Duke’s Hopes Dunked Away by Traylor

The Big Ten has become a big pain in Durham, N.C.

Robert Traylor’s game-winning dunk with 6.2 seconds left Sunday gave No. 7 Michigan a stunning 62-61 comeback victory over No. 10 Duke.

The thundering dunk by the 300-pound center gave Duke only its second nonconference loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 105 games since 1983. Another Big Ten team, Illinois, pulled off the previous victory last December.

The two losses this season by the Blue Devils (5-2) are to Big Ten teams. Indiana defeated Duke in the preseason NIT final at Madison Square Garden.

The game was also a statement-maker for the Wolverines (5-0).

“We are trying to get rid of the old Fab Five talk,” said Michigan Coach Steve Fisher, referring to the team led by NBA stars Chris Webber and Juwan Howard that took Michigan to the Final Four as freshmen in 1992. “This is not the Fab Five. This is a new era, a new group of guys.”

The Wolverines trailed, 58-46, with 10:37 left, but the Blue Devils turned the ball over eight times down the stretch and managed only three free throws the rest of the way. Duke didn’t score in the final 6:29.

Massachusetts 90, Wyoming 72--The Minutemen picked up their second victory by completing a game that took two days.

Saturday night, as UMass guard Charlton Clarke prepared to shoot a foul shot, wet snow on power lines outside the Mullins Center at Amherst, Mass., stopped the game.

The lights went out on Clarke and more than 6,000 fans with 7:35 to go in the game, forcing officials to postpone the contest.

The Minutemen (2-3), who trailed, 39-36, at the half, had rallied to a 67-53 lead. The game picked up at noon Sunday with Clarke at the line.

LaDrell Whitehead led all scorers with 25 points for Wyoming (1-3).

“I wore the same suit, same shirt, and same tie. Everything was the same except for the underwear because my wife made me change those,” said UMass Coach James “Bruiser” Flint.

OTHER GAMES

Laron Profit scored 16 of his career-high 24 points in the second half as Maryland (5-0) pulled away from California (4-2) to win, 80-64, in the Franklin National Bank Classic at Landover, Md. In the other semifinal, Shawnta Rogers scored five of his 14 points during a 15-1 run in the second half that carried George Washington past Mississippi State, 57-36. The Colonials (5-1) will face Maryland tonight in the final. Mississippi State (2-3) plays Cal in the consolation game.

JoJo Garcia had 27 points as Texas-El Paso (3-1) won, 83-55, over Seattle (4-6) at El Paso. . . . Donnell Williams tipped in a miss at the buzzer, giving host Seton Hall (2-2) a 53-51 victory over Pitt (1-4) in a Big East game.