College Basketball Roundup : Sooners Barely Beat New Mexico

Stacey King’s 24 points and Mookie Blaylock’s steal in the final seconds enabled No. 6-ranked Oklahoma to survive a scare by New Mexico and emerge with a 100-96 victory Thursday night at Albuquerque, N.M.

The win, which was not certain until Blaylock hit a free throw after the steal with 5 seconds left, raised the Sooners’ record to 4-1.

New Mexico, off to its worst start since the scandal-marred 1979-80 season, is 2-4 under first-year Coach Dave Bliss, who succeeded Gary Colson.

But the Lobos, who last season handed then-No. 1 Arizona a 61-59 defeat in New Mexico’s Pit, gave the Sooners all they could handle.

Only King’s 20 second-half points and Blaylock’s play as the Lobos were headed for a potential tying 3-pointer averted the upset.

Rob Robbins scored 25 points to lead New Mexico, while freshman reserve Willie Banks scored 21.

Purdue 88, Connecticut 73--Steve Scheffler 21 points as the Boilermakers beat No. 18 Connecticut (3-1) at West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue (4-2) took control of the game with a 14-0 spurt midway through the first half.

Louisville 81, W. Kentucky 69--Tony Kimbro scored 7 points and LaBradford Smith added 6 in a 21-4 run late in the first half as the 15th-ranked Cardinals (3-2) beat Western Kentucky (4-2) at Bowling Green, Ky.

Kenny Payne led Louisville with 19 points.

Arizona St. 81, Texas Tech 75-- Alex Austin scored 19 points as the Sun Devils came from behind to beat the Red Raiders (1-4) at Lubbock, Tex.

Austin helped rally the Sun Devils from a 10-point deficit with 7 minutes left as ASU raised its record to 4-1.

LSU 91, McNeese State 89--Chris Jackson scored 23 points, including 7 free throws in the final 1:05 as LSU edged McNeese State at Baton Rouge, La.

LSU is 2-2 and McNeese 3-3.

Alabama 79, Virginia Tech 76--Michael Ansley hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Crimson Tide edged the Hokies at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Ansley, who led Alabama (4-1) with 28 points, scored after Virginia Tech’s Wally Lancaster hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 76-76 with 14 seconds remaining.

Bimbo Coles scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Hokies (3-1).

Utah 66, Weber State 63--Mitch Smith scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half as the Utes (2-5) came from behind to defeat the Wildcats (3-2) at Salt lake City.

Louisiana Tech 94, Oral Roberts 87--Randy White scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Louisiana Tech (5-1) beat Oral Roberts (2-4) in overtime at Tulsa, Okla.

USF 99, Cal State Chico 66--Scott McWhorter scored 20 points as the Dons (4-2) defeated Chico (2-4) at San Francisco to give Coach Jim Brovelli his 200th win.