COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Tar Heels Stay in Hot Race for ACC Title

Jerry Stackhouse scored 24 points and Donald Williams 21 as No. 2 North Carolina overcame Duke, 99-86, Saturday night at Chapel Hill, N.C., keeping alive its chances of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference title and extending one of college basketball’s most impressive streaks.

The Tar Heels, 22-4 and 12-4 in the ACC, still could finish in a four-way tie for the league championship with Maryland, Wake Forest and Virginia, if Virginia beats Maryland today. If Maryland wins, it wins the regular-season title.

The fifth consecutive victory over Duke assures the Tar Heels of finishing no worse than third in the league, making it 31 consecutive seasons of not finishing below third in one of the country’s toughest conferences.

Duke (12-17, 2-14) led, 62-53, with 12:51 to play before Williams and Stackhouse keyed a 20-2 run that gave the Tar Heels a 73-64 lead with 7:28 to play.

Trajan Langdon led Duke with 23 points.

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No. 4 Connecticut 75, Miami 67--The Huskies (23-3, 16-2) overcame the first-half ejection of Coach Jim Calhoun behind Kevin Ollie’s 16 points to beat the Hurricanes (15-11, 9-9) at Miami to win the Big East title.

Calhoun was tossed out after being whistled for two technical fouls when he argued a call.

The Huskies became the first team to win back-to-back Big East championships outright.

No. 5 Kentucky 127, Louisiana State 80--Tony Delk scored 27 points, and the Wildcats (22-4, 14-2) buried the Tigers (12-14, 6-10) with a season-high 20 baskets from three-point range in a Southeastern Conference rout at Lexington, Ky.

No. 7 Arkansas 68, Auburn 66--Corliss Williamson scored seven of his 26 points in slightly more than two minutes and Elmer Martin made three free throws in the final 20 seconds as the Razorbacks (25-5, 12-4) rallied from 15 points down to beat the Tigers (15-11, 7-9) at Fayetteville, Ark.

No. 9 Wake Forest 83, North Carolina State 68--Randolph Childress closed out his regular season with 21 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, leading the Demon Deacons (21-5, 12-4) to an ACC victory over the Wolfpack (12-14, 4-12) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Providence 71, No. 11 Villanova 70--In their last regular-season game, seniors Franklin Western scored 18 points and Eric Williams 17 as the Friars (15-11, 7-11) edged the Wildcats (22-7, 14-4) at Providence, R.I.

No. 12 Arizona 63, Washington 54--Damon Stoudamire scored 26 points and the Wildcats (23-6, 13-4) bounced back after letting a 20-point lead get away in the second half for a Pacific 10 victory over the Huskies (8-17, 4-12) at Seattle.

No. 14 Mississippi State 71, No. 21 Alabama 67--Darryl Wilson scored a career-high 35 points as the Bulldogs (20-6, 12-4) beat the Crimson Tide (20-8, 10-6) at Starkville, Miss., capturing a share of the SEC Western Division title and earning a bye in next week’s league tournament.

Washington State 84, No. 15 Arizona State 71--Donminic Ellison scored 19 of his career-high 30 points in the second half as the Cougars (15-10, 9-7) overcame an early deficit to defeat the Sun Devils (21-8, 11-6) in Pac-10 action at Pullman, Wash.

No. 17 Purdue 69, Illinois 56--Cuonzo Martin scored 29 points, including five three-pointers, and the Boilermakers (22-6, 13-3) took over first-place in the Big Ten with their 12th victory in 13 games by beating the Fighting Illini (17-11, 8-8) at Champaign, Ill.

Purdue moved a half-game ahead of Michigan State.

No. 19 Missouri 83, No. 16 Oklahoma 81--Paul O’Liney hit a leaning 15-foot jumper with 1.5 seconds left in overtime as the Tigers (19-7, 8-6) ended the Sooners’ run of four consecutive victories over ranked opponents and stopped their own four-game slide with a Big Eight victory at Columbia, Mo. Oklahoma fell to 22-7, 8-5.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma reserve Calvin Curry had to be restrained from attacking a Missouri heckler, who had loudly wished Curry would “blow his knee out.”

Oregon 89, No. 20 Stanford 80--Orlando Williams scored 25 points, including five of six free throws in the final 1:35, as the Ducks (18-7, 10-6) enhanced their chances for the first NCAA tournament appearance in 34 years by holding off the Cardinal (17-8, 8-8) in a Pac-10 game at Eugene, Ore.

No. 22 Syracuse 90, Boston College 62--Michael Lloyd scored 26 points to lead the Orangemen (19-8, 12-6) past the Eagles (8-18, 2-16) for only their third victory in nine games in Big East play at Syracuse, N.Y.

Wright State 71, No. 25 Xavier of Ohio 70--Delme Herriman took a full-court pass and hit a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give Wright State (12-16) an upset victory over the Musketeers (23-4) in the quarterfinals of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament at Dayton, Ohio.

OTHER GAMES

Senior Brent Barry scored a career-high 34 points to lead Oregon State (8-17, 5-11) to an 83-67 win over California (13-12, 5-11) in the final home game for retiring Beaver Coach Jim Anderson. . . . Voshon Lenard scored 30 points and Minnesota (18-9, 9-6) withstood the sharpshooting of Northwestern’s Dion Lee, who set a Big Ten record with 10 three-point baskets, for an 82-70 victory at Evanston, Ill. Lee had a career-high 32 points for Northwestern (5-21, 1-16). . . . William Floyd’s dunk in the final seconds earned North Carolina A&T; (15-14) a return trip to the NCAA tournament, as the Aggies scored the last five points for a 66-64 victory over top-seed Coppin State (20-9) in the Mid-Eastern Conference championship game at Baltimore.

Juan Bragg hit two crucial shots from outside in the final 1:34 as Texas Christian (16-10, 8-6) held off Texas Tech, 108-106, at Ft. Worth, denying the the Red Raiders (18-8, 11-3) the regular-season Southwest Conference title and dropping them into a first-place tie with Texas. . . . Brandon Cole and Tom Kleinschmidt, playing the last home game of their collegiate careers, had 32 and 24 points, respectively, in leading DePaul (17-9, 6-6) to a 103-78 victory over Dayton (7-19, 0-12) at Rosemont, Ill., keeping alive the Blue Demons’ NCAA tournament hopes.

Reggie Ingram scored a career-high 28 points as the Southern Utah (14-11, 5-0) routed Sacramento State (6-20, 2-4), 89-55, at Sacramento to remain unbeaten in the American West Conference.