Mississippi Turns Tables on Temple From Long Distance

No. 21 Mississippi got revenge on its home court.

Keith Carter made a school-record seven three-point shots after halftime Saturday at Oxford, Miss., as the Rebels scored an 87-74 victory over No. 18 Temple, which knocked them out of the NCAA tournament last season.

Carter finished with career highs of 33 points and 15 rebounds.

Carter made the first of his three-pointers, and Ansu Sesay had two dunks--the second a one-hand reverse--as Ole Miss (2-0) opened the second half with a 12-3 run to break a 30-30 halftime tie.

“I told them at halftime to have some fun and play with some intensity,” Ole Miss Coach Rob Evans said. “And when they do that, you see the results.”

Temple (2-1), which defeated Ole Miss, 62-40, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, never recovered from the spurt.

The tournament loss ended one of the most successful seasons for Ole Miss, which won 20 games for the first time in 60 years and made it to the tournament for the only time in school history.

Sesay had 22 points to extend his streak of double-figure scoring games to 26. Jason Smith added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“We spent a lot of time defending the ball, but not the second pass,” Temple Coach John Chaney said. “Ole Miss did a good job of kicking the ball to Carter, and he delivered.”

No. 4 North Carolina 71, California 47--North Carolina made seven of its first eight shots in the second half to shake off a slow start at Chapel Hill, N.C., in a rematch of last season’s NCAA tournament game.

This time around wasn’t supposed to be much of a contest, considering the Bears returned only three lettermen from the team that lost by six to North Carolina in the round of 16. And Coach Ben Braun had only seven scholarship players available for their season opener against the Tar Heels (3-0).

But Cal’s zone gave the Tar Heels fits in the first half, forcing 10 turnovers and 40.7 percent shooting before North Carolina found the mark and Cal’s shot selection started to stray.

The Tar Heels, at full strength for the first time this season, led 32-31 with 18:25 left before going on a 16-2 run as Antawn Jamison scored six of his team-high 17 points.

No. 5 Clemson 71, Southwest Missouri 67--Terrell McIntyre scored 17 second-half points to rally Clemson into the final of the Top of the World Classic at Fairbanks, Alaska.

Clemson (3-0) trailed for 38 of the game’s 40 minutes, pulling even at 65 on a Tony Christie three-pointer and taking the lead on two free throws by Greg Buckner.

Buckner and McIntyre, Clemson’s backcourt, each scored 17 points.

Kevin Ault scored 16 points to lead Southwest Missouri (1-2).

No. 11 New Mexico 61, Arkansas St. 51--Royce Olney scored 26 points and New Mexico took advantage of a horrendous first half by Arkansas State at Albuquerque to win the Lobo Classic.

New Mexico (4-0) was never threatened in running its home-court winning streak to 30 games, third longest in the country. The Lobos scored 19 consecutive points as Arkansas State went scoreless for more than nine minutes in the opening half.

Arkansas State (1-2) made only six of 25 shots and trailed at halftime, 29-15.

No. 16 Utah 66, Southern Utah 48--Hanno Mottola scored eight of his 12 points during a decisive second-half run to lead Utah at Salt Lake City.

Playing without starting center Michael Doleac, who was nursing a sprained ankle, the Utes (3-0) struggled to a 41-41 tie with 9:55 to play.

Utah then began to push the ball inside to Mottola and Alex Jensen against the smaller Thunderbirds (1-2) and scored 16 consecutive points.

No. 20 Xavier 97, Akron 73--James Posey had a double-double in the decisive first half and Torraye Braggs scored a career-high 24 points at Cincinnati as Xavier pulled away to the victory.

Xavier (2-0) took control behind Posey, who put his imprint on the first half by scoring 16 points and getting 10 rebounds, two more than Akron’s total. The Zips (0-1) fell behind by 19 in the half and never threatened.

Braggs scored 12 consecutive points as the Musketeers pushed the lead to 33 in the second half before the backups took over. Posey finished with 20 points and matched his career high with 15 rebounds.

No. 19 Oklahoma 81, SW Texas 68--Corey Brewer scored 18 points to lead five Oklahoma players in double figures at Norman, Okla.

The Sooners (3-0) twice trailed by eight in the early going. But a 19-3 run in the first half and a 12-3 spurt early in the second gave them control.

Wesley Williams scored 21 and Donte Mathis had 18 for Southwest Texas, which was playing its season opener.

Eduardo Najera had 16 points for the Sooners.

No. 24 Illinois State 87, Pittsburgh 65--Rico Hill scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Redbirds at Normal, Ill.

Illinois State, which is in the Associated Press rankings for the first time in 14 years, bounced back from a loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Illinois State (2-1) scored 16 consecutive points midway through the first half, opening up a 37-17 lead. The Redbirds were up, 46-28, at halftime and coasted past Pittsburgh (1-1).

No. 25 Georgia 116, Charleston Southern 59--Derrick Dukes scored 25 points, including six of Georgia’s 18 three-pointers at Athens, Ga.

Georgia (3-1) shot a school-record 56% from three-point range. Freshman Jumaine Jones scored 17 points and made all four of his three-point shots.

OTHER GAMES

Michael Jordan scored 21 points and Jed Ryan added 17 as Penn opened its season with a 78-73 victory over Rice at Philadelphia . . .Freshman Michael Redd scored 17 points and was one of four Ohio State starters in double figures as the Buckeyes defeated Robert Morris, 67-49, at Columbus, Ohio . . . Brian Williams and Damon Bacote combined for 32 points at Minneapolis as Alabama held off Minnesota, 64-63, handing the Gophers their second consecutive loss at home . . . Marius Janulis made four of Syracuse’s seven three-pointers in the first half to bury North Carolina Greensboro 83-53 at Syracuse, N.Y. . . Curtis Staples scored 23 points and Virginia used a 25-7 run to defeat George Mason, 60-45 at Charlottesville, Va. . . . Freshman Larry Hughes tied a Kiel Center record with 29 points, including 23 in the first half, as Saint Louis had no trouble defeating San Francisco, 80-56, at St. Louis.