Tar Heels Are Put on Notice by Charleston

The College of Charleston has won five consecutive conference championships, made the NCAA tournament three years in a row and gave 1997 national champion Arizona all it could handle in a second-round game.

Still, respect has been hard to come by for Charleston. However, Saturday night’s 66-64 victory over No. 3-ranked North Carolina in the Food Lion MVP tournament in Tar Heel-friendly Charlotte, N.C., may change that.

Danny Johnson’s follow shot with one-tenth of a second left provided margin of victory for the Charleston, which has five starters back from a 24-6 team which went virtually unnoticed last season.

“Dreams are built around games like this,” said John Kresse, the coach who in 19 seasons has overseen College of Charleston’s transition from an NAIA power to one of the most consistent winners in Division I.

Said Johnson, who had 11 points: “We feel like we’re a major Division I school. We’re contenders and we’re competitors, and now we’ve gone out and proven it.”

Charleston (4-2) had never played a team ranked as high as North Carolina (8-1) and had lost seven of its previous 10 games against Top 25 teams. The last time the Cougars had defeated a ranked team was an 84-67 victory over No. 8 Georgia Tech on Jan. 16, 1994. They had lost to unranked South Carolina by 11 points Friday night.

“Even though we split in the tournament, it’s probably the biggest weekend the College of Charleston has ever had,” Kresse said. “This was their chance to shine, and they did it.”

North Carolina freshman Jason Capel had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists but 7-foot center Brendan Haywood fouled out for the second consecutive game playing against a decidedly shorter opponent. Charleston’s 6-8 Jody Lumpkin also had nine rebounds to Haywood’s seven.

No. 1 Connecticut 82, No. 9 Michigan State 68--Ricky Moore’s defensive play against Mateen Cleaves, last season’s Big Ten player of the year, was the key for the Huskies (6-0) in their victory over the Spartans (4-3) at Storrs, Conn.

Cleaves had only six points, missing 13 of 15 shots--including six of seven three-point attempts.

Connecticut’s leading scorer Richard Hamilton made only five of 14 shots for 11 points, but the Huskies had four other players score in double figures, led by Khalid El-Amin with 20.

No. 4 Duke 89, North Carolina State 69--Sophomore center Elton Brand had a career-high 26 points to lead the Blue Devils (7-1) to their 25th consecutive home-court victory at Durham, N.C. in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Freshman guard Adam Harrington had 25 points for North Carolina State (5-2).

No. 6 Cincinnati 106, Oakland (Mich.) 78--The Bearcats (5-0), in their first game since beating then-No. 1 Duke in the Great Alaska Shootout last Saturday, made a school record 24 three-point shots in 48 attempts to win their home opener. Oakland (2-5) is in its first Division I season.

Steve Logan and Melvin Levett each made eight three-point shots and both had 28 points.

No. 8 Kentucky 74, Miami (Fla.) 65--Scott Padgett, who failed to score in double figures in four previous games, had 16 points and three three-point baskets in the final nine minutes for the Wildcats (7-1) at Lexington, Ky.

The game marked Miami Coach Leonard Hamilton’s return to Rupp Arena, where he served as Kentucky’s first black assistant coach from 1975-86.

Tim James had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Miami (2-2).

Boise State 69, No. 15 Washington 61--Roberto Bergersen scored a career-high 32 points as the Broncos (5-1) stunned the Huskies (4-2) after falling behind 20-4 to start the game at Boise, Idaho. Boise State has won 17 in a row on its home court.

Todd MacCulloch had 20 points and nine rebounds for Washington.

No. 16 Indiana 63, No. 10 Temple 62--A.J. Guyton, off target on his three-point shots most of the game, made a three-point basket with 5.5 seconds left at Bloomington, Ind., as the Hoosiers (8-1) overcame an nine-point deficit in the final eight minutes.

Indiana has also rallied from second-half deficits of 19, 18 and 11 points to win this season. Temple (4-3) has lost its last three games by a total of five points.

No. 12 Syracuse 95, Santa Clara 75--Jason Hart scored 14 points as the Orangemen (7-1) won the consolation game of the Carrier Classic in Syracuse. Nathan Fast had 25 points for Santa Clara (2-4).

Ohio University, which handed Syracuse its first loss in the first round in the 23 years of the tournament, was a 78-69 winner over Illinois Chicago in the championship game.

No. 13 Arizona 94, Wyoming 84--Jason Terry scored 29 points and A.J. Bramlett had 24, both career highs, as the Wildcats (4-0) overcame a nine-point deficit in the final 13 minutes at Phoenix.

Wyoming (3-2) had three starters foul out.

No. 14 Purdue 71, No. 23 Xavier (Ohio) 57--Jaraan Cornell had 10 unanswered points midway in the second half to allow the Boilermakers (7-1) to take command at Cincinnati. Cornell finished with 21 points.

Xavier (5-3) had 26 turnovers.

Oklahoma 87, No. 19 Arkansas 57--Senior forward Eric Martin scored a career-high 23 points and the Sooners (4-1) made 13 of 26 three-point shots at Norman, Okla.

Arkansas (5-2) shot 39% in losing for the second time in three games.

Wisconsin Green Bay 78, No. 22 Miami (Ohio) 60--B.J. LaRue scored 12 of his 25 points during a 17-2 run by the Phoenix (3-4) to open the second half at Green Bay, Wis.

Wally Szczerbiak had 17 points for Miami (4-2).

No. 25 St. John’s 74, Boston College 55--The Red Storm (6-2) went on a 34-6 run in a 14 1/2-minute span over the first and second halves to pull away from the Eagles (2-4) in the Big East opener for both teams at Boston.

OTHER GAMES

Less than 24 hours after being beaten by another student during an on-campus incident, Rimas Kaukenas scored 19 points to lead Seton Hall (4-3) to a 73-55 victory La Salle (1-4). Kaukenas, who needed 12 stitches to close cuts to his right eye, nose and lip, had nine points and five rebounds in the first half to help the Pirates take a 17-point lead. . . . Geno Carlisle scored 26 points to match his season high as California (4-1) was a 71-64 winner over Rhode Island (4-4) at Oakland. Lamar Odom had 23 points for the Rams but had seven of their 20 turnovers. . . . Junior guard Eddie House scored 27 of his career-high 39 points in the second half to lead Arizona State (3-4) to a 79-70 victory over Nevada Las Vegas (4-3) at Phoenix. House’s total is Arizona State’s second-highest to Paul Williams’ 45 against USC in 1983, and the most since Stevin “Headake” Smith, who later admitted to shaving points in a gambling scandal, had 39 against Oregon State in 1994. . . . Kojo Mensah-Bonsu scored a career-high 22 points and Washington State (3-4) made 12 of 22 three-point shots to avenge last year’s loss to Eastern Washington (1-4) in a 91-72 victory at Cheney, Wash. . . . A.D. Smith had 18 points to lead Oregon (3-1) to a 93-62 home-court victory over Brigham Young (2-4), which played without injured starters Bret Jepson and Brian Hamilton. . . . Colorado State (6-1) was 64-61 winner over Utah State (5-1) and its coach of the previous seven seasons, Stew Morrill, at Logan, Utah.