Duke Wins After Being in Deep Trouble

Second-ranked Duke, which could return to the No. 1 spot in this week’s poll, learned in Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference game against Clemson at Durham, N.C., that it won’t always be able to blow out the opposition because of superior depth.

The Blue Devils, who are considered to have enough depth and talent for two teams, nearly blew a 24-point second-half lead, surviving a frantic final 19 seconds for an 81-80 victory.

Duke, 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the ACC, appeared to tire and become tentative against Clemson (11-6, 2-3), which was hindered for the most part by its physical style that was mainly responsible for 28 fouls.

“The fact is their depth can match ours and they are experienced,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I thought they wore us down a little bit. They can play through being tired better than we can as a team.”

The Blue Devils led, 55-31, early in the second half and by 19 points with 9:31 left but were then outscored, 30-14, by the Tigers, whose comeback was fueled by the outside shooting of Terrell McIntyre and inside play of Harold Jamison.

When Roshown McLeod missed a shot with 19 seconds left, Clemson had a chance to win the game. McIntyre, who led the Tigers with 17 points, dribbled toward the lane with 10 seconds left, but was tied up by Steve Wojciechowski and the possession arrow pointed to Duke. But the Blue Devils turned it back over.

Clemson set up a play for McIntyre, whose 12-footer hit the front of the rim with three seconds left. Iker Iturbe got the rebound, but his shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

“The main thing is we were in a one-possession game, a game that came down to the end and we really haven’t played in those types of games,” said Wojciechowski, whose team had defeated ACC opponents Virginia, Maryland and Wake Forest by 44, 32 and 36 points, respectively. “It’s just a great learning experience.”

No. 1 North Carolina’s loss in overtime to Maryland earlier in the week could push Duke back into the top spot in the rankings. The Blue Devils, off to their best overall and ACC start since winning the national championship in 1992, were No. 1 for the first two weeks of December before losing at Michigan on Dec. 13.

No. 1 North Carolina 96, Appalachian State 63--The Tar Heels (18-1) bounced back from the loss at Maryland, using a 16-2 run in the opening five minutes to set the tone for the nonconference game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Antawn Jamison, not much of a factor in the second half against Maryland, had 25 points, and Ed Cota had a career-high 14 assists. North Carolina had its biggest rebounding advantage of the season, 48-23, as Appalachian State (10-5) gave away 11 inches in its starting lineup.

Appalachian State Coach Buzz Peterson was a North Carolina guard from 1982-85.

No. 3 Kansas 69, Kansas State 62--The Jayhawks (21-2, 5-0) overcame their worst shooting performance of the season to tie a school record with their 55th consecutive home-court victory in the Big 12 game at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas, which retired Wilt Chamberlain’s jersey in an emotional halftime ceremony, missed its first seven shots and finished at 39% (24 for 61).

Paul Pierce and Billy Thomas, the Jayhawks’ top two scorers with the absence of injured center Raef LaFrentz, each had 11 points and combined for seven-of-26 shooting. Thomas became the 37th Kansas player to score 1,000 points.

Manny Dies had 26 points and 11 rebounds for Kansas State (11-4, 2-3). He had scored a career-high 27 against Iowa State on Wednesday.

The Wildcats had 21 turnovers, with the Jayhawks making 16 steals--six by Lester Earl and Ryan Robertson.

No. 4 Utah 75, Wyoming 58--The Utes (15-0, 3-0), off to their best start since the 1912-1913 team won its first 16 games, took a 21-4 lead in first 12 minutes of the Western Athletic Conference game at Salt Lake City.

Utah, which has won 29 of its last 30 games, led, 37-18, at halftime.

Jerod Roberts led all scorers with 28 points for Wyoming (12-4, 2-2), which shot 29% in the first half.

No. 6 Kentucky 80, No. 22 Arkansas 77--The Wildcats (16-2, 5-0) overcame poor three-point shooting (two for 19) and 22 turnovers to defeat the Razorbacks (14-3, 3-1) for the fifth consecutive time, in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky., that was decided in overtime.

Heshimu Evans, who sat out last season after transferring to Kentucky from Manhattan, scored seven of his season-high 20 points in overtime.

Nzar Mohammed had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Kentucky. Mohammed’s tip-in tied the score at 67-67 with 28 seconds left in regulation. Arkansas’ Kareem Reid missed a running jumper from 12 feet as time expired.

Pat Bradley led Arkansas with 26 points, making six of 12 three-point shots.

No. 10 Connecticut 86, Georgetown 72--The Huskies (16-2, 6-1) used a 21-4 run to start the second half to take control of the Big East game at Hartford, Conn.

Richard Hamilton had a game-high 25 points, six in Connecticut’s decisive run. Kevin Freeman had 14 of his 21 points and 10 of his 13 rebounds in the first half to give the Huskies inside presence when center Jake Voskuhl got in early foul trouble.

Georgetown (9-6, 3-5) led, 44-42, at halftime but shot 26% in the second half.

