Michigan Improves to 8-0 by Beating Arizona in Overtime

Michigan, which defeated Arizona, 73-71, in overtime Saturday at Auburn Hills, Mich, is off to its best start since the 1988-89 season, when the Wolverines won their first 11 on their way to a national championship.

The game was tied, 64-64, at the end of regulation, but in overtime the fourth-ranked Wolverines (8-0) quickly jumped to a four-point lead on a basket and two free throws by Maceo Baston.

The Wildcats (5-2) had two chances to force a second overtime, but Jason Terry, who scored four of his 18 points in the overtime, missed two jump shots in the final seconds. Both shots bounced off the rim.

The victory was Michigan Coach Steve Fisher’s first in five tries against the Wildcats.

Louis Bullock led Michigan with 15 points and Maurice Taylor, recovering from flu, scored 13.

Mike Bibby led Arizona with 19 points despite fouling out with 2:43 remaining in regulation of a game that had a lot of pushing and shoving.

Arizona’s Michael Dickerson, who was averaging 25.5 points per game, made only four of 20 shots and finished with nine points.

No. 1 Kansas 84, North Carolina State 56--Paul Pierce, a sophomore forward from Inglewood, scored 21 points at Lawrence, Kan., as the Jayhawks (10-0) scored almost a will against a team that had been giving up only 45.5 points per game, tops in the nation.

Kansas beat North Carolina State for the 10th time in a row and won its 33rd consecutive game in Allen Field House. The Wolfpack (5-2) hadn’t given up more than 53 points in first six games.

No. 2 Wake Forest 90, Campbell 53--This was basically over after an 18-2 run midway through the first half by the Demon Deacons (8-0) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Tim Duncan had a season-high 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Wake Forest, and freshman Loren Woods, a 7-1 reserve center, scored 22 points. Campbell (2-4) didn’t have a player over 6-6.

No. 3 Kentucky 88, Georgia Tech 59--With this victory at Atlanta, the Wildcats have won eight in a row since a season-opening overtime loss to Clemson. And they haven’t won by less than 14 points during that stretch.

Derek Anderson scored 21 points, Ron Mercer had 20, and center Nazr Mohammed had 18 points and 12 rebounds.

No. 5 Iowa State 77, East Tennessee State 49--The Cyclones (7-0) found themselves trailing by as many as eight points early on, but then went on a 37-9 run to beat the Buccaneers (4-4) in the semifinals of the ISU Holiday Classic at Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State was without leading scorer Dedrick Willoughby, who was on the bench with a tender hamstring, a sprained ankle and a sprained wrist. But the Cyclones got a lift from the return of Kenny Pratt, who was academically ineligible for the first six games. Pratt, the team’s No. 2 scorer and rebounder last season, had 12 points and four rebounds despite being ill before the game.

No. 9 Utah 80, No. 14 Texas 68--Keith Van Horn scored 23 of his 34 points in the second half as the Utes (6-1) pulled away over the last seven minutes to beat the Longhorns (6-2) at Salt Lake City.

Reggie Freeman scored 23 for Texas.

No. 10 Villanova 91, Mount St. Mary’s (Md.) 66--The Wildcats (7-1), playing without their leading scorer, freshman Tim Thomas, got 15 points and 10 rebounds from Jason Lawson to beat the Mountaineers at Villanova. Thomas was sidelined with a bruised left calf.

No. 13 Indiana 75, Evansville 57--With his team within eight points four minutes into the second half, Evansville Coach Jim Crews was ejected after officials changed a two-point basket to a three-pointer. The Hoosiers then pulled away at Indianapolis.

After Indiana’s Charlie Miller made a jump shot to give Indiana a 40-32 lead, the referees, at the next dead ball, conferred and changed Miller’s basket to a three-pointer, prompting a tirade from Crews.

Of his ejection, his first in 12 years of coaching, Crews a declined comment, but Indiana Coach Bob Knight had no such reservations.

“I don’t blame Jimmy for getting upset,” Knight said of Crews, a former Indiana player and assistant coach. “Three officials, and nobody was in position to see a guy take a three-point shot. That’s ridiculous. Jimmy had a right to be upset. I was just as upset.”

Andrae Patterson led Indiana (10-1) with 17 points. Chris Hollender led the Aces (5-6) with 15 points.

