Duke Again Thwarts Clemson

Duke blew a large lead against Clemson for the second time this season before Trajan Langdon’s three-point play lifted the No. 2 Blue Devils to a 70-66 victory in an Atlantic Coast Conference game Wednesday at Clemson, S.C.

Duke, which plays UCLA on Sunday in Cameron Indoor Stadium, had won its previous three ACC games by 20 points after losing to No. 1 North Carolina on Feb. 5.

Last month, the Blue Devils--24-2 overall and 13-1 in the ACC--led the Tigers by 24 points, but watched Clemson miss two good shots in the final seconds of an 81-80 Duke victory.

This time, Duke blew a 15-point lead down the stretch and trailed 64-63 with 1:30 to go. But Langdon, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, converted a free throw after his driving layup with 23 seconds remaining, and Chris Carrawell hit his foul shots to keep Duke ahead.

The Tigers (15-11, 5-8) were once a top-five team, but are pressing to win an NCAA bid.

Iowa 88, No. 5 Purdue 69--Iowa started three freshmen and upset the Boilermakers in a Big Ten game at Iowa City, Iowa.

As the game entered its final minutes, the capacity crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena started making noise.

“They started chanting ‘overrated,’ and they’re right,” said Purdue Coach Gene Keady, whose team fell to 22-5, 10-3. “We are overrated. This was ridiculous. They just weren’t ready to play, and that’s really embarrassing.”

Iowa, highly ranked earlier this season, is 18-8 overall, 7-6 in the Big Ten.

No. 8 Kentucky 79, Florida 54--Nazr Mohammed scored 19 points and Jeff Sheppard had 18 as Kentucky avenged an earlier loss in a Southeastern Conference game at Gainesville, Fla.

The Wildcats (23-4, 11-2) rebounded from a nine-point loss at home to Mississippi.

Florida (13-10, 6-7) struggled without playmaker and leading scorer Jason Williams, who was dismissed for the season this week for what Florida described as a violation of team and athletic department policy.

No. 15 Mississippi 85, LSU 57--Keith Carter scored 24 points, making four of seven from three-point range, in a Southeastern Conference game at Baton Rouge, La.

Ole Miss (18-5, 9-4) had nine blocked shots, six by Johnnie Rogers.

LSU is 9-14, 2-11.

No. 16 Arkansas 96, No. 13 South Carolina 88--Pat Bradley scored a career-high 33 points for the Razorbacks (21-5, 10-3) in a Southeastern Conference game at Fayetteville, Ark.

South Carolina (19-5, 9-4) was led by guard BJ McKie with 23 points but played without third-leading scorer LeRon Williams, who was suspended for one game for violating the team’s academic policy.

Rhode Island 87, No. 18 Massachusetts 85--Cuttino Mobley scored 26 points, including a basket with 1:08 left in the second overtime, as Jim Harrick’s Rams defeated the Minutemen in an Atlantic 10 game at Amherst, Mass.

Rhode Island (19-6, 10-3) won for the sixth time in seven games. UMass (19-7, 11-2) lost for only the second time in its last 15 games and fell to Rhode Island for the first time since Feb. 20, 1993.

No. 23 Illinois 69, Northwestern 57--Kevin Turner scored 28 points as for the Illini in the Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill.

The Illini (19-8, 11-3) made 11 of 18 three-point shots against Northwestern (9-14, 2-11).

OTHER GAMES

St. John’s (20-7, 12-4) beat Boston College, 66-61, in a Big East game for the Red Storm’s first 20-victory season since 1990-91. Boston College is 13-14, 5-11. . . . Missouri (14-12, 6-7) extended its school-record road losing streak to 22 gamesby missing three shots in the final seven seconds of overtime in a 67-66 Big 12 loss at Nebraska (16-10, 7-6.) . . . Oklahoma State (19-4, 9-4), defeated Texas Tech in overtime, 83-81, as the Cowboys’ Brett Robisch scored 33 points in the Big 12 game at Lubbock, Tex. Cory Carr led the Red Raiders (12-11, 6-7) with 33 points. . . . Matt Harpring scored a career-high 31 points to lead Georgia Tech (17-9, 6-7) to a 72-59 ACC victory over Florida State (16-11, 5-9) at TAllahassee, Fla. . . . Tremaine Fowlkes had 22 points and 15 rebounds for Fresno State (15-9, 8-3) in an 89-81 Western Athletic Conference victory over San Jose State (2-21, 0-11) at San Jose.

Notes

Michigan State guard Mateen Cleaves was arrested with teammate Andre Hutson on alcohol charges early Wednesday in East Lansing, Mich., only hours after a victory over Michigan. Cleaves, a sophomore guard who is the Spartans’ scoring, assists and steals leader, was charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol, refusing a breath test and a seat-belt violation.