Iona Upsets Tar Heels
Iona Coach Jeff Ruland had a chance to relive a great night from a long time ago. North Carolina Coach Matt Doherty had the worst night of a turnaround season.
Courtney Fields scored 18 points and Iona beat No. 22 North Carolina, 65-56, Friday night in the opening round of the Holiday Festival at New York, the Gaels’ first victory over a ranked team in almost 23 years.
The loss kept the Tar Heels from matching last season’s win total and Sean May, one of the freshmen who had helped the turnaround, will be out eight to 10 weeks after breaking his foot early in the second half.
The last time Iona beat a ranked team was also at Madison Square Garden, on Feb. 21, 1980, when center Ruland led the Gaels to a 77-60 victory over No. 2 Louisville.
“I don’t like to live in the past, but I showed them this ring,” Ruland said of a memento then-Iona coach Jim Valvano gave the players after that victory. “I told them eight guys from Long Island believed that night and beat Louisville. That we did whatever it took and that’s what they did tonight. Except for the birth of my three daughters, this is the proudest day of my life.”
Iona (5-3) ended a three-game losing streak by taking advantage of the Tar Heels (7-3) being short-handed and handling their run at the start of the second half.
The Gaels will play Manhattan, which beat St. John’s 72-65, for the title today in a rematch of last year’s championship game. Manhattan won the 2001 Festival, 69-58.
North Carolina, which had to bus from Chapel Hill to New York because of the winter storm that hit the East Coast on Christmas, was without starter Jawad Williams, who was at the hotel with a stomach virus, and sixth man Melvin Scott, suspended for the game for violating a team rule.
Then, less than 20 seconds into the second half, May injured his left foot and did not return.
Team physician Tim Taft said May, the son of former Indiana All-American Scott May, would undergo foot surgery Monday.
Arizona St. 79, Bucknell 52 -- Ike Diogu scored 16 points and Donnell Knight 15 as the Sun Devils (7-3) advanced to a championship matchup against Nebraska in its holiday tournament at Tempe, Ariz. Bucknell dropped to 4-5.
In women’s basketball:
No. 1 Duke 92, Detroit 52 -- The Blue Devils’ Alana Beard had 27 points and eight rebounds and Duke (11-0) forced 30 turnovers in the first round of the South Padre Island Shootout at Los Fresnos, Texas. Lindsey Pasquinzo’s 19 points led Detroit (2-7).
No. 6 Stanford 80, Arizona St. 63 -- Azella Perryman scored six of her career-high 23 points during the Cardinal’s 9-0 run to start the second half in a Pacific 10 opener at Palo Alto. Kelley Suminski scored 18 of her career-high 25 points in the first half for Stanford (7-1). Amy Denson scored 18 points for Arizona State (8-2). The loss ended a three-game win streak for the Sun Devils, who are 2-15 in conference openers.
No. 18 South Carolina 57, Temple 39 -- Jocelyn Penn scored 16 points and South Carolina (9-1) never trailed at Philadelphia in handing Temple (4-6) its fifth consecutive defeat, the longest in Dawn Staley’s three years as coach.
No. 21 Arizona 83, California 53 -- Dee-Dee Wheeler scored a career-high 29 points and Arizona (7-2) shot a school-record 64.3% in the Pac-10 opener at Berkeley. Leigh Gregory led Cal (3-5), which shot 31%.
Coach Joan Bonvincini missed her first game since taking over at Arizona in 1991. She remained with her family in Connecticut, where her brother died of cancer on Christmas Day. Bonvincini also will miss Sunday’s game against No. 6 Stanford. Associate head coach Denise Dove Ianello is running the team until Bonvincini returns.
Georgia Tech 65, No. 24 Georgia 61 -- Fallon Stokes scored 18 points and made a key play on defense at Atlanta to lead Georgia Tech (9-1) to the school’s first victory over Georgia (6-4).
Stokes was falling down when she created a turnover by batting away Kara Braxton’s pass after Georgia Tech took a 62-61 lead on a layup by Jessica Williams with 1:20 remaining. The teams were playing each other for the 25th time.