Utah State Clinches Tie for Big West Title

No. 23 Utah State clinched a share of the Big West Conference regular-season title with a 64-60 victory over Idaho on Friday at Moscow, Idaho.

The Aggies (25-2, 17-1) will win the title if Pacific loses tonight at home against UC Riverside. A Pacific victory will result in co-champions, with a coin flip deciding the top seeding for the conference tournament. Pacific and Utah State split during the season, each winning at home.

Utah State led, 60-45, with 3:36 left, but the Vandals (13-15, 9-9) scored the next 13 points to move to within two, 60-58. But Chris Huber and Spencer Nelson each made two free throws in the final 32 seconds to seal the victory.

OTHER GAMES

Pennsylvania defeated Dartmouth, 81-59, at Hanover, N.H., to keep alive its hopes of a share of the Ivy League title. The Quakers (16-9, 9-3) are two games behind Princeton, which beat Harvard, 60-51, at Boston to clinch a share of the title. The conference winner gets the automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers (18-7, 11-1) can clinch it tonight against Dartmouth (3-24, 1-12).

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Southern Mississippi Coach James Green resigned Friday, ending a contentious eighth season for the 2001 Conference USA coach of the year. The Golden Eagles had two consecutive losing seasons are 13-13 overall and 6-9 in the conference this season. Green will not coach the final regular-season game today against East Carolina. Assistant Jeff Norwood was named interim coach.... Oklahoma center Jabahri Brown, facing marijuana charges, will sit out the rest of the season.