Stokes, Missouri Beat the Buzzer

Wesley Stokes ignored Missouri’s big scorers, both of whom were calling for the ball, and beat the buzzer himself.

Stokes, who had the game-tying shot made over him seconds earlier, made a tough 18-footer as the No. 2 Tigers survived an upset bid by Saint Louis, 69-67, Monday night at St. Louis.

“In high school, I used to do that a lot,” Stokes said. “I used to always have the ball in my hands at the last second because my coach had a lot of confidence me, but I could get used to this.”

During a timeout before the final play, Kareem Rush and Clarence Gilbert both made it clear what Stokes, the point guard and the team’s fifth-leading scorer at 10.3 points, should do once he caught the inbounds pass.

“We just looked at Wes and said, ‘Give me the ball, give me the ball,”’ Gilbert said. “And Wes just came down and did it himself.”

Stokes took possession near midcourt and dribbled near the top of the key, then shot over Marque Perry for the game-winner.

The situation was reversed on the previous play when Perry, who scored nine points over the final 39 seconds, tied it with a three-pointer over Stokes with 4.8 seconds to go.

Arthur Johnson led Missouri (8-0) with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Rush and Gilbert had 18 points each for the Tigers, off to the school’s best start since the 1991-92 team began the season 11-0.

Stokes finished only two for seven from the field and had four points and Missouri was one for 10 from three-point range.

Perry scored 20 points and Kenny Brown had 12 points and nine rebounds for Saint Louis (2-4), which has lost three in a row at home to start the season. The last time that happened was in 1991-92, when the Billikens finished 5-23.

No. 3 Maryland 77, Connecticut 65--Lonny Baxter had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Juan Dixon scored 16 points to help the Terrapins pull away in the second half to win the BB&T; Classic at Washington.

It was the sixth consecutive victory for Maryland (6-1), which used a 16-4 run to expand a two-point halftime lead to 52-38. Baxter and Tahj Holden each had six points in the run and Dixon contributed two baskets.

Caron Butler scored 20 points for the Huskies (3-1), now 10-10 under Coach Jim Calhoun against top five-ranked teams.

Baxter, the tournament most valuable player, went eight for 10 from the field and eight of 10 from the foul line.

No. 16. Alabama 74, Chattanooga 68--Rod Grizzard and Terrance Meade each scored 16 points as the Crimson Tide won at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Alabama (6-1), which set a school record with 35 three-point attempts--it made 13--used a 23-4 run to take a 61-44 lead with 11:05 remaining.

Chattanooga (2-5) came back with a 20-7 run capped by a three-pointer by Clyde McCully that made it 68-64 with 45 seconds remaining, but the Mocs got no closer. McCully led Chattanooga with 20 points and Neil Ashby had 13.

Maurice Williams had 13 points and 10 assists and Erwin Dudley had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Alabama.

In a women’s game:

No. 16 Colorado State 84, Nevada 57--Shannon Strecker and Angie Gorton each scored 14 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for the Rams (6-0) at Fort Collins, Colo. Strecker had eight rebounds and Gorton had five for the Rams, who had four of their five starters reach double figures in scoring.

Nevada is 3-3.