Houston Won’t Throw In Towel in This Game

Maybe there’s still some magic in Guy Lewis’ signature red polka-dot towels.

Houston honored its legendary coach at halftime of Saturday’s game against No. 3 Memphis and then unceremoniously disposed of the Tigers in a 69-67 victory.

Lewis, who had five of his teams at Houston reach the NCAA Final Four, drew a thundering ovation during the halftime ceremony when he took out one of his towels and threw it in the air as he did after victories when he coached.

Houston (5-6) used a matchup zone to bother Memphis (8-2), which made only 26 of 64 shots from the field and never led after the midway point of the first half.

Memphis managed to tie the game three times in the final 3:51, the last at 67-67 with 28 seconds left on a three-point basket by Mingo Johnson.

Damon Jones put Houston ahead with a free throw with 25 seconds left, and Tim Moore blocked a shot by Cedric Henderson with seven seconds left.

After a timeout, Johnson took an inbound pass from Henderson and tried to drive for the basket. But he charged into Moore, who made a free throw to account for the game’s final point with three seconds left.

Kirk Ford led Houston with 23 points, while Lorenzen Wright had 22 for Memphis.

No. 1 Massachusetts 78, Dayton 58--Marcus Camby scored a career-high 38 points to lead the Minutemen (12-0) to a home-court victory and spoil the Atlantic 10 Conference debut of the Flyers (8-4).

Camby made 13 of 27 shots from the field and 12 of 17 free throws. He also had 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Chris Daniels had 20 points to lead Dayton before fouling out trying to guard Camby. Massachusetts Coach John Calipari said Dayton was the first team this season not to double-team Camby.

Camby had 17 in the first half when Massachusetts took a 35-25 lead. He topped his previous career best of 32 with five minutes left, hitting an easy turnaround over Daniels, who had four fouls at the time.

Dayton played in the Great Midwest Conference last season, winning only seven games overall. This season, the Flyers fattened up against Wright State, Cleveland State, Chicago State and McNeese State before starting Atlantic 10 play.

Massachusetts tied its best start, matching a 12-0 record in 1933-34. Julius Erving led Massachusetts to an 11-0 start in 1970-71.

No. 2 Kentucky 90, Mississippi 60--The Wildcats (11-1, 2-0) had 13 steals and 10 blocked shots in extending their winning streak to 10 in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

Mississippi (5-6, 0-2) made only 17 of 64 shots from the field (27%) and had 24 turnovers. Kentucky led by as many as 37 points but had no player score more than 14.

No. 4 Kansas 83, Southern Methodist 61--The Jayhawks (10-1) made 60% of their shots from the field in the second half of a nonconference game at Lawrence, Kan.

Six-foot-10 Raef LaFrentz was particularly effective for Kansas in the second half, scoring 12 of his 17 points.

For SMU (4-7), it was the 12th consecutive loss to Kansas.

No. 5 Cincinnati 71, South Florida 69--The Bearcats (9-0), off to their best start in 19 years, avoided an upset in a Conference USA game at Tampa, Fla., when when Art Long scored off a rebound with one second remaining.

Danny Fortson had 19 points despite foul trouble for Cincinnati, which blew a 10-point lead in the second half.

Chucky Atkins had 19 points for South Florida (7-4).

No. 6 Georgetown 85, Seton Hall 76--Allen Iverson scored a season-high 40 points and Jerome Williams got four offensive rebounds off free throws in the final two minutes as the Hoyas (13-1, 3-0) won a Big East game at Landover, Md.

Down the stretch, neither team could hit a free throw. But when Georgetown missed, Williams repeatedly came up with the ball, denying the Pirates four key possessions in the waning seconds.

Williams finished with 14 rebounds, including eight offensive boards, and 10 points. Iverson made 14 of 23 shots from the field.

Seton Hall (6-5, 2-2) had five double-figure scorers, led by Donnell Williams’ 18 points.

No. 7 Connecticut 73, Miami 52--The Huskies (12-1, 4-0) used a 15-0 run at the start of the second half of a Big East game at Hartford, Conn., to pull away from the Hurricanes (8-4, 2-2), who upset No. 11 Syracuse on Wednesday.

Ray Allen led Connecticut with 19 points but shot poorly (seven of 19 from the field).

The Huskies have won 11 games in a row and play Villanova at home Monday.

No. 8 Villanova 94, No. 24 Boston College 77--Guard Kerry Kittles had another big game against the Eagles (9-3, 3-2) with 33 points as the Wildcats (12-1, 4-1) posted a Big East home-court victory.

Kittles had a career-high 44 points the last time the two teams played at Villanova, where Boston College is 1-10. Kittles also had eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.

Boston College’s leading scorer, Danya Abrams, never got going and had 10 points--11 below his season average. Abrams, a physical player who tries to draw fouls, attempted just two free throws and missed both.

