Tar Heels Show Why They’re at Head of Class

Top-ranked North Carolina had all the right answers for their first Atlantic Coast Conference exam.

Forwards Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter each scored 22 points and guard Shammond Williams made four free throws in the final minute as the North Carolina defeated No. 17 Florida State, 81-73, on Saturday at Tallahassee, Fla., in the ACC opener for both teams.

“I began to think with four or five minutes to go and it was close, that even if we do lose, we learned some good lessons today,” first-year North Carolina Coach Bill Guthridge said. “Of course you like to learn your lessons when you win.”

North Carolina (12-0) turned to either Jamison or Carter almost every time it needed to turn back a challenge from Florida State (8-2).

“We are a veteran team,” Guthridge said. “We showed poise down the stretch. Not many teams are going to get a win here.”

The Seminoles (8-2) once closed within a point (66-65) on Kerry Thompson’s pull-up jumper in the lane with 6:30 left. Carter’s reverse dunk and Williams’ fastbreak layup put the Tar Heels ahead 70-65.

Two free throws by Williams gave North Carolina a 77-73 lead with 53 seconds left after Randell Jackson’s layup had brought Florida State within two points.

North Carolina led by as many as 11 points, the last time at 63-52 midway through the second half on a three-point play by Carter, a Daytona Beach native making a return to his home state.

Jamison, Carter and guard Ed Cota all scored in double figures in the first half, making 17 of 24 shots to help the Tar Heels to a 44-38 halftime lead.

The Tar Heels led the entire game after taking a 13-12 lead. Williams had with 18 points and Cota 17 as four players accounted for all but two of North Carolina’s points. The Tar Heels shot 57.4% as Carter and Jamison combined to make 19 of 28 shots.

Guard-forward LaMarr Greer was one of Florida State’s four double-figure scorers with 17 points.

No. 2 Kansas 94, No. 24 Texas Christian 78--Forward Paul Pierce found his shooting touch after missing seven of his first eight shots and finished with scored 28 points to lead the Jayhawks (13-1) at Kansas City, Mo.

Pierce made eight of his last 12 shots as Kansas pulled away after struggling to a 39-34 halftime lead. Center Raef LaFrentz had 23 points and 17 rebounds, while forward Lester Earl--a highly regarded transfer from Louisiana State playing his first game for Kansas--had five points and six rebounds.

Texas Christian (9-1) entered the game second in the nation in field-goal percentage and had scored more than 100 points in seven of its nine games but shot 40%.

The game was played at Kemper Arena where Kansas defeated Texas Christian Coach Billy Tubbs’ Oklahoma team to win the 1988 NCAA championship.

No. 4 Kentucky 74, Tulsa 53--The Wildcats (9-1) used a 17-0 run in a 4 1/2-minute stretch early in the second half to take command at Lexington, Ky., and win their seventh game in a row.

Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith’s first head coaching job was at Tulsa from 1991-95 and his former school played on even terms until Kentucky took advantage of its depth and defense to pull away after the game was tied at 33-33 with 16:22 left.

Kentucky scored 24 points off 21 turnovers by Tulsa (7-3).

No. 6 South Carolina 77, St. Joseph’s 65--Guard BJ McKie, playing on a bad ankle, scored 19 points as the Gamecocks (6-1) held the Hawks (2-3) without a basket over the final 4:34 at Columbia, S.C. South Carolina scored 14 of the game’s final 16 points, making seven of 10 free throws in the final minute.

McKie was questionable for the game after injuring his left ankle in the waning moments of Wednesday night’s loss to Clemson. But he played his usual amount of minutes, scoring 13 second-half points.

No. 7 Utah 69, Oregon State 61--The Utes (10-0) overcame a 14-point deficit in the first half with accurate free-throw shooting in the second game of a doubleheader at the Rose Garden in Portland. Utah is off to its best start in 33 years.

Center Michael Doleac, who played at Portland’s Central Catholic High, made seven of eight free throws and had 21 points while guard Andre Miller was 12 of 12 from the foul line and had 18 points.

Guard Corey Benjamin had 24 points for Oregon State (6-2).

No. 8 Purdue 86, No. 10 Xavier 84--Forward Brian Cardinal scored the Boilermakers’ final three points and came up with an important rebound in the final seconds at Indianapolis.

Xavier (6-2) rallied from a 20-point deficit to take the lead at 84-83 with 1:43 to play when Pat Kelsey made the one of two free throws.

Cardinal, who had 10 points, scored on a layup with 1:24 left and made one of two free throws with 27 seconds remaining. Xavier guard Lenny Brown missed an eight-foot jumper with seven seconds left and Cardinal scrambled to get the rebound, passing the ball downcourt as time ran out.

Guard Jaraan Cornell led Purdue (9-2) with a career-high 28 points and Chad Austin had 23 points, including two three-point baskets in the final minutes. Guard Darnell Williams led Xavier with 24 points.

No. 12 Connecticut 93, North Carolina Wilmington 55--Forward Kevin Freeman made all five of his shots and was six of six on free throws in scoring 16 points for the Huskies (9-1) at Hartford, Conn.

Connecticut made 28 of 33 free throws in winning its fifth in a row. The Huskies made 18 of 20 in the first half when North Carolina Wilmington (4-5) had more fouls than field goals in trailing 42-30.

No. 14 New Mexico 81, Texas Tech 62--Kenny Thomas had 26 points and 13 rebounds at Albuquerque as the Lobos (7-1) extended the nation’s second-longest home winning streak to 32 games.

New Mexico (7-1) trailed 40-31 with 2:40 left in the first half, but scored the final seven points of the half, then outscored Texas Tech 20-6 over the first 11 minutes of the second half to take command.

Two other New Mexico players had double figures in scoring and rebounding--guard Lamont Long (19 points and 13 rebounds) and forward Clayton Shields (13 and 15).

Guard Cory Carr had 20 points for Texas Tech (4-4).

Rutgers 72, No. 16 Temple 63--The Scarlet Knights (4-4) made 13 of 27 three-point shots at Philadelphia to defeat a nationally ranked team on the road for the first time since February 1976.

Temple (6-3) shot 39% in losing its second game in a row. The Owls shot 30% in an 11-point loss to city rival Villanova on Thursday.

No. 18 Mississippi 106, Prairie View 59--The Rebels (7-1) scored more than 100 points for the third time in five games in winning for the 26th time in 27 home games at Oxford, Miss. The last time Mississippi had three 100-point games was 1971-72.

Prairie View (3-5) led 22-21 when guard King Whetstone, a high school teammate of Mississippi’s leading scorer Ansu Sesay, made two free throws midway through the first half. Guard Joezon Darby scored seven of his 19 points during a 15-0 run that put the Rebels in command.

Whetstone, who came into the game averaging six points, had a game-high 23. Sesay had 17 points--his 32nd consecutive game in double figures.

West Virginia 86, No. 20 Georgia 81--Damian Owens scored 13 of his 24 points in the final 8:23 after the Mountaineers (9-1) had blown a 17-point lead in the second game of a doubleheader at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. West Virginia has won four in a row.

Georgia (7-3), behind 50-33 with 16:20 remaining, gained a tie at 56-56 on Jon Nordin’s layup with 9:20 to play. Owens put West Virginia in front to stay at 59-56 by converting a three-point play.

Guard Ray Harrison led Georgia with 23 points.

No. 21 Michigan 87, Chattanooga 53--The roller coaster ride continued for the Wolverines, who shot 64% in the lopsided victory at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Michigan (7-3) lost its season-opener to Western Michigan, beat then-No. 1 Duke last Saturday and lost to neighboring Eastern Michigan on Wednesday.

Guard Robbie Reid scored 20 points as Michigan relied on its outside game (12 of 19 on three-point shots) in the first half, then made its first 13 shots of the second half--mostly around the basket--to pull away from Chattanooga (4-5).

OTHER GAMES

Fresno State (3-5) has a five-game losing streak--matching the longest in Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s 27-year major college career--after a 92-72 defeat by Minnesota (5-4) at Minneapolis. The game also marked the return of Fresno State guard Chris Herren, who missed the last three weeks while in a substance abuse program. Herren, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer last season, started and missed his last 11 shots to finish with six points. . . . Iowa State’s Tim Floyd, who had a polyp removed from his colon on Monday and was hospitalized until Thursday, returned to coaching and the Cyclones (5-3) were 55-57 winners over Division II Alaska Anchorage (6-5) in the first round of a tournament at Ames, Iowa. . . . Illinois (8-3) was a 105-80 winner over Texas (5-5) at Champaign, Ill., in a foul-plagued game in which Longhorn Coach Tom Penders and assistant Eddie Oran were ejected for arguing referees’ calls. Illinois made a school-record 38 free throws in 52 attempts as Texas was called for 33 fouls. The Illini committed 24 fouls and the Longhorns made 18 of 29 free throws. . . . Guard Rodrigo de la Fuente had 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead Washington State (6-3) to a 77-72 victory over Portland State (5-4) in the first game of a doubleheader at the Rose Garden in Portland. Forward Jason Hartman, a transfer from Washington, had 24 points for Portland State. . . . Center Todd MacCulloch, who led the nation in field-goal percentage last season, made 12 of 15 shots and had 29 points for Washington (6-1) in an 86-68 victory over Old Dominion (3-6) in Seattle.