Minor Is Key for Oklahoma in Victory Over No. 3 Kansas

This had been a season of unfulfilled promise for Oklahoma and its top player, senior forward Ryan Minor--until Saturday.

Minor made his final game at Norman, Okla., a memorable one as he scored 26 points to lead Oklahoma to an 85-79 victory over No. 3 Kansas. It was first time in eight tries that the Sooners, 23-9 last season and expected to challenge the Jayhawks for the Big Eight regular-season championship, had beaten a top 25 team.

Minor, who wept during the pregame introductions, shook off a shoulder injury and foul trouble to come up big in a game Oklahoma, 17-11 overall and 8-6 in the Big Eight, needed to win to stay in contention for an NCAA tournament berth.

“We put ourselves in this [must-win] position and we had to find a way to get out of it,” said Minor, whose up-and-down season has been mirrored by the Sooners. “By winning today, we’re on the verge of getting out of what we put ourselves in.”

Minor injured his left shoulder in the team’s season low point--a 22-point loss to Oklahoma State Wednesday night--but got out of the blocks quickly by scoring six of the Sooners’ first eight points. He picked up his third foul with 7:01 left in the first half and Kansas (24-3, 12-2) promptly went on a 9-0 run and cut a 16-point deficit to seven at halftime.

Minor got his fourth foul with 11:44 remaining and the Jayhawks took advantage again with a 12-2 run that gave them a 66-62 lead.

But after getting back in the game, Minor scored 14 of his team’s next 17 points to give the Sooners a 79-74 lead with three minutes remaining. Kansas had no response this time--missing its next seven consecutive shots and three free throws.

No. 1 Kentucky 101, Vanderbilt 63--The Wildcats (26-1, 16-0) became the first team in 40 years to go undefeated in the Southeastern Conference with another lopsided victory at Lexington, Ky. Alabama went undefeated in the SEC in 1955-56, but declined a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Kentucky also extended its winning streak to 25 games, tying a school record held by the undefeated 1953-54 team that also declined an NCAA bid.

Kentucky scored the game’s first 13 points, eight off turnovers, and never looked back against Vanderbilt (17-12, 7-9), which lost by 39 points to the Wildcats on Feb. 7. The Commodores shot a season-low 30%.

No. 2 Massachusetts 62, No. 21 Louisville 59--Guard Carmelo Travieso blocked DeJuan Wheat’s three-point shot with two seconds left at Louisville as the Minutemen (28-1) won for the ninth time against a nationally ranked opponent.

Center Marcus Camby led Massachusetts with 23 points, including two free throws with 6.9 seconds that accounted for the game’s final points. Forward Dana Dingle had 11 points and 15 rebounds.

Louisville (19-10) forced nine turnovers and made five of eight three-point shots to stay within four points or less of Massachusetts throughout the second half. The Cardinals have lost their last three games by three points or less.

No. 4 Connecticut 87, Seton Hall 58--Guard Ray Allen, who had a career-high 39-point performance against Rutgers Wednesday, followed up with 31 points for the Huskies (27-2, 17-1 in the Big East) at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., site of this year’s Final Four.

Allen made 13 of 23 shots in scoring more than 30 points for the fourth time this season. He leads the Big East in scoring with a 23.5 average.

Connecticut, 99-25 in the four seasons Allen has played, handed Seton Hall (11-15, 7-11) its worst-ever Big East defeat.

No. 5 Purdue 79, Northwestern 56--The Boilermakers (25-4, 15-2) became the first Big Ten team to win three consecutive conference championships outright since Ohio State from 1960-62 and extended their winning streak to 11.

Northwestern (7-19, 2-15) has lost 25 of its last 26 games to Purdue.

Marquette 74, No. 7 Cincinnati 72--Reserve center Faisal Abraham knocked the ball out of Danny Fortson’s hands with two seconds left as the Golden Eagles (20-6, 10-4 in Conference USA) beat a Top 25 team for the second time in four days at Milwaukee.

Cincinnati’s Jackson Julson, after making his first free throw, intentionally missed his second, which Fortson grabbed but had slapped away by Abraham, who had entered the game in the final minute when starting center Amal McCaskill fouled out. Marquette guard Anthony Pieper retrieved the loose ball as time ran out.

Fortson finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, but Abraham blocked one of his shots and altered another before his game-deciding play.

Marquette, which beat No. 21 Louisville in double overtime on Wednesday night, finished 16-0 at home this season and 4-1 against nationally ranked teams. Forward Roney Eford had 20 points.

Cincinnati (22-4, 11-3) had beaten Marquette by 21 points on Jan. 13. The Bearcats will be No. 1 seeded in this week’s Conference USA tournament.