Villanova shot 52% from the field, far above the average (36%) that Boston College had been allowing opponents. The Wildcats led by as many as 22 points in the second half.

No. 10 Iowa 92, Minnesota 63--Russ Millard scored 11 of his 20 points during a 12-3 run early in the second half at Iowa City that gave the Hawkeyes (12-2, 1-1) control of the Big Ten game.

Iowa’s Chris Kingsbury regained his shooting touch by making five of nine three-point attempts--hitting one from at least 35 feet and banking in another from about the same distance on a fall-away shot. Kingsbury had missed all six of his three-point shots in Iowa’s 85-61 loss to Purdue Wednesday.

The bright spot for Minnesota (9-5, 1-1) was freshman reserve Quincy Lewis, who scored 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting.

No. 12 Wake Forest 75, Florida State 73--Center Tim Duncan made all six of his free throws in overtime and blocked LaMarr Greer’s layup at the buzzer to give the Deacon Demons (8-1, 1-0) an Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Tallahassee, Fla.

The Seminoles (9-3, 1-1) gained possession with 12 seconds left in overtime on a steal by Avery Curry, but he couldn’t get a good shot and passed to Greer. The 6-foot-5 guard tried to drive on the 6-foot-11 Duncan rather than pass off to wide-open leading scorer James Collins behind the three-point line and had the swatted the ball away.

Wake Forest led by as many as 19 points early in the second half before Florida State rallied and tied the score, 64-64, on a Collins free throw with 11.5 seconds left. Both teams then missed free throws in one-and-one situations, sending the game into overtime.

Duncan, who came into the game hitting only 62% of his free throws, made all nine in the game and also had 17 points and nine rebounds. Collins scored in double figures for the 44th consecutive game with 18 points.

Michigan State 68, No. 13 Illinois 58--Ray Weathers scored all 16 of his points in the second half as the Spartans (8-6, 2-0) posted a Big Ten upset at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois (11-3, 0-2) made only 37% of its shots from the field. The Illini played much of the game without starting guard Kiwane Garris, who did not start because of a groin injury and bruised his right shoulder early in the second half.

Michigan State shot 53% from the field and 60% from three-point range. The Spartans also had a 38-20 rebounding edge.

South Carolina 85, No. 14 Georgia 73--The Gamecocks (7-3, 1-1) changed tempo in the second half of an SEC game at Columbia, S.C. and scored seven of eight baskets in a key stretch on fast breaks.

South Carolina used a 17-5 run to take a 48-42 lead and made 13 of 15 free throws in the final minutes to clinch its first victory over a nationally ranked team since March 1994 against Kentucky.

Georgia (10-2, 1-1) had a win streak ended at seven games. Carlos Strong, one of the SEC’s best shooters, made three of 18 shots while leading scorer Katu Davis missed all eight of his three-point attempts.

No. 16 North Carolina 88, Maryland 86--Antawn Jamison hit a short jumper at the buzzer in overtime to cap a career-high 31-point performance for the Tar Heels (11-2, 2-0) in an ACC game at College Park, Md.

Maryland (6-5, 0-2) had won its previous 21 home-court games.

Jamison, a reserve freshman forward, made 14 of 16 shots from the field.

Neither team scored in the final two minutes of regulation after Maryland’s Keith Booth had made two throws to tie the game at 77-77.

No. 17 Mississippi State 69, Florida 66--Darryl Wilson scored seven of his 18 points in the final 1:04 of the game as the Bulldogs (10-1, 2-0) won an SEC game at Gainesville, Fla.

Wilson made it 64-60 with a weaving layup to beat the shot clock, then clinched the game for Mississippi State with five free throws in the final 40 seconds.

Florida (5-6, 0-2) was led by Dametri Hill with 18 points, 16 in the second half.

No. 21 Michigan 83, Northwestern 51--The Wolverines (11-4, 1-1) took a 20-point lead over the Wildcats (5-5, 0-1) in the first 12 minutes of a Big Ten game at Ann Arbor, Mich.

The biggest reaction from crowd of 13,204 in Crisler Arena came with about four minutes left in the game when Robert Traylor, the 315-pound Michigan freshman, had his sizable trunks fall down around his ankles while he worked for a shot under the basket.

Rice 80, No. 23 Texas 69--The Owls (8-4) opened the final Southwest Conference season at Austin by sending the defending champion Longhorns (7-4) to their worst league defeat in Tom Penders’ eight years as coach.

Tommy McGhee made 11 of 19 shots from the field, including six of seven from three-point range, for a career-high 35 points for Rice, which also ended a losing streak against Texas at seven games.

Texas, which shot 28% in an 85-69 loss at Nebraska Wednesday, was nearly as bad against Rice, making just 27 of 81 shots (33%). Rice, by contrast, hit 56% of its field-goal attempts.

Reggie Freeman, the SWC’s leading scorer, led Texas with 22 points, but missed 18 of his 26 shots.