Williams Is No. 1 Tar Heel Option in Two-Overtime Win

Poised to move to the top of the latest college basketball poll, second-ranked North Carolina survived a scare on Sunday, needing two overtimes and a career-high 42 points from Shammond Williams to defeat Georgia Tech 107-100 at Atlanta.

“Williams was absolutely sensational,” Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said. “I thought we played as well as we could defensively, trying to take away the lobs, the sensational dunks, but the one thing we couldn’t take away was Williams’ three-pointer.”

Williams, who made eight of his 11 three-point shots, took control in the second overtime with 12 points, including a pair of long-range shots.

“I feel confident in my shot,” Williams said. “Sometimes I get the opportunity to take more shots than at other times. I feel that if I’m given the opportunity to score, I’m capable.”

The Tar Heels extended their winning streak to seven and are expected to take over the No. 1 spot in the newest poll after knocking off No. 1 Duke, 97-73, on Thursday.

The Tar Heels, 24-1 overall and 10-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, led most of the game until Tech (14-9, 3-7) rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final 1:21 of regulation.

No. 1 Duke 65, North Carolina State 49--The Blue Devils regained their edge after the loss to North Carolina, getting a career-high 27 points from Roshown McLeod at Raleigh, N.C.

At one point during the game McLeod scored 20 of Duke’s 30 points as the Blue Devils (21-2, 10-1) kept pace with North Carolina in the ACC regular-season title chase.

Trajan Langdon had 17 points for Duke, while C.C. Harrison led North Carolina State with 18.

Duke defeated North Carolina State(12-10, 3-8) for the sixth time in the last seven meetings in Reynolds Coliseum.

No. 3 Kansas 80, Missouri 70--Paul Pierce scored 29 points and Raef LaFrentz had 22 in the Big 12 Conference game at Lawrence, Kan., as the Jayhawks extended their home winning streak to 58 games.

Missouri, which had defeated Kansas, 74-73, in Columbia on Jan. 19, lost for the 20th consecutive time on the road. Missouri was the last team to win at Kansas (26-3, 10-1).

Missouri (13-10, 5-5) was within 66-63 with 3:49 left on a three-point basket by John Woods, who led the Tigers with 18 points.

But C.B. McGrath found LaFrentz inside for an easy shot, and then stole the inbounds pass. Pierce scored and Kansas led, 70-63, with 3:21 to play.

No. 8 Kentucky 79, Villanova 63--Jeff Sheppard and Nazr Mohammed each had 18 points and Heshimu Evans had 17 at Philadelphia as the Southeastern Conference Wildcats won for the 11th time in 12 games.

Kentucky (21-3), which had won only one of its last five games by more than three points, scored easily inside against Villanova (9-12) and prevailed despite going 15-of-29 from the foul line and having starting forward Scott Padgett limited to three minutes by a stiff back.

Mohammed had five of Kentucky’s 16 steals and also grabbed 11 rebounds as Kentucky finished with a 38-27 rebounding advantage.

Kentucky took control by scoring the last three points of the first half--a 25-footer at the buzzer by Sheppard--and the first six of the second half to take a 46-32 lead.

No. 23 Massachusetts 73, No. 21 Xavier 62--Charlton Clarke scored 18 points and led a late first-half surge as the Minutemen built an 18-point lead and held on in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Cincinnati.

Massachusetts (17-6, 9-1) improved to 5-0 in road conference games and bounced back from a loss to Temple last Tuesday that ended a winning streak at 10 games.

Xavier (15-6, 7-4) lost for the first time this season at Cincinnati Gardens, where it had won 16 in a row. The Musketeers have lost only two home games the last two seasons.

Clarke made three three-pointers as Massachusetts closed out the first half with a 14-3 run that pushed the lead to 18 points. Xavier never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

OTHER GAMES

Corey Brewer had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Oklahoma (17-7, 8-3) overcame a poor-shooting first half for an 81-74 victory over Texas (10-12, 4-6) in a Big 12 game at Austin, Texas. . . . Hassan Booker scored 20 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to lead Navy (14-8, 9-0) to an 84-61 victory over Lehigh (7-15, 2-7) in a Patriot League game at Bethlehem, Pa. . . . Tyson Wheeler scored 17 points, including a crucial basket with 1:04 to play, to help Rhode Island (16-5, 8-2) defeat St. Bonaventure (14-9, 4-6), 67-66, in an Atlantic 10 game at Kingston, R.I. . . . Joe Crispin made a 15-foot jumper with 30 seconds left in overtime and Penn State (11-9, 4-6) overcame a career high 37-point performance from Evan Eschmeyer to defeat Northwestern (8-12, 1-9), 69-68, in a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill. . . . Quincy Wadley scored a career-high 21 points and Lamont Barnes had 12 to lead Temple (14-6, 7-3) to a 60-53 victory over Virginia Tech (7-13, 2-8) in an Atlantic 10 game at Philadelphia. . . . Cedric Dixon scored 22 points and Alabama Birmingham (13-8, 5-4) defeated Memphis (12-7, 8-1), 88-77, in a Conference USA game at Birmingham, Ala.