Williams, No. 5 Illinois Finish Strong

After a slow start, Frank Williams was strong at the finish.

Williams, who had only four points at halftime, got the last basket in regulation and scored six of his 18 points in overtime Thursday night as fifth-ranked Illinois defeated Missouri, 86-81, at St. Louis.

“At the end of the game, the guys had confidence in me to break my man down,” Williams said. “They say that’s what big players do, so I tried to do it.”

Brian Cook had a career-high 25 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois, which has won five in a row to improve to 9-2. Illinois ended Missouri’s winning streak in the annual neutral-site game at three. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 22,089.

Williams scored on a 10-foot baseline jumper with 38 seconds left to force the extra period and opened the overtime by scoring from the key. He added a three-point play and a free throw and also blocked Clarence Gilbert’s three-point attempt with 44 seconds to play.

Missouri players were impressed.

“I like playing against the best players,” guard Wesley Stokes said. “That shows what I need to work on. He got some tough shots on me at the end that I thought he shouldn’t have made, but I need to work on my defense.”

Illinois secured the victory on two free throws by Cory Bradford with 40.8 seconds to play that made the score 86-78.

Clarence Gilbert had 23 points for Missouri (7-3). The Tigers finished a run of playing three Big Ten schools in a five-day span.

No. 6 Wake Forest 73, Temple 65--Craig Dawson scored a career-high 23 points and Robert O’Kelley had 20 at Philadelphia as the Demon Deacons sent the Owls (4-7) to their seventh consecutive loss, their longest losing streak in Coach John Chaney’s 19 seasons.

Wake Forest is 10-0 for the first time since starting 13-0 in Tim Duncan’s senior season four seasons ago. The Demon Deacons have won 15 in a row, the second-longest winning streak in the country behind Michigan State’s 20-game run.

No. 17 Alabama 69, Washington 60--Rod Grizzard scored 26 points to lead the Crimson Tide (9-0) over the Huskies (5-4) in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic at Bayamon.

No. 21 Notre Dame 96, Vermont 86--Troy Murphy and David Graves each scored 21 points and Ryan Humphrey scored 20 to lead the Irish (7-2) over the Catamounts (4-5) at South Bend, Ind.

No. 22 Cincinnati 88, Clemson 80--Steve Logan overcame an ankle injury to score 18 points as the Bearcats (7-2) defeated the Tigers (7-3) in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic.

No. 24 Mississippi 70, Southern Illinois 66--David Sanders scored six of his 15 points in the final two minutes to lift the Rebels (10-0) over the Salukis (4-4) in the opening round of the Yahoo! Sports Invitational at Laie, Hawaii.

SOUTHLAND TEAMS

Loyola Marymount 63, Loyola of Chicago 53--Greg Lakey scored 20 points and Elton Mashack had 15 to lead the Lions (4-6) over the Ramblers (2-8) at Chicago.

With the score tied at 44-44, Lakey made a driving layup to put the Lions ahead for good. He and Mashack combined for all of the next 11 points as the Lions held the Ramblers to one field goal for the next nine minutes.

Alabama Birmingham 71, Cal State Northridge 67--LeAndrew Bass scored 22 points to lead the Blazers (5-3) over the Matadors (6-4) in the opening game of the round-robin Nike Festival at Honolulu.

Eric Batchelor scored 10 of his 18 points in the second half as the Blazers pulled away from a 33-33 halftime tie.

Batchelor paced a 19-11 UAB run at the outset of the second half with eight points.

John Burrell led Cal State Northridge with 20 points in only 21 minutes.

ELSEWHERE

Jacksonville State 81, Charleston Southern 68--With six players sitting out for violating team rules, the Gamecocks (2-6) played five players in the victory over the Buccaneers (1-8) in the consolation game of the State Farm Good Neighbor Classic at Charleston, S.C.