College Basketball Roundup : LSU Stuns Georgetown, 82-80, Before a Record 54,321

The largest, wildest Mardi Gras party in New Orleans Saturday was held in the Superdome.

Ricky Blanton scored during a scramble at the buzzer and Louisiana State stung second-ranked Georgetown, 82-80, before 54,321 fans, the largest crowd to watch a regular-season college basketball game.

“If you took our talent and matched it up against Georgetown’s, maybe we shouldn’t have even shown up for the game,� LSU Coach Dale Brown said.

The pregame ticket sale was 65,913, the largest for any college game. The actual attendance was second to the turnstile count of 57,607 for the 1987 Final Four, which was also played at the Superdome.

The loss probably prevented Georgetown (15-2) from moving up to No. 1. Earlier this week, Illinois, the current No. 1 team, lost to Minnesota.

Georgetown had tied it, 80-80, on a free throw by Charles Smith with 20 seconds left. Smith missed his first attempt and made the second.

But LSU (14-5) brought it down against the Hoyas’ press, and Chris Jackson passed to Russell Grant, who put up an air ball. The ball was loose under the basket, and Blanton grabbed it and made a layup as time expired.

LSU’s Jackson won a battle of outstanding freshmen, scoring 26 points. Georgetown freshman Alonzo Mourning had 9 points and 2 blocked shots.

Wayne Sims had 24 points for LSU, Blanton 14 and Vernel Singleton 11.

Smith led Georgetown in scoring with 32 points. Jaren Jackson, a New Orleans native, had 28.

Illinois 75, Indiana 65--Kenny Battle scored 22 points and led a second-half rally as the No. 1 Illini beat the No. 16 Hoosiers in a Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill.

Indiana (16-5 overall, 6-1 in conference play) led, 35-25, at halftime, but Battle scored 13 points during a 26-9 burst to start the second half. Battle put Illinois (18-1, 5-1) ahead to stay, 43-42, with a rebound basket with 13:15 left in the game, and the Illini made 7 of 8 free throws in the last 4 minutes.

Nick Anderson scored 21 points and Lowell Hamilton added 16 for Illinois. Jay Edwards led Indiana with 18 points and Joe Hillman had 17.

Kansas State 71, Kansas 70--Fred McCoy scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half and the Wildcats rallied from a 9-point deficit to beat the 18th-ranked Jayhawks at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas, 16-4 overall and 3-2 in the Big Eight, was favored to win and become only the third college program to win 1,400 games. The loss was the first at home for Kansas’ first-year coach, Roy Williams.

McCoy, a bulky 6-foot 7-inch senior, scored 5 straight points early in the second half to give Kansas State (12-5, 3-2) a 53-45 lead.

Baskets by Kevin Pritchard and Mike Maddox cut it to 4 points, but LaKeith Humphrey’s 2 free throws and Mark Dobbins’ follow-up shot put the Wildcats ahead by 8 again. The lead reached 65-55 when Humphrey made 2 free throws and then scored on a 12-footer.

Maddox made a 3-point shot to cut Kansas State’s lead to 67-62 with 55 seconds to play, and Milt Newton’s 3-pointer with 18 seconds left made it 69-65.

Steve Henson, who scored 18 points, made 2 free throws with 16 seconds left.

Scooter Barry made a 3-pointer to bring the Jayhawks to within 3 points. Kansas then forced a turnover under its basket, and Barry got a layup at the buzzer.

Syracuse 100, Providence 96--Sherman Douglas tied a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record with 22 assists and Stephen Thompson scored a career-high 29 points as the 14th-ranked Orangemen beat the 20th-ranked Friars at Syracuse.

Syracuse is 19-0 against Providence since the Big East conference was formed.

Billy Owens scored 19 points for Syracuse, including a 3-point play with 1:02 left for a 95-91 lead. The Orangemen are 17-4 and 3-4 in conference play. Providence is 15-3, 5-3.

Douglas’ assists matched the mark shared by Avery Johnson of Southern University and Tony Fairly of Baptist.

Mississippi 70, Kentucky 65--Gerald Glass scored 24 points as the Rebels defeated the Wildcats in Oxford, Miss., for their fourth straight Southeastern Conference victory.

Derrick Miller, who had 3 personal fouls in the opening 12 minutes, scored 21 points and Chris Mills had 16 for Kentucky (10-10, 5-3).

Mississippi (11-6, 5-3) took a 32-22 halftime lead and maintained an advantage throughout the second half.

Missouri 89, Nebraska 72--Reserves helped a second-half scoring spurt that turned a close game into the ninth straight victory for the fifth-ranked Tigers in a Big Eight Conference game at Lincoln, Neb.

Missouri led, 56-55, with about 12 minutes left but outscored the Cornhuskers, 33-11, over the next 11 minutes.

