No. 15 Cincinnati Topples No. 1 Duke, 77-75

Melvin Levett’s dunk with one second left powered No. 15 Cincinnati to a 77-75 upset of No. 1 Duke on Saturday night in the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage.

Duke (5-1) threw a baseball pass on the inbound play that Elton Brand tipped to William Avery, who made what would have been the game-tying basket. But officials ruled that Avery did not get the shot off in time.

Levett led the Bearcats (4-0) with 25 points, 14 in the second half. Pete Mickeal added 17, and Alvin Mitchell had 14, six in the last two minutes.

Avery, selected the tournament’s outstanding player, scored 30 points, 19 in the final 20 minutes.

With the score tied, 63-63, Avery made a three-point basket with 4:23 remaining. About 20 seconds later, Levett tied it up again with another three-point basket.

Mitchell’s three-point basket and a driving layup put Cincinnati up, 71-70, with 1:30 left. Levett was then fouled while making a corner jump shot and converted the free throw to make it 74-70.

On Duke’s next possession, Avery hit an off-balance three-point basket to cut the difference to one. Mickeal then missed two free throws, and with 13 seconds left, Mitchell made one to two free throws to make it 75-73.

Nine seconds, later Avery made a baseline runner to tie it again.

On its final inbound play, Cincinnati’s Ryan Fletcher threw a long pass that Kenyon Martin caught at the foul line and passed to Levett, who rammed it through the hoop for the game-winner.

The Bearcats led, 45-35, at halftime.

No. 11 Arizona 78, Brigham Young 74--Freshman Michael Wright scored 21 points and A.J. Bramlett added 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Wildcats escaped with an overtime victory at Provo, Utah.

“We feel very fortunate to come away with a win,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “We don’t think it was deserved, but we’ll take it.”

The Wildcats (3-0) avoided a shocking upset at the hands of the Cougars (1-3), who suffered a 21-point loss to Auburn in their last game and are only a year removed from a one-win season.

Arizona trailed the entire first half, then took the lead late in the game only to give it back during a 16-4 BYU run. The Wildcats committed 28 turnovers and needed a three-point basket by Jason Terry to get to overtime.

“They out-hustled us in all aspects of the game,” Wright said. “We didn’t play good, and they wanted it more. We just came out lucky.”

But it was more than that. Arizona was nine of 10 from the line in overtime as BYU tried desperately to negate the Wildcats’ size advantages with fouls. Terry, the Wildcats’ senior point guard, and Wright were each four for four.

“If we’re going to be successful, our young players are going to have to grow up in a hurry,” Olson said. “I think we started that tonight.”

The Cougars trailed, 60-51, with 5:27 left, but made a run that featured three three-point baskets and gave the Cougars a 67-64 lead with 1:25 left in regulation.

Terry’s three-point shot with a minute left tied the score, and after misses on both ends, Bramlett was fouled by Nathan Cooper with one second left.

Bramlett winked at his bench before stepping up to the line, but with the crowd screaming at him, the senior center missed both free throws to force overtime.

“You can’t take anything for granted,” Bramlett said with a shake of his head.

It took a controversial elbow to Jeff Jepsen’s head to energize both teams and spark a dull game to an exciting finish.

With 11:38 left, Arizona’s Eugene Edgerson became entangled at midcourt with Jepsen, and as they separated, the BYU center took an elbow to the face and slumped to the floor. Jepsen suffered a concussion and was unconscious on the court for 20 seconds.

No. 7 Michigan State 90, Western Michigan 66--The Spartans went on a 15-3 run to take a 68-56 lead with 7:44 left at East Lansing, Mich., and went on to win the Spartan Classic.

Western Michigan (2-2), which trailed by five points at halftime, tied it at 53-53 on Isaac Bullock’s three-point basket with 12:44 left before Michigan State (4-1) started its run.

In all, the Broncos made 11 of 24 three-point attempts.

Morris Peterson scored 21 points for the Spartans, who made only one of nine three-point attempts.

Michigan State retired the jersey of career scoring leader Shawn Respert during halftime ceremonies. Respert also is the school’s and the Big Ten Conference’s career leader in three-point shooting.

No. 12 Oklahoma State 79, Texas Christian 74--Adrian Peterson’s three-point basket from the top of the key with 1:02 left gave the Cowboys the lead for good at Stillwater, Okla.

