Arkansas 67--Guard Darnell Burton, who came off a suspension this week, scored 12 of his game-high 21 points in the first half for the Bearcats (4-0) at Fayetteville, Ark.

Burton was suspended in April for a year for violating team rules. Because of a change in athletic department policy, he returned Friday night and scored 14 points in 16 minutes against Wagner.

Arkansas (4-3), which had topped 100 points in its last three games, scored only 39 points in the first 30 minutes and shot 32%.

No. 19 Virginia Tech 99, Virginia Military Institute 67--The Hokies (3-0) led by as many as 40 points at Blacksburg, Va., in posting their 14th victory in a row over the Keydets (3-3).

Shawn Smith was one of four double-figure scorers for Virginia Tech, getting a game-high 25 points. The Hokies shot 54% from the field and made 13 of 25 three-point shots.

No. 21 Illinois 97, Ball St. 53--Things got so out of hand at Champaign, Ill., that the Illini (6-0) maintained a 40-point lead despite using walk-on players in the final four minutes of a tournament it has always won.

Ball State (2-3) shot 32%, made 23 turnovers and was outrebounded, 53-31.

No. 22 Michigan 88, No. 18 Duke 84--Maceo Baston scored a career-high 26 points and made a key defensive play late at Ann Arbor, Mich., as the Wolverines (7-2) ended a losing streak against the Blue Devils (5-2) at six games.

Freshman Louis Bullock, whose last-second basket allowed Michigan to pull out victory at LSU on Tuesday, made two free throws with 31 seconds left to give the Wolverines an 86-84 lead.

Baston, a 6-9 forward, then blocked guard Chris Collins’ three-point attempt near the top of the key with 16 seconds left. Collins, son of Detroit Piston Coach Doug Collins, led Duke with 27 points and had made a three-point shot to tie the score at 84-84 with 53 seconds left.

No. 23 Louisville 101, Texas 78--The Cardinals (5-2) used a trapping, full-court defense most of the game at Louisville, Ky., to hold the Longhorns 11 points under their season average.

Texas (3-2) made 24 turnovers, shot 36% from the floor and never recovered after falling behind 18-0.

Louisville center Samaki Walker, sidelined with a sprained ankle in the team’s lopsided victory over Morehead State on Wednesday, returned to score 15 points and get a career-best 17 rebounds.

No. 25 Santa Clara 98, Southern 59--Steve Nash set a school record with 15 assists and made all three of his three-point shots to lead the Broncos (5-1) to a home-court win. Santa Clara is nationally ranked for the first time since 1972.

PACIFIC 10 No. 4 Arizona 90, Towson State 84--The Wildcats (7-0) never trailed at Tucson but couldn’t shake the pesky Tigers (2-3) of the North Atlantic Conference.

Arizona made 11 of 14 free throws in final 2:50 after their 19-point lead dwindled below double digits. The Wildcats had shot 69% from the floor (20 of 29) in the first half.

Guard Miles Simon scored 25 points, including four three-point baskets, and center Joseph Blair had 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Towson State’s 6-foot-2 forward Ralph Blaylock gave the taller Wildcats fits, scoring 29 points on 12-of-20 shooting.

Syracuse 77, Washington State 75--Shamon Antrum’s three-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the back of the rim, allowing the Orangeman (6-0) to win their Carrier Classic for the 14th year in a row.

Syracuse, which didn’t score over the final 5:38, was also helped by Taveras Mack’s two missed free throws with 16 seconds left.

Donminic Ellison, Isaac Fontaine and Mark Hendrickson all had 19 points for Washington State (3-1). John Wallace had 24 points for Syracuse.

Washington 74, Kansas State 60--The Huskies (3-1) bounced back from Wednesday’s disappointing loss to Idaho of the Big Sky Conference by making 14 of 16 free throws in the final nine minutes at Seattle.

Jason Hartman scored 19 points and made all six of his free throws late in the game for Washington.

OTHER GAMES Pete Lisicky made a school-record nine three-point baskets and had 35 points to lead Penn State (5-0) to an 88-61 victory over Penn (1-3) in a doubleheader at Atlantic City, N.J. Lisicky missed only one of his 10 three-point attempts and also set a school record for accuracy from the field (13 of 15 for 86.7%). In the other game, Olof Landgren’s fallaway bank shot with 17 seconds proved decisive as La Salle (1-6) surprised previously unbeaten Marquette, 68-65. . . . West Virginia (2-2) won its 17th home game in a row, beating Duquesne, 93-77. . . . Eddie Benton, a 5-foot-11 senior guard, scored 42 points to boost his career total to 2,004 as Vermont defeated Hofstra, 103-83, at Burlington, Vt. Benton averages 28 points this season, and is one of three Division I players to score 1,000 points before his 19th birthday. Duke’s Mike Gminski and LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal are the others.

Minnesota (5-1) made its final 11 free throws after missing 16 of its first 31 in a 91-80 victory over Nebraska (6-1) at Minneapolis. . . . Brian Evans’ 28 points led Indiana (4-3) to a 78-67 victory over Bowling Green in the Indiana Classic, a 22-year-old event in which the Hoosiers have never lost. . . . Oklahoma (2-3) got 33 points in 33 minutes from Ryan Minor in a 107-75 victory over Texas San Antonio. . . . Jerome Lambert had 19 points and 11 rebounds as Oklahoma State (4-1) was a 67-60 winner in overtime against Southern Methodist (2-3) at Dallas. . . . Toledo (3-2) made 32 of 33 free throws, including a streak of 31, in a home-court 92-80 victory over Old Dominion (2-3).

Tennessee (3-2) used a 29-point, 16-round performance from center Steve Hamer to beat Austin Peay, 80-70, at Knoxville. Shane Williams, who hadn’t made a field goal all season for Tennessee, hit six of nine shots and had 18 points. . . . Shawn Igo’s 31 points and dunk with 5.2 seconds left gave Rice (3-3) a 78-77 victory at Nashville that ended a winning streak at six games for Vanderbilt (6-2). . . . South Carolina (4-2) made just one of 19 three-point shots in a 72-58 road loss to Clemson (5-0). . . . Felipe Lopez had 20 points as St. John’s (3-3) posted an 80-78 victory at San Francisco. Gerald Waker had 19 points and 10 assists for USF (3-3). Pacific (2-1) beat a Jerry Tarkanian-coached team for only the second time in 31 meetings in a 73-70 victory over Fresno State (3-3) in Stockton.