Clemson Savors Win Over North Carolina

Clemson had not defeated a top-ranked team in 21 years, and Coach Larry Shyatt wanted the Tigers to enjoy the moment in the closing seconds of their 75-65 victory over No. 1 North Carolina on Sunday at Clemson, S.C.

So he called timeout with 4.4 seconds left.

“Why not enjoy it for 30 or 60 seconds,” said Shyatt, who said his players had spent the past few days angry at themselves for their recent poor play.

The Tigers’ only other win over a top-ranked team was 87-82 in overtime over Duke at home on Jan. 9, 1980.

Clemson’s chance for an upset appeared dim when Will Solomon, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s leading scorer, was called for his fourth foul with 12:56 left. Clemson was leading, 47-45, but Solomon had been responsible of 13 of the previous 17 points.

Solomon’s teammates responded with a 12-4 run as the Tigers ended the Tar Heels’ winning streak at 18 games.

The Tar Heels, 21-3 overall and 11-1 in the ACC, were within 64-62 with 2:32 left, but a reverse layup by Chris Hobbs and a three-point basket by Tony Stockman with 44.9 seconds left gave Clemson (11-14, 2-10) a 69-62 lead.

No. 3 Duke 91, St. John’s 59--The Blue Devils bounced back from their third loss of the season with some impressive defense before a crowd of 19,580 at Madison Square Garden.

On Wednesday night, Duke (23-3) lost, 91-89, to No. 12 Virginia. As in their other losses--to No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Stanford--the Blue Devils gave up more than 84 points.

St. John’s (13-11), which has lost five of seven, had little chance of getting anywhere near that many points.

Jason Williams had 26 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Duke, while Shane Battier had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots.

No. 5 Michigan State 94, No. 25 Iowa 70--The Spartans (20-3, 9-3 in the Big Ten) extended the nation’s longest home winning streak to 42 games and won 20 games for a fourth consecutive season for the first time in school history.

Michigan State started fast in each half in coasting past the Hawkeyes (17-7, 6-6). The Spartans led 13-2 to start the game and scored 18 of first 25 points of the second half.

No. 11 Florida 88, No. 15 Tennessee 82--Brett Nelson scored 25 points and Teddy Dupay had 22 to help the Gators (18-5, 8-4 in the Southeastern Conference) win at Knoxville’s Thompson-Boling Arena for the first time since 1997.

Florida has won three in a row and seven of its last eight, including an 81-67 win over Tennessee (18-8, 5-7) on Jan. 30.

Seton Hall 74, No. 14 Notre Dame 64--The Pirates (13-10, 4-8 in the Big East) held the Irish (9-3, 17-6) to a season-low 32% shooting, including only two of 23 three-point attempts.

The victory was only the second in nine games for the Pirates, who ended a losing streak at five games and won a Big East game on the road for the first time this season.

No. 19 Wisconsin 59, Northwestern 37--The Wildcats (9-17, 1-12 in Big Ten) went more than 14 minutes between their first and second baskets at Madison, Wis. In all, they shot 20.8%, a season low, including four of their first 37 attempts.

Wisconsin (16-7, 7-5) built a 30-16 lead. The Badgers then went on a 16-2 run at the start of the second half as Northwestern made only one of18 shots.

OTHER GAMES

St. Joseph’s extended its winning streak to seven games with an 88-78 victory over Fordham at Philadelphia. The Hawks (21-4, 11-1 in the Atlantic 10) have won 15 of their last 16 and are off to their best start since 1985-86. The Rams (12-12, 4-8) have lost six of their last seven. . . . Scott Knapp made a three-point basket with 1:12 left to help Siena defeat Iona, 91-79, in a Metro Atlantic Conference game at New Rochelle, N.Y. The Saints (18-9, 11-5) have won four in a row and 10 of 12. The Gaels are 19-8 and 12-4. . . . Kansas State (9-12, 3-9 in Big 12) was a 73-54 winner over Texas Tech (8-14, 2-9) at Manhattan, Kan., to end a losing streak at seven games.