This Time, Duke Has Finishing Touch

It was almost enough to put some doubt in the minds of the Cameron Crazies.

Top-ranked Duke was down big--again--midway in the second half to No. 3 North Carolina, only this time it was at home and a loss would mean a season sweep for its archrival and sharing the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship.

Then came a closing run even more impressive than the one North Carolina made in its victory over Duke earlier in the month. The Blue Devils outscored the Tar Heels 30-11 in the final 11 1/2 minutes to wipe out a 17-point deficit and win, 77-75, Saturday at Durham, N.C.

“The last 11 1/2 minutes were the best, at least for us,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “All I did was ask our players to be themselves throughout the game. Our man-to-man defense was terrific.”

It had to be, because North Carolina, which won the first meeting, 97-73, by closing with a 24-4 run, was up 64-47 when Antawn Jamison scored down low with 11:41 to play. Those were the last of his 23 points, and the Tar Heels, 27-3 overall and 13-3 in the ACC, managed only two more field goals.

Duke (27-2, 15-1) scored on 10 of its last 12 possessions, getting the ball inside frequently to freshman Elton Brand. He didn’t play in the first game between the schools because of a broken foot.

“It was a helpless feeling watching that first game,” said Brand, who had 16 points--13 in the second half--and made six of seven shots. “I just wanted to let them know I was there. Maybe move them a step away offensively and intimidate them some defensively.”

Consecutive baskets by Brand cut North Carolina’s lead from double digits for only the second time in the second half at 68-59 with eight minutes left. William Avery, another member of Duke’s heralded freshman class, made a three-point basket to make it 70-66 with less than six minutes left.

Duke continued its near-perfect play as North Carolina struggled with an uncharacteristic five turnovers in the final five minutes, and the raucous sellout crowd of 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium became a factor.

Chris Carrawell scored in the lane with 2:02 left to pull Duke into a 75-75 tie. After a turnover, Roshown McLeod scored on a drive for Duke’s first lead of the game, 77-75 with 1:01 to play.

North Carolina had two chances to tie, but Ed Cota missed two free throws with 9.5 seconds left, and freshman Brendan Haywood did the same with 1.2 seconds to play. Both missed the second shot intentionally. The Tar Heels got the rebound the first time, but not the second.

The crowd poured onto the court at the final buzzer, engulfing the players from both teams to celebrate Duke’s second victory over North Carolina in the last 12 meetings. The Blue Devils also won their 12th ACC regular-season championship--and fifth of the 1990s--and set a record for conference victories in a season.

Jamison, who had 35 points in the first game, didn’t give Duke much credit for its comeback.

“The last five minutes we just gave it away,” he said. “We didn’t get the ball inside at all. It wasn’t their defense at all. We didn’t do a good job of offensive execution.”

Brand said the Blue Devils didn’t do anything special defensively to frustrate Jamison and the Tar Heels.

“Really, it was our will to win,” he said. “We just had to stop them.”

No. 5 Utah 65, No. 16 New Mexico 55--The Utes (25-2, 12-2) won the Western Athletic Conference’s Mountain Division championship at Salt Lake City and avenged a three-point loss in Albuquerque to the Lobos (21-6, 11-3) on Feb. 1.

Hanno Mottola was one of Utah’s four double-figure scorers, getting 18 points. New Mexico, which used only six players, also had four double-figure scorers, led by Lamont Long’s 15 points.

The Lobos have lost three in a row since guard Royce Olney, who made a game-winning three-point basket against the Utes, suffered a season-ending knee injury.

No. 6 Connecticut 87, St. John’s 58--Khalid El-Amin had 29 points at Storrs, Conn., as the Huskies (26-4, 16-3) gained the No. 1 seeding for the Big East tournament.

Connecticut finished the regular season with a five-game winning streak and convincingly avenged a 64-62 loss to St. John’s (21-8, 13-5) on Jan. 19. The Huskies had leads of 8-0, 12-1 and 28-11 in dominating the game’s first 14 minutes, during which the Red Storm made only two shots.

No. 7 Kentucky 69, No. 14 South Carolina 57--The Gamecocks (21-6, 11-5) had their home-court winning streak stopped at 22 games by the Wildcats (26-4, 14-2) in the Southeastern Conference game at Columbia, S.C.

Last season, South Carolina twice defeated Kentucky, and ended a 33-year Wildcat streak of winning their final regular-season home game.

Jeff Sheppard scored 24 points for Kentucky, which had already clinched the SEC East Division championship--its 39th regular-season title. South Carolina’s BJ McKie, the conference’s second-leading scorer, had 21 points.

No. 9 Princeton 72, Cornell 59--The Tigers (25-1, 13-0) made 10 of 20 three-point shots in extending their winning streak to 18 in the Ivy League game at Ithaca, N.Y.

Cornell (9-17, 6-8) made only two of 15 three-point shots.

Alabama 65, No. 12 Arkansas 63--The Crimson Tide (14-15, 6-10) won for the fourth time in five games since it was announced Coach David Hobbs would be replaced at the end of the season and prevented the Razorbacks (22-7, 11-5) from sharing the SEC West Division championship at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Brian Williams led Alabama with 20 points but missed the second of two free throws with 5.9 seconds left. Kareem Reid pushed the ball upcourt and missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

No. 13 Mississippi 74, Auburn 67--Ansu Sesay had 24 points--his 50th consecutive game in double figures--as the Rebels (21-5, 12-4) won their second consecutive SEC West championship and increased their home-court win streak to 20 at Oxford, Miss.

Five consecutive points by Sesay, the last two on free throws with 5:42 left, allowed Mississippi to overcome Auburn (15-12, 7-9) and take the lead for good at 57-56.

After the game, more than half of the crowd of 8,216 stayed at Tad Smith Coliseum to listen to a broadcast of Arkansas’ loss to Alabama, which gave Mississippi the division title outright. Last season, the Rebels won their first SEC title in 59 years.

No. 15 Texas Christian 86, Rice 73--The Horned Frogs (26-4, 14-0) won their 15th consecutive game at Houston and became the first WAC team to go undefeated in conference play.

Lee Nailon had 25 points for TCU, the champion of the WAC’s Pacific Division. Jarvis Kelley Sanni had a career-high 28 points for Rice (6-22, 3-11).

No. 17 Cincinnati 61, Saint Louis 58--D