Stoudamire Will Play for Arizona

Salim Stoudamire will be back in the lineup for No. 17 Arizona today when the Wildcats try to stop a two-game skid in Tucson against Washington State.

Coach Lute Olson said Friday that he had lifted Stoudamire’s suspension after one game.

“The reason he will play is I thought we got a very positive reaction out of him,” Olson said after meeting with Stoudamire.

“He was great on the bench. He was great in the locker room. He was totally supportive and also accepted without question what his penalty was.”

Olson announced before Thursday night’s game against Washington that Stoudamire, a sometimes moody junior whose attitude often has landed him in the coach’s doghouse, had been suspended indefinitely “for failure to meet team responsibilities.”

Stoudamire, who leads the Wildcats in scoring at 16.8 points a game, was on the bench in street clothes cheering on the Wildcats in their 89-84 loss to the Huskies, a game that moved Washington ahead of Arizona into second place in the Pacific-10 Conference.

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Southern Methodist fired coach Mike Dement after nine seasons without an appearance in the NCAA tournament.

The Mustangs, coming off an 89-50 loss to Boise State on Thursday night, are 4-11 in the Western Athletic Conference and 10-15 overall. His overall record was 138-120.

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Keydren Clark, the nation’s leading scorer at 26.9 points a game, scored 29 points, but it didn’t prevent St. Peter’s (15-11, 11-6) from losing, 91-79, to Iona (9-17, 7-10) in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at New Rochelle, N.Y. All eight of the 5-foot-9 sophomore’s baskets were from three-point range.

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TOP 25 WOMEN’S GAMES

No. 3 Duke 102, Clemson 45 -- The Blue Devils (23-3, 14-1) handed the Tigers (17-9, 7-8) their worst loss ever in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Durham, N.C. The Tigers’ previous biggest loss was 112-58 at Old Dominion on Nov. 30, 1979.

No. 17 Houston 76, No. 13 Texas Christian 71 -- Chandi Jones made four free throws in the final 24 seconds to help the Cougars (24-3, 13-1) upset the Horned Frogs (22-5, 11-3) at Houston and win the Conference USA regular-season championship.