COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Massachusetts Defeats Temple

Harper Williams scored 20 points and took eight rebounds, leading 20th-ranked Massachusetts to a 69-61 victory over Temple in the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament Thursday at Amherst, Mass.

Massachusetts (23-6), which won the Atlantic 10 tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, took the lead for good with 12 minutes to play.

Jerome Malloy scored 17 points and Louis Roe had 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Minutemen.

Temple (17-12) was led by Rick Brunson and Aaron McKie, both of whom scored 16 points.

No. 15 Utah 85, San Diego State 64--The Utes won easily in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament at Salt Lake City, using mostly reserves during the last 13 minutes after building a 22-point lead.

Utah (23-5) was led by reserve Mark Rydalch, who scored 20 points. Phil Dixon scored 14 points and Josh Grant scored 13.

San Diego State (8-21) made only 31% of its shots.

No. 18 Purdue 57, Penn State 49--The Boilermakers, hoping to attract an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, rallied from a six-point deficit during the last seven minutes to win the Big Ten Conference game at West Lafayette, Ind.

After falling behind, 41-35, Purdue (18-8, 9-8) put together a 16-0 run to take control, getting eight points from reserve Linc Darner.

Glenn Robinson led the Boilermakers with 15 points.

John Amaechi led Penn State (7-19, 2-15) with 15 points.

No. 22 Xavier 60, Loyola (Ill.) 50--Brian Grant, the nation’s leader in field goal percentage, scored 20 points on eight-of-nine shooting to lift the Musketeers (22-4) in the quarterfinals of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament at Indianapolis.

Loyola (7-20) was led by Eric Dolezal, who equaled a career-high by scoring 24 points.

Grant, player of the year in the conference, entered the game shooting 67.3%.

No. 25 Brigham Young 85, Hawaii 71--Kevin Nixon scored 19 points and Gray Trost and Nick Sanderson each scored 17 to help the Cougars to a victory in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament at Salt Lake City.

Seeking a third consecutive title in the event, BYU (24-7) outrebounded Hawaii, 51-37.

Hawaii (12-16) was led by Fabio Ribeiro and Chris Walz, both of whom scored 16 points.

OTHER GAMES

Kevin Watkins scored 19 points to help Mississippi (10-17) to a 67-62 upset victory over Florida (16-11) in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Lexington, Ky. . . . Allan Houston scored 25 points to help Tennessee (13-16) to a 78-76 victory over Auburn (15-11) in the first round of the SEC tournament. . . . Coach Jody Wright of Miami of Ohio (20-7) tore a tendon in his right knee when he fell to the floor during his team’s 63-50 victory over Bowling Green (11-16) in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament at Columbus, Ohio.

DePaul (16-14) held on for a 66-64 victory over Alabama Birmingham (17-13) in the first round of the Great Midwest Conference tournament at Memphis, Tenn., when Clarence Thrash of Alabama Birmingham missed two free throws with 3.6 seconds to play. . . . Ike Williams scored 15 of his 17 points during the first half as New Mexico (22-6) built a big early lead and rolled to 72-48 victory over Fresno State (13-15) in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament at Salt Lake City.

Evers Burns scored 17 points for Maryland (12-15) during a 76-55 victory over North Carolina State (8-19) in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament at Charlotte, N.C. . . . Georgetown (16-11) limited Miami (10-17) to 29% shooting while romping to a 67-40 victory in the opening round of the Big East Conference tournament at New York. . . . Boston College (16-11) kept its hopes of attracting an NCAA tournament bid alive with a 74-70 overtime victory over Villanova (8-19) in the first round of the Big East tournament.