College Basketball Roundup : Louisville Loses Ellison, Then Drops Game to Ohio State, 85-79

Jay Burson is used to being overlooked, but sometimes he can be overpowering.

Burson, a 6-foot, 156-pound guard, scored 29 points Sunday at Louisville, Ky., to lead No. 17 Ohio State to an 85-79 upset of third-ranked Louisville.

“No one gave us a chance, but we had nothing to lose when we came in here,” Burson said. “They were No. 3 and looking at becoming No. 1. A lot of people forgot about us.”

Louisville played the second half without All-American center Pervis Ellison, who went down with a sprain of the medial collateral ligament of his left knee late in the first half. He scored only 6 points.

Dr. Rudy Ellis will determine the extent of Ellison’s injury today.

The Cardinals (14-3) were riding a 14-game winning streak and were set to become the top-ranked team in the nation after No. 1 Illinois and No. 2 Georgetown lost this week.

But Ohio State (15-4) had the shortest and best player on the court. Burson hit 12 of 20 shots and 5 of 6 free throws in addition to grabbing 7 rebounds.

Ohio State outrebounded Louisville, 43-30, with Perry Carter grabbing 10.

“I’ve seen that before,” Ohio State Coach Gary Williams said. “I don’t get spoiled or jaded. He’s gone from being a novelty because of his size to being a very good college guard.”

The victory was the 10th over a top 20 team in Williams’ 2 1/2 years at Ohio State.

“This is a good one,” he said. “We beat Iowa at Iowa 2 years ago when they were No. 1 when Dennis Hopson had 35 points. And we beat Kentucky in the NCAA tournament later that year. Last year we beat Purdue when they were something like second in the nation.

“But like I said before, this means a lot. I’m a (full-court) pressing coach and Denny Crum has been pressing for the last 17 years. When I was an assistant at Lafayette, I used to watch Coach Crum’s games and steal from him. And I will keep stealing from him.”

The Buckeyes trailed by 10 points early in the second half and still were behind, 64-59, when Perry Carter’s rebound basket with 8 minutes left ignited a 13-3 run that gave them the lead for good.

Burson, who had 17 points in the second half, hit a pair of running jumpers to give Ohio State a 70-67 lead with less than 4 minutes left. Eli Brewster added a basket and Louisville couldn’t recover.

Arizona 72, Stanford 52--Sean Elliott scored 31 points and the sixth-ranked Wildcats held Todd Lichti in check while trouncing the No. 19 Cardinal in a Pacific 10 Conference game at Tucson, Ariz.

Elliott’s performance gave him 2,218 points for his career, second in Pac-10 career scoring to UCLA’s Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), who finished with 2,325.

Arizona (15-2, 9-1) had a 31-21 halftime lead, but Elliott, who also had 9 rebounds, scored 18 points in the second half and the Wildcats pulled away.

Lichti, who came in averaging 20.4 points and 13 shot attempts, finished with 11 points on 2-of-5 shooting. Howard Wright scored 14 points for Stanford (15-5, 7-3).

Duke 92, Clemson 62--Robert Brickey and Quin Snyder scored 19 points each and the eighth-ranked Blue Devils broke a 3-game losing streak by routing the Tigers in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Durham, N.C.

Clemson (12-5, 3-3) was without 6 players, including leading scorer Elden Campbell, who were suspended one game for “violation of basketball team policy regarding academic study hall rules.” David Young had 19 points for Clemson.

Duke (14-3, 4-3) broke the game open with a 32-5 run that opened a 62-33 lead. All-American Danny Ferry, who missed the last game with back spasms, had 8 points to spark the surge and finished with 12 points.

North Carolina State 90, Maryland 67--Rodney Monroe and Brian Howard each scored 21 points and the No. 15 Wolfpack downed the Terrapins in an ACC game at College Park, Md.

Maryland (6-12, 0-6) scored the first 9 points of the game but couldn’t sustain the effort and lost its ninth straight game--second only to the Terrapins’ 21-game losing streak at the end of the 1940-41 season.

Tony Massenburg scored 19 points for Maryland and Chucky Brown added 18 points for N.C. State (14-2, 6-1), which turned the game around with a 28-9 run.

Michigan 99, Purdue 88--Glen Rice scored 20 of his 34 points in the first half and the 10th-ranked Wolverines got past the Boilermakers in a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

Rice made 7 of 8 shots in leading Michigan (16-4, 4-3) to a 48-33 halftime lead and the Wolverines went on to snap a 2-game losing streak.

Tony Jones had 17 points for Purdue (9-11, 2-5).

Notre Dame 64, Temple 60--Jamere Jackson hit three 3-point shots and scored 15 points as the Irish turned back the Owls at South Bend, Ind.

LaPhonso Ellis, whose 5 points were his lowest point total this season, hit 2 free throws with 20 seconds remaining to seal the win for Notre Dame (10-3).

Mike Vreeswyck scored 17 points and Mark Macon had 14 for Temple (9-7).