Desmond Mason had 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Cowboys (4-0), who had to work hard to extend their their nonconference home winning streak to 80 games.

Lee Nailon scored 30 points for the Horned Frogs (5-2), including 24 in the second half.

Nailon scored 18 of 23 points for the Horned Frogs during one stretch in the second half.

The game marked TCU Coach Billy Tubbs’ first visit to Stillwater since 1994, when he coached at Oklahoma. He was 7-7 in Stillwater during his 14 seasons with the Sooners.

No. 20 New Mexico 93, Northeastern 61--The Lobos scored the first 14 points and never looked back in the championship game of the Lobo Classic at Albuquerque.

New Mexico (4-0) scored virtually at will for 40 minutes against the shorter, slower Huskies (2-2), who missed their first eight shots and shot 34.7% from the field.

A 12-foot jump shot by Marcus Blossom ended Northeastern’s scoring drought with 14:02 left in the opening half and the Huskies managed to cut the deficit to 24-18 with 8:00 left.

But that was as close as they got. Henry made his second of three consecutive three-points shots and New Mexico went on a 16-6 run to end the half with a 45-24 lead.

No. 21 Arkansas 92, Northeast Louisiana 70--The Razorbacks (5-1) used a 16-0 run midway through the first half at Fayetteville, Ark., to take a 35-16 lead.

Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson shook up his starting lineup after a 76-63 loss to Villanova last Sunday, benching senior guard Kareem Reid. He entered the game during the run, but scored only three points in 19 minutes.

Mike Smith led Northeast Louisiana (0-4) with 25 points.

No. 16 Washington 81, Hawaii Hilo 47--In a late first-round game in the Big Island Invitational at Hilo, the Huskies (2-0) used an 11-2 run to take control and rout the Vulcans (0-2).

OTHER GAMES

Quinton Hall scored nine points in the final six minutes at Spokane to help Gonzaga (2-3) beat Washington State, 70-61. It was the Bulldogs’ first victory over the Cougars (1-4) since 1988. This is Washington State’s worst start since the 1972-73 team began the season 1-6. . . . Freshman Quentin Richardson had 31 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks to lead DePaul (3-1) to a 75-72 victory over California (2-1) at Rosemont, Ill. . . . Oregon withstood a 12-3 run by Southern Illinois (1-2) in the final minute and beat the Salukis, 70-64, at Carbondale, Ill.

Pacific (4-0) remained unbeaten and extended Cal State Sacramento’s losing streak to 22 games with a 62-49 victory at Sacramento. The Hornets (0-4) haven’t won since Dec. 13 of last season. . . . Brian Towne scored 29 points to lead Portland State (4-0) to a 103-64 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (2-2) at Portland. The Vikings’ point total was their most since they defeated Rocky Mountain College, 133-110, in 1978. . . . Frank Knight scored 11 points in the final five minutes to lead St. Mary’s (4-2) to a 78-71 victory over Alaska Anchorage (3-2) to clinch fourth place at the Great Alaska Shootout.

Georgia Tech (4-0) went without a basket over the last 4 1/2 minutes, but made 10 of 12 free throws to beat West Virginia (2-2), 58-53, in the winner’s bracket of the Big Island Invitational at Hilo. . . . Mississippi (4-1) defeated Austin Peay, 105-62, to extend its homecourt winning streak to 24 games. The Rebels are 4-0 at home, all of the victories by at least 42 points. Austin Peay is 1-3. . . . Valparaiso (5-0) led shot 69% (20 of 29) in the second half and defeated Norfolk State (2-1), 79-59, at Norfolk, Va.

Stevie Johnson made four free throws in the final 30 seconds to help Iowa State clinch third place in the Great Alaska Shootout with a 79-70 victory over Fresno State. . . . William Stringfellow tipped in the game-winning shot at the final buzzer to give Houston a 72-71 victory over Indiana Purdue Indianapolis (1-3) as the Cougars improved to 2-2 under first-year Coach Clyde Drexler.

Tulsa (4-1) made all eight of its free throws in the final 46 seconds to beat St. Joseph’s, 66-55, at Tulsa. It was the first game of the season for the Hawks. . . . Wisconsin (5-1) beat Rhode Island (3-3), 65-59, at Providence, R.I. . . . Murray State (4-0) outrebounded Oklahoma (3-1), 46-23, and upset the Sooners, 69-64, in the championship game of the Sooner Holiday Classic at Norman, Okla.