Bingo Is a Winner for TCU

Bingo Merriex, a starter only because of a teammate’s injury, scored 22 points as Texas Christian University defeated No. 20-ranked Fresno State, 102-88, on Thursday night at Fort Worth, Texas.

During a game-deciding 15-0 run midway through the second half, Merriex had two three-point baskets and a high-flying dunk during a 15-0 run midway through the second half that gave TCU, 17-8 overall and 6-5 in the Western Athletic Conference, an 80-58 lead.

Merriex, a sophomore starting his second game for injured forward Myron Anthony, made nine of 14 field goals and had nine rebounds.

Fresno State (20-4, 9-2) had a season-worst 30 turnovers. Point guard Tito Maddox had the same number of turnovers and points--10.

TCU, the nation’s top scoring team at 94.1 points a game, scored more than 100 for the 11th time. Fresno State came in allowing an average of 69.5 points a game.

OTHER GAMES

In a matchup of teams with coaches that have two of the four longest tenures in Division I, Georgia State (22-4, 13-2 in the Trans America Athletic Conference) was a 90-82 winner over Jacksonville (17-8, 10-6) at Atlanta. Georgia State’s Lefty Driesell is in his 38th season, having also coached at Davidson, Maryland and James Madison, while Jacksonville’s Hugh Durham is in his 32nd season, having also coached at Florida State and Georgia. Driesell has a 755-376 record, Durham is 572-371. Jim Phelan, who has the most seasons (46) among active Division I coaches, increased his career record to 816-481 as Mount St. Mary’s (7-18, 7-0 in the Northeast Conference) was a 69-67 winner over Monmouth (16-8, 13-4) at Emmitsburg, Md. Lou Henson, who has the third-most seasons among Division I coaches (38), increased his record to 737-377 as New Mexico State (11-14, 7-6 in the Sun Belt Conference) was a 92-71 winner over Arkansas State (15-10, 9-4) at Las Cruces, N.M.

Pittsburgh (13-11, 5-8 in the Big East) held Seton Hall (12-10, 3-8) to one field goal over the final 15 minutes in a 68-61 victory at East Rutherford, N.J. It was the fifth consecutive loss for Seton Hall, which made the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 last season but is in danger of not getting a berth in the Big East tournament. . . . Hofstra (21-4, 14-2 in the America East Conference) extended the nation’s second-longest win streak to 13 as Norman Richardson scored a career-high 34 points to lead an 89-83 victory over Maine (16-8, 14-2) at Orono, Maine. No. 1 North Carolina has the nation’s longest win streak at 18. . . . Kenny Satterfield made a falling-down jumper with 0.9 seconds left to give Cincinnati (17-7, 7-4 in Conference USA) a 66-65 victory at Memphis (15-10, 8-3). . . . Brigham Young (18-7, 7-3) made 21 of 22 free throws in the second half of a 79-63 victory over Wyoming (16-6, 7-3) at Provo, Utah, that created a three-way tie for first place in the Mountain West Conference that includes Utah (15-9, 7-3).