Big Apple NIT Roundup : Xavier Upsets Fourth-Ranked Louisville, 85-83

Tyrone Hill hit a short bank shot with two seconds left in the game Friday night as Xavier (Ohio) scored the first upset of the college basketball season with an 85-83 win over Louisville in the first round of the Big Apple NIT at Cincinnati.

Louisville was rated No. 4 in the Associated Press preseason rankings.

North Carolina (No. 6) routed Tennessee Chattanooga, 111-84; Syracuse (No. 8) turned back LaSalle, 92-76; Missouri (No. 14) beat Southwest Missouri State, 73-54, and Stanford (No. 20) defeated Montana, 79-63.

Also, Indiana routed Illinois State, 83-48; Georgia beat Arkansas State, 76-61, and Wyoming edged Southern Methodist, 70-65.

Xavier was led by guard Stan Kimbrough with a career-high 35 points. Center Pervis Ellison led Louisville with 18.

“We were not as good as we were ranked,” Louisville Coach Denny Crum said. “And we also knew we would have trouble with a team with guards as good as theirs. We knew they were very quick, quicker than us at guard. We made far too many turnovers to win.”

North Carolina was led by Kevin Madden with 31 points and Rick Fox with 25, both career highs. Jeff Lebo had 17 assists, breaking Phil Ford’s school record of 14.

Leading Syracuse were Sherman Douglas with 30 points and Stephen Thompson with 24.

Stanford got 22 points from Todd Lichti and 20 from Howard Wright.

In quarterfinal games Sunday, it will be North Carolina vs. Georgia, Syracuse vs. Wyoming, Indiana vs. Stanford and Xavier (Ohio) vs. Missouri.

The tournament then moves to Madison Square Garden for semifinals Wednesday night and the final Friday night.