Byron Irvin scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half to help Missouri (18-3) remain unbeaten in the Big Eight at 4-0.

Missouri shot 69% from the field in the second half after making only 37% of its shots in the first half. The Tigers had only two second half turnovers.

Seton Hall 103, Boston College 79--John Morton scored 19 of his career-high 30 points in the first half as the ninth-ranked Pirates made 14 of their first 18 shots and defeated the Eagles at East Rutherford, N.J.

It was the fifth straight loss for Boston College (8-9 overall, 1-6 in the Big East) as Seton Hall (18-2, 5-2) came back from Wednesday night’s loss to Pittsburgh.

In the first half, Seton Hall made 18 of 26 shots, outrebounded the Eagles, 25-9, and held a 55-29 halftime lead.

The Eagles didn’t help themselves, either. They failed to score on their first five possessions and made 9 of 28 shots from the field in the first 20 minutes.

Boston College never got closer than 20 points in the second half.

North Carolina 92, Georgia Tech 85--Kevin Madden scored 16 points to lead six players in double figures as the seventh-ranked Tar Heels beat the Yellow Jackets in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

The victory was the fourth straight for North Carolina (18-3, 5-1). Scott Williams had 15 points, and J.R. Reid and Pete Chilcutt had 12 each. Jeff Lebo, returning to action after sitting out three games because of a sprained ankle, had 11 points and Steve Bucknall 10.

Georgia Tech’s Dennis Scott scored 29 points, including 9 3-point baskets.

Florida State 100, Virginia Tech 97--George McCloud scored 30 points and hit a 3-point jump shot with 19 seconds to play as the No. 11 Seminoles came from behind to defeat the Hokies in a Metro Conference game at Blacksburg, Va.

Virginia Tech led, 88-85, after George Caesar’s layup with 4:23 to play. But Florida State took over as Derrick Mitchell and McCloud made jumpers to take an 89-88 lead with 3:29 left.

The Hokies, led by Bimbo Coles with 32 points, tied the score three more times but never regained the lead.

Tony Dawson had 22 points for the Seminoles (16-1, 4-0).

Wally Lancaster of Virginia Tech was 4 of 15 on 3-point shots and extended his NCAA record to 63 consecutive games in which he has made at least 1 3-pointer.

Michigan State 73, Minnesota 64--Steve Smith and Kirk Manns scored 24 points each to lead the Spartans to the Big Ten victory at East Lansing, Mich.

The Golden Gophers, coming off a 69-62 upset of top-ranked Illinois Thursday, controlled the tempo early, disrupting a Michigan State offense that scored 106 points in a victory over Purdue Wednesday.

The Spartans (12-5, 3-4) were held scoreless for a 5:41 span early as Minnesota (11-6, 3-4) took a 10-4 lead. But Manns, who was coming off a 40-point performance against Purdue, made a 3-point shot to spark a 15-2 run that gave Michigan State a 26-14 lead with 4:29 left in the half.

Willie Burton scored 28 points to lead the Golden Gophers.

Virginia 88, Wake Forest 69--Richard Morgan scored 25 points and John Crotty 18 as the Cavaliers (11-6, 3-2) pulled away in the second half to beat the Demon Deacons in an ACC game at Charlottesville, Va.

Morgan scored 16 of his points in the second half, including 8 during a crucial run for Virginia, which has won four straight.

Virginia took a 37-30 halftime lead. The Cavaliers opened the second half with a 16-7 run, ending with Morgan’s jumper at 15:13 for a 53-37 Virginia lead. It was Morgan’s eighth point of the run.

Wake Forest (9-6, 2-6) never threatened after that.

Curtis Williams added a career-high 15 points off the bench for Virginia.

Freshman point guard Derrick McQueen led Wake Forest with 18 points.

The game marked the return of Virginia Coach Terry Holland, who underwent surgery for intestinal blockage Jan. 2.

California 80, Oregon 62--Leonard Taylor scored 18 points and Keith Smith added 16 to lead the Golden Bears to a Pacific 10 victory at home, and also gave Cal Coach Lou Campanelli his 300th career victory.

Ryan Drew’s dunk and Smith’s 3-pointer ignited a 9-2 Cal run early in the second half to give the Bears a 50-43 advantage, a lead they never relinquished.

Later in the half, Cal (14-6, 5-4) turned a 7-point lead into a 19-point advantage by holding Oregon to 1 field goal during a 9-minute stretch.

Frank Johnson, who had 12 points in the first half, finished with 14 to lead Oregon (7-11, 2-6) in scoring for the fifth straight game.

California’s Matt Beeuwsaert scored 12 points and Roy Fisher had 11 to give the Bears four players in double figures.