No. 9 Texas Tech 84, Rice 70--The Red Raiders (25-1, 14-0) became the fourth--and last--team to go undefeated in Southwest Conference since 1948 and extended their winning streak to 18 games at Lubbock, Texas.

Texas Tech goes to the Big 12 Conference next season as the SWC disbands.

Guard Cory Carr made seven of 12 three-point shots and had 24 points for Texas Tech, which also got 13 points and 13 rebounds from forward Jason Sasser. Guard Tommy McGhee led Rice (13-13, 6-8) with 20 points.

Minnesota 65, No. 12 Penn State 60--The Golden Gophers (16-12, 8-8) wasted an 18-point lead and had to rely on uncharacteristically accurate free-throw shooting for its upset victory at Minneapolis.

Minnesota, the Big Ten’s second worst free-throwing shooting team (64.7%), made all 10 of its shots from the line in the final minute after missing 19 of its previous 29. Forward David Grim, who led the Golden Gophers with 16 points, made two free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Minnesota led, 30-12, in the game’s first 15 minutes and had a 35-22 lead at halftime.

Penn State (20-5, 11-5) made seven of eight three-point shots to open the second half and took a 53-50 lead with 5:15 remaining before going scoreless until guard Dan Earl’s basket with 18 seconds left. The Nittany Lions made 10 of 25 three-point shots but was nine for 27 inside the arc.

No. 13 Wake Forest 72, North Carolina State 70--Jeremy Hyatt missed a shot that didn’t draw iron with time running out as the Wolfpack’s bad luck in close Atlantic Coast Conference games continued at Raleigh, N.C.

North Carolina State (14-15, 3-13) lost 10 of its conference games by a total of 30 points. The Wolfpack will be in the ACC tournament’s play-in game for the fourth consecutive season, while Wake Forest (20-5, 12-4) is the No. 2-seeded team.

The matchup between two of the ACC’s top big men barely materialized as North Carolina State’s Todd Fuller played only 12 minutes because of a virus and had two points. Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan had 18 points and 15 rebounds.

No. 14 Memphis 86, Tulane 75--Forward Cedric Henderson made 11 of 14 shots en route to a career-high 31 points to lead the Tigers (21-6, 11-3) at Memphis.

Memphis will be the No. 2-seeded team and host in next week’s Conference USA tournament. The Tigers’ 33-game home winning streak is the second-longest in the nation.

Center Lorenzen Wright had 23 points and eight rebounds for the Tigers, who shot 57% and led, 76-55, with 3:13 remaining when Coach Larry Finch inserted his senior reserves.

Forward Jerald Honeycutt had 14 points and nine rebounds for Tulane (18-8, 9-5), which remains on the NCAA tournament bubble.

No. 15 Syracuse 71, Notre Dame 67--Forward Jason Cipolla made a three-point shot and two free throws in the final 30 seconds to allow the Orangemen (22-7, 12-6) to escape at Syracuse, N.Y.

Notre Dame (9-17, 4-14) led, 66-60, with 5:31 left but didn’t score a field goal the rest of the game. The Irish, who play Syracuse in the first-round of the Big East tournament Wednesday, had won their previous three games at the Carrier Dome.

Point guard Lazarus Sims, who averages 5.8 points, led Syracuse with 16 points. Forward John Wallace finished with 15 points after a miserable first half (one-of-eight shooting, no rebounds and four turnovers).

Notre Dame guard Ryan Hoover had 24 points.

No. 16 Virginia Tech 73, Dayton 54--Before the Atlantic 10 Conference game at Dayton, Ohio, there was an emotional tribute to Flyer center Chris Daniels, who died of cardiac arrhythmia Feb. 8.

Daniels’ mother, brother, two sisters and girlfriend went onto the court to accept flowers and a framed picture of Daniels. Many of the 13,258 fans wore red shirts that had Daniels’ number on the back and “Thanks For The Memories” on the front.

Dayton (15-13, 6-10) missed its first 12 three-point shots and finished three for 21 from long range.

Virginia Tech (22-4, 13-3), which equaled a school record for regular-season victories, shot 54%. Guard Damon Watlington had 18 points and made four of six three-point shots. He is 28 of 51 (54.9%) over the last 12 games.

No. 20 Iowa 73, Ohio State 64--The Hawkeyes (21-7, 10-6 in the Big Ten), who have been ranked in the top 25 throughout the season, continued to build momentum for the NCAA tournament at Columbus, Ohio, with their sixth victory in seven games.