No. 15 New Mexico 76, Sam Houston State 55--Sophomore center Kenny Thomas, playing with a mouth still sore after taking an elbow last week, scored 18 points, 11 of them in the first six minutes of the second half, to lead the Lobos (8-1) over the Bearkats (1-7) at Albuquerque, N.M.

No. 16 Minnesota 70, Nebraska 56--Reserve Quincy Lewis led a second-half run that gave the Gophers (8-1) a victory over the Cornhuskers (6-2) at Lincoln, Neb.

Minnesota’s defense held Nebraska to 35% shooting. The Cornhuskers also made only 16 of 28 foul shots.

No. 17 Xavier 113, Akron 111--Despite 44 points from freshman point guard Jimmal Ball, the Zips (1-6) couldn’t quite pull off the upset at Akron, Ohio, losing to the Musketeers (8-0) in three overtimes.

Xavier’s James Posey scored five in the third overtime to offset a great individual performance by Ball. His baseline drive tied the score, 81-81, in regulation to force the first overtime, he drove the full length of the court to tie it at 88-88 and force the second overtime and he started and ended the second overtime with three-pointers to force a third.

Ball didn’t score in the third overtime, while Posey made three free throws and tipped in an offensive rebound.

No. 18 Louisville 91, No. 19 Arkansas 88--DeJuan Wheat, scoreless in the first half, scored 11 points in the second half and 10 in overtime to key the victory for the Cardinals (8-0) at Fayetteville, Ark.

Wheat, who played only seven minutes in the first half after picking up his third foul 10 minutes into the game, made five of 11 three-pointers, including two in overtime.

Alvin Sims scored 22 points for Louisville, while Kareem Reid led Arkansas (5-2) with 21 points.

No. 20 Alabama 72, Virginia Commonwealth 69--The Crimson Tide, picked to finish in the middle of the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division, improved to 10-0, its best start in 20 years, with a victory over the Rams (3-4) at Birmingham, Ala.

Brian Williams scored 10 points in the last three minutes, making seven of eight free throws and a three-pointer, to key a 13-5 run.

Williams scored 18 points to help Tide Coach David Hobbs beat his alma mater and the school where he worked as an assistant for six years before coming to Alabama as an assistant under Wimp Sanderson in 1986.

No. 25 Maryland 81, American 74--Obinna Ekezie tied a school record by making all eight of his shots as the Terrapins (8-0) equaled their third-best start in school history by beating the Eagles (3-6) at College Park, Md.

Ekezie, who equaled his career-high with 19 points, tied the shooting-accuracy record shared by three other players, including Coach Gary Williams.

OTHER GAMES

Chauncey Billups scored 24 points as Colorado (7-2) cruised to its third consecutive victory with a 76-55 victory over UC Santa Barbara (4-3) at Boulder, Colo. Raymond Tutt led the Gauchos with 17 points. . . . Senior guard Mark Boelter made seven three-point shots and scored a career-high 25 points to lead Pacific (6-1) to a 77-59 victory over Santa Clara (5-5) at Stockton. . . . Mark Sanford scored a season-high 29 points to lead Washington (5-1) to an 80-77 victory win over Portland (3-5) at Portland. . . . Lorenzo Rollins scored 27 points to lead Gonzaga (5-4) to an 80-65 victory over Eastern Washington (4-5) at Cheney, Wash.

Iowa, playing its seventh game without All-Big Ten forward Jess Settles, who has been suffering from a sore right heel, got a career-high 32 points from Andre Woolridge as the Hawkeyes (7-3) recorded an 88-77 victory over Missouri (7-3) at Iowa City. Settles may apply for a medical hardship and return next season as a fifth-year senior, his coach, Tom Davis, said before the game. . . . Oklahoma (7-0) took command early with an 19-5 run and went on to a 82-58 victory over Purdue (5-4) at Norman, Okla. Nate Erdmann scored 22 points to lead the Sooners. . . . Kansas State (6-2) made only five of 31 shots (16%) in the first half in a 75-43 loss to Michigan State (5-1) at East Lansing, Mich. The halftime score was 45-17. Antonio Smith scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Spartans. Kansas State’s leading scorer was Ayome May with 10 points. . . . Gene Nabors’ two free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining gave Louisiana State (4-6) a 59-58 victory over Oral Roberts (6-3) at Baton Rouge, La. Oral Roberts’ Clifford Crenshaw made a three-point shot at the buzzer to make it a one-point game. Duane Spencer’s 19 points led LSU, which had a season-high 27 turnovers.