Duke Defeats Georgia Tech to Gain Share of ACC Title

Georgia Tech tried to prepare for Duke’s octopus-like defense by practicing against six or seven players. It wasn’t enough.

No. 1 Duke, 26-2 overall and 14-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, clinched at least a share of the ACC regular-season title Wednesday night, building a 19-point halftime lead and cruising to a 76-53 victory over the Yellow Jackets at Atlanta.

“They’re the best defensive team I’ve seen in a long time,” Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said. “We worked against six or seven defensive players in practice, and I thought we ran our offense pretty well.”

Roshown McLeod led Duke with 20 points. Georgia Tech (17-11, 6-9) made only 21 of 64 shots from the field and Matt Harpring was held to a season-low 12 points on a night when his jersey number was retired.

No. 7 Kentucky 83, Auburn 58--Senior guard Jeff Sheppard scored a career-high 25 points to help the Wildcats clinch the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division title at Auburn, Ala.

Scott Padgett scored 19 points for the Wildcats (25-4, 13-2), which improved to 10-0 on the road and can complete its road sweep of SEC opponents with a win Saturday at No. 14 South Carolina.

Doc Robinson scored 15 points to lead Auburn (15-11, 7-8).

No. 11 Purdue 87, Minnesota 83--Brad Miller had 28 points and nine rebounds as the Boilermakers overcame yet another slow start in the Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers (23-6, 11-4) broke a two-game losing streak and moved into sole possession of third place in the Big Ten Conference.

Minnesota (12-14, 5-10) was led by Eric Harris with 22 points.

No. 13 Mississippi 81, No. 12 Arkansas 65--Ansu Sesay had 23 points and 11 rebounds at Oxford, Miss., to help the Rebels earn a share of the SEC Western Division title.

Mississippi (20-5, 11-4) extended its school-record home winning streak to 19 games and earned only the fourth 20-win season in school history.

Derek Hood had 16 points to lead Arkansas (22-6, 11-4).

Boston College 72, No. 19 West Virginia 69--Duane Woodward scored 20 points, including a key jumper with 22 seconds left and Boston College survived three three-point misses by the Mountaineers in the final 14 seconds of a Big East game at Boston.

Antonio Granger had 16 points and Mickey Curley had 14 for the Eagles (14-15, 6-12).

Brent Solheim paced the Mountaineers (22-6, 11-6) with 17 points, 13 in the second half, and Adrian Pledger had 14 points.

St. Bonaventure 72, No. 20 Massachusetts 70--Tim Winn’s three-point shot with 6.1 seconds remaining in the second overtime gave the Bonnies the Atlantic 10 victory at Olean, N.Y.

Caswell Cyrus had 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Bonnies (16-12, 6-9), who defeated a ranked team for the third time this season, all at home.

Tied, 64-64, going into the second overtime, two layups by Tyrone Weeks helped Massachusetts (20-8, 12-3) take a four-point lead with 3:03 left.

St. Bonaventure’s Rashaan Palmer responded with five consecutive points.

Monty Mack made a 17-foot jump shot to give Massachusetts a 70-69 lead with 19 seconds left, then Winn made his game-winning shot.

No. 21 Michigan 77, Penn State 61--Louis Bullock scored 25 points and Robert Traylor had 17 rebounds as the Wolverines rolled to a Big Ten victory at State College, Pa.

Michigan (20-8, 10-5) has won at least 20 games five times since 1990. Penn State (14-11, 7-8) lost for only the second time at home this season.

Calvin Booth had 18 points for the Lions, who had won four of five, including an upset of No. 5 Purdue on Saturday.