Finch Will No Longer Do in Pinch for Memphis

Larry Finch led Memphis to the NCAA championship game as a player in 1973 and to appearances in the tournament’s round of 16 as a coach in 1992 and 1995, but Thursday it was a matter of what-have-you-done-for-us-lately.

After the Tigers defeated Southern Mississippi, 68-54, in a Conference USA game at the Memphis Pyramid, Finch announced he would resign at the end of the season.

Memphis President V. Lane Rawlins and athletic director R.C. Johnson announced the buyout of the last three years of Finch’s contract, worth about $500,000 according to his lawyer Ted Hansom.

Finch, 45, is the school’s winningest coach with a 215-124 record in 11 seasons.

He has drawn criticism the past year about the team’s performance--heightened by Memphis’ stunning first-round NCAA tournament loss to Drexel last March--and his ability as a recruiter. This season’s team has been viewed as a disappointment with an 11-8 record, 5-3 in conference.

Attendance has also been low for home games. There were 7,057 fans for the Southern Mississippi game at the Pyramid, which seats 20,000.

Finch, who took over an NCAA violation-ravaged program from Dana Kirk in 1985, has led Memphis to six NCAA tournament berths. A star guard for the Tigers in the 1970s, he is the school’s third-leading scorer with 1,869 points.

No. 4 Utah 74, Texas El Paso 51--Forward Keith Van Horn, scoreless after sitting out most the first half with foul trouble, had 11 points during a 15-2 second-half run that broke open the Western Athletic Conference game for the Utes (15-2, 7-0) at El Paso.

Texas El Paso is 8-9 and 2-6.

No. 7 Clemson 70, Georgia Tech 57--Guards Terrell McIntyre and Merl Code combined for 25 of their 31 points in the second half as the Tigers (17-3, 6-2) pulled away from the Yellow Jackets (8-10, 2-6) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Clemson, S.C.

No. 9 Louisville 81, No. 8 Cincinnati 70--The Cardinals (18-2, 5-1) made 34 of 45 free throws in the Conference USA game at Louisville, Ky. Guard Eric Johnson, a sophomore from Cincinnati, had 10 points of his 15 points during a 20-5 second-half run that put Louisville in command.

Cincinnati (14-4, 3-1) had a season-high 34 fouls and 22 turnovers that Louisville converted into 18 points.

No. 21 Tulsa 69, Southern Methodist 49--Reserve guard Adrian Crawford made all five of his shots in the second half and had a career-high 14 points to help the Golden Hurricane (16-5, 6-1) bounce back from Monday’s 26-point loss to Utah in a WAC game at Tulsa, Okla.

Tulsa missed 18 of 28 shots in the first half but SMU (12-6, 4-4) struggled even more with its shooting the second half (four of 22) and finished at 29%.

Guard Shea Seals had 14 points to go over the 2,000 mark.

No. 24 Marquette 71, South Florida 36--The Golden Eagles (14-3, 5-1) held the Bulls (6-12, 0-7) to school-record lows for points and field-goal percentage (21.8%) in the Conference USA game at Tampa, Fla.

PACIFIC 10

No. 10 Arizona 87, Washington State 78--At Pullman, Wash., forward Michael Dickerson had 28 points as the Wildcats (13-4, 6-2) moved into a tie with UCLA for the conference lead and defeated the Cougars (10-9, 2-6) for the 23rd consecutive time.

Dickerson, who entered the game averaging 21 points, made 11 of 20 shots. Guard Isaac Fontaine, the leading scorer for Washington Stateat 21 points a game, had 32 points--making nine of 13 shots and 12 of 13 free throws.

Washington 72, Arizona State 61--The Huskies (11-5, 4-4) led the Sun Devils (10-10, 2-6) by as many as 30 points and overcame 31 turnovers at Seattle.

Forward Mark Sanford led Washington with 25 points. Guard Jeremy Veal scored 25 of his career-high 30 points in the second half for Arizona State.