Forward Jess Settles had 19 points to lead Iowa, which had four double-figure scorers. Freshman forward Jermaine Tate made seven of eight shots and had 21 points for Ohio State (10-15, 3-3).

No. 23 Iowa State 74, Colorado 65--The Cyclones (20-8, 9-5) clinched the No. 2 seeding for next week’s Big Eight Tournament and posted their first nine-win conference season since 1985-86 at Ames, Iowa.

The one-two scoring punch of guard Kenny Pratt (25 points) and Dedric Willoughby (20 points) again led Iowa State, which was picked to finish last in the Big Eight after losing its top eight players from a 23-11 team.

Center Mack Tuck led Colorado (9-16, 3-11) with 25 points.

St. Joseph’s 86, No. 24 George Washington 82--The Colonials (20-6, 13-3) continued their erratic ways in this Atlantic 10 Conference game at Philadelphia.

George Washington, which had lost to lowly La Salle before beating then No. 1-ranked Massachusetts last week, led by as many as 14 points in the first half before St. Joseph’s (14-11, 9-7) rallied for a 75-67 lead with 9:49 left behind guard Mark Bass, who scored all of his 15 points in the second half.

Guard Terrell Myers and forward Reggie Townsend both made two free throws in the final 35 seconds after George Washington had closed within 80-78 behind guard Shawnta Rogers, who had a game-high 22 points.

St. Joseph’s Coach Phil Martelli, reprimanded by the Atlantic 10 for an outburst in his team’s overtime loss to Massachusetts Wednesday, got two technical fouls and was ejected from the game with 11 minutes left.

PACIFIC 10

Washington State 103, Arizona State 78--The Cougars (15-10, 7-9) used 68% shooting in the first half to lead by as many 30 points at Pullman, Wash.

Washington State also made 15 of 17 free throws in the first half. Arizona State (10-15, 5-11) missed its only free throw of the half.

Guard Isaac Fontaine led Washington State with 26 points. Forward Ron Riley had 27 points for Arizona State.

WESTERN ATHLETIC

No. 10 Utah 96, Brigham Young 85--Forward Keith Van Horn’s career-high 38 points at Provo, Utah, led the Utes (23-5, 15-3) to a second consecutive WAC championship. Van Horn made nine of 12 shots, all 16 of his free throws and had 11 rebounds. BYU is 15-12 and 9-9.

New Mexico 86, Fresno State 84--Freshman forward Kenny Thomas scored 28 points at Albuquerque to help the Lobos (24-4, 14-4) finish second to Utah in the WAC regular season. It was the seventh victory in a row for New Mexico, which last won 24 regular-season games in 1977-78.

Guard Dominick Young had 21 points for Fresno State (19-9, 13-5).

OTHER GAMES

Ira Bowman scored a career high 30 points as Penn (16-9, 11-2) kept its Ivy League championship hopes alive with a 70-55 victory over Cornell (10-16, 5-9) at Ithaca, N.Y. Penn and Princeton (20-5, 12-1) meet Tuesday in Philadelphia for the Ivy championship and automatic NCAA berth. . . . Miami of Florida (14-12, 8-10 in the Big East) closed the game with 22-3 in a home-court 66-59 victory over Providence (16-10, 9-9), which had beaten No. 8 Georgetown on Tuesday. . . . Forward Brian Evans scored 19 points as Indiana (17-11, 10-6 in the Big Ten) kept its NCAA tournament bid alive with a 76-68 victory over Wisconsin (15-13, 7-9) at Madison, Wis. . . . Guard Brian Tolbert had 28 points to lead visiting Eastern Michigan (21-5, 14-4) to a 95-85 victory over Toledo (16-13, 9-9) and the regular-season Mid-American Conference championship.

Guard Johnny Rhodes set an Atlantic Coast Conference record for career steals (331) and forward Keith Booth had a career-high 29 points as Maryland (15-11, 7-8) remained in contention for an NCAA tournament berth with a home-court 83-71 victory over Virginia (12-14, 6-10). . . . Mississippi State (19-7, 10-6) won the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division championship with a 67-51 victory over Auburn (18-11, 6-10) at Starkville, Miss. . . . Forward Shandon Anderson scored 23 points, including the first nine of the game, as Georgia (18-8, 9-7) clinched second place in the Eastern Division of the SEC with a 88-73 victory over South Carolina (16-10, 8-8) at Athens, Ga. . . . Ronnie Henderson, the SEC’s leading scorer who had been sidelined since Feb. 10 knee surgery, returned in Louisiana State’s 94-79 loss to Arkansas (17-11, 9-7) at Baton Rouge, La. Henderson made four of 17 shots and had nine points for LSU (12-16, 4-12).