Tennessee 77, No. 11 Mississippi 67--The Volunteers (11-3, 1-3) won the SEC game at Knoxville, Tenn., without leading scorer Tony Harris and three other players, all sidelined because of injuries.

Brandon Wharton had 20 points and Rashard Lee, usually a reserve, had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Tennessee.

Ansu Sesay had 20 points for Mississippi (12-2, 3-1), which shot a season-low 32% and committed 33 fouls.

No. 18 Xavier 77, Virginia Tech 66--The Musketeers (11-4, 3-2) took a 23-4 lead in the first 12 minutes of the Atlantic 10 game at Cincinnati.

Lenny Brown had 10 of his 15 points in the decisive early part of the game, during which Xavier made nine of 15 shots while Virginia Tech (6-8, 1-3) missed six of eight and committed nine turnovers.

Torraye Braggs matched a career high with 24 points for Xavier, which was coming off an overtime loss to George Washington. The Musketeers have not had back-to-back losses since February 1996.

No. 19 Michigan 79, Ohio State 61--Louis Bullock made five of seven three-point shots and all 13 of his free throws en route to a 28-point performance for the Wolverines (14-4, 4-1) in the Big Ten game at Columbus, Ohio.

Michigan’s Robert Traylor broke his nose in the opening minute of the game when he collided with Ohio State’s Jason Singleton under the basket. He returned to play 20 minutes, getting 10 points and seven rebounds.

Ohio State (7-10, 0-4) was never closer than 18 points after the first basket of the second half. It was the Buckeyes’ seventh consecutive loss.

St. Bonaventure 86, No. 20 Rhode Island 81--Caswell Cyrus had 17 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Bonnies (11-6, 2-3) to the Atlantic 10 victory over the Rams (12-3, 4-1), their second win over a top-25 team in two weeks, at Olean, N.Y.

St. Bonaventure had lost three consecutive games since defeating then-No. 13 Xavier. The Bonnies are without point guard Tim Winn, who suffered a broken ankle last week.

Boston College 64, No. 23 Marquette 54--Senior forward Antonio Granger tied a career high with 22 points to lead the Eagles (10-8) to the nonconference victory at Milwaukee over the Golden Eagles (10-4), who lost their fourth consecutive game.

Marquette played without leading scorers Aaron Hutchins and Jarrod Lovette, who were sidelined because of injuries.

Baylor 97, No. 25 Oklahoma State 95--Patrick Hunter dribbled the length of the floor and made a short running jumper with 0.4 seconds left in the second overtime of the Big 12 game at Waco, Texas, lifting the South Division-leading Bears to their sixth consecutive victory.

Oklahoma State (12-3, 2-3) lost its second consecutive game since moving into the top 25 on Monday, and Coach Eddie Sutton was again denied his 600th career victory.

Hunter’s game-winning basket was set up by a 35-second shot clock violation by Oklahoma State with six seconds left. The Cowboys’ Brian Montonati missed a desperation three-point shot at the buzzer.

Oklahoma State’s Adrian Peterson had a game-high 29 points, and Hunter had 27.

OTHER GAMES

Pat Garrity scored 31 of Notre Dame’s final 41 points en route to a career-high 37, but his effort wasn’t enough as the Irish (9-6, 3-4) lost, 64-58, to Seton Hall (9-8, 3-4) in a Big East game at East Rutherford, N.J. . . . Wake Forest (9-6, 2-3), coming off a 36-point home-court loss to Duke and starting four freshmen, was a 72-60 winner over Maryland (10-6, 3-3) in an ACC game at Winston-Salem, N.C. . . . Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew had 23 points, including the game-winning shot as time expired, to become his school’s leading career scorer (1,803 points) in a home-court 82-80 Mid-Continent victory over Buffalo (9-7, 5-2). Valparaiso is 9-7 and 5-2. . . . Bonzi Wells scored 31 points to lead Ball State (13-3, 7-1) to a 71-63 Mid-American Conference victory over Toledo (10-5, 5-2) at Muncie, Ind.

Mateen Cleaves had a career-high 27 points, including 17 of his team’s first 19 second-half points, as Michigan State (11-4, 4-1) retained a share of the Big Ten lead with a 68-64 victory over Illinois (11-7, 3-2) at East Lansing, Mich. . . . Wisconsin (10-7, 3-2) was a 56-33 Big Ten winner over Northwestern (7-7, 1-4) in its inaugural game in the $76.4-million Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. The Kohl Center replaces Wisconsin’s 67-year-old field house. . . . Freshman Larry Hughes, a doubtful starter after missing a game because of a wrist injury, had 30 points and a season-high six three-point baskets as Saint Louis (12-5, 4-1) was a home-court 77-60 Conference USA winner over Alabama Birmingham (12-5, 4-1). The Blazers’ winning streak ended at eight games. . . . Malcolm Johnson had 31 points as Texas Christian (14-4, 3-0) handed San Diego State (7-8, 1-3) its worst home-court loss, 105-61, in a WAC game. The Horned Frogs played without suspended leading scorer Lee Nailon (25.3 ppg), who pleaded no contest earlier in the week to a misdemeanor charge of assault against his girlfriend.