Louisville a Winner at No. 4 Kentucky

Louisville, which had lost six of its last seven games, turned back Kentucky’s rally in the final minutes to stun the fourth-ranked Wildcats, 79-76, Saturday at Lexington, Ky.

“I knew this was a rivalry game and I knew we’d come in and play hard,” said forward Eric Johnson, who made all three of his three-point attempts and finished with 20 points. “We were going to be happy no matter who we beat. Maybe it was a little sweeter because it was Kentucky.”

Nate Johnson made a free throw with 14.8 seconds to play and Louisville held on for the victory, ending the Wildcats’ eight-game winning streak.

Johnson went to the line after being fouled by Jeff Sheppard while retrieving a rebound on Cameron Murray’s missed shot. Johnson missed the first attempt, then calmly made the second for the three-point lead.

Kentucky (10-2), which trailed by nine points with 2:23 to play, called a timeout before its last possession. The Wildcats worked the ball around the perimeter, with Scott Padgett missing a 22-footer that was rebounded by Louisville’s Alex Sanders as time ran out.

“A victory here is as a good a victory as you can get because it’s so hard to win here,” Louisville Coach Denny Crum said of playing in Rupp Arena, where the Wildcats had won 39 consecutive nonconference games.

Louisville (4-6) committed only five turnovers and made seven of 10 shots from three-point range in the second half.

No. 1 North Carolina 82, Georgia 80--North Carolina overcame an eight-point deficit in the final three minutes of the second half at Athens, Ga., then beat the Bulldogs when Vince Carter scored from beneath the basket with 3.2 seconds to play in overtime.

The Bulldogs (8-4) had a chance to tie the score with 1.4 seconds left in overtime, but freshman Jumaine Jones--the team’s best free-throw shooter--missed two foul shots, the second one intentionally.

North Carolina (13-0) trailed, 72-64, after Georgia’s Ray Harrison scored on a drive with 3:16 to play. But the Bulldogs managed only one point during the remainder of regulation, missing three consecutive free throws. Ademola Okulaja sent the game to overtime at 73-73 by making a two throws with 25.3 seconds to play.

No. 6 Utah 66, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 51--Michael Doleac, Andre Miller and Hanno Mottola scored 14 points each as the Utes rallied from a six-point second-half deficit at Milwaukee.

The Utes (11-0) made it an enjoyable homecoming for Coach Rick Majerus, who grew up in Milwaukee and played and coached at Marquette with Wisconsin-Milwaukee Coach Ric Cobb.

The Panthers (1-9) were led by Jared Hardwick with 14 points.

No. 7 Purdue 81, Providence 79--Jaraan Cornell scored 21 points and Brian Cardinal added 20 as the Boilermakers slipped by the Friars at West Lafayette, Ind.

It was Cornell’s third consecutive game as leading scorer for Purdue (11-2). Ben Perkins led the Friars (4-4) with 23 points.

No. 8 Stanford 95, Lehigh 42--Peter Sauer scored 18 points, helping the Cardinal build a 30-point halftime lead en route to a rout at Palo Alto.

Ryan Mendez had 13 points and Kris Weems and Tim Young each had 12 as Stanford (9-0) won its 17th game in a row at Maples Pavilion. Lehigh is 5-5.

No. 13 Xavier 73, DePaul 56--Darnell Williams scored 21 points and Xavier overcame a lackluster performance to beat DePaul in the first game of the Gatorade Rock-n-Roll Shootout at Cleveland.

The Musketeers (7-2) were coming off an 86-84 loss to No. 7 Purdue.

Jermaine Watts led the Blue Demons (3-7) with 21 points.

No. 18 Princeton 61, Niagara 52--The Tigers made 15 of 32 three-point attempts in their victory in the championship game of the ECAC Holiday Festival at New York.

Princeton’s first seven field goals of the second half were three-pointers.

A layup on an inbounds play by James Mastaglio capped an 8-0 run and gave the Tigers their largest lead, 55-40, with 5:55 left against Niagara (3-6).

No. 20 Maryland 74, North Carolina Wilmington 36--Rodney Elliott set career highs with 22 points and 14 rebounds at College Park, Md., as the Terrapins gave Coach Gary Williams his 150th victory with the team.

Williams, in his ninth season at Maryland (7-4), became the third-winningest coach in school history behind Lefty Driesell (348 victories in 17 seasons) and Bud Millikan (243 wins in 17 seasons).

Maryland won its 58th consecutive nonconference home game. N.C.-Wilmington is 5-6.

No. 23 West Virginia 90, Duquesne 78--Jarrod West made two three-pointers to key a 19-7 run that lifted the Mountaineers to victory at Morgantown, West Virginia.

West scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, including an off-balance three-pointer that gave West Virginia (11-1) an 82-68 lead with 3:03 to play.

Damian Owens led the Mountaineers with 21 points. Duquesne is 5-6.

OTHER GAMES

William Gladness scored a season-high 23 points and Michael Lewis had a season-high 10 assists as Indiana (8-3) posted a 78-66 victory over Southwest Missouri (4-6) in the first round of the Hoosier Classic at Indianapolis. The game was the first between Indiana Coach Bob Knight and Bear Coach Steve Alford, who as a senior led Knight’s team to the 1987 NCAA championship in New Orleans. . . . Bobby Lazor scored 24 points to lead Arizona State (9-3) to a 111-78 rout of La Salle (3-4) in the first round of the Tribune Classic at Tempe. . . . Sean Mason scored 17 points to lead Wisconsin (7-5) to a 64-60 victory against struggling Fresno State (5-6) at Fresno. . . . Bobby Brannen had 32 points and Shawn Myrick made a clinching three-pointer in overtime as Cincinnati (7-2) posted a 74-66 overtime victory over Massachusetts (6-5) in the Gatorade Rock-n-Roll Shootout at Cleveland.

Jerry Glover scored 21 points and teammate Tim Kisner added 17, including four on free throws in the final 16 seconds of overtime, to lead Central Michigan (3-6, 1-0) to a 90-85 victory over Northern Illinois (4-4, 0-1) at Mount Pleasant, Mich., in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams. . . . St. John’s (8-4) bounced back from a 23-point loss to Niagara in the opening round of the ECAC Holiday Festival with a 75-46 victory over Drexel (4-3) in the third-place game at New York. . . . Cedric Dixon scored 22 points, 19 in the second half, as Alabama-Birmingham (7-4) won its second consecutive Southeastern Conference game with an 80-73 victory against Florida (6-3) in the Orange Bowl Classic at Miami. In another first-round game, Matt Harpring scored 24 points as Georgia Tech (8-3) handed Miami (9-1) its first loss with a 69-61 victory.

Omar Sneed scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Memphis (4-3, 1-0) to a 64-59 victory over Tulane (4-6, 0-1) at Memphis in the Conference USA opener for both teams. . . . Michigan State forward Antonio Smith powered the Spartans (7-3) to an 81-69 victory over Eastern Illinois (5-5) at East Lansing, Mich., with 14 points and a season-high 15 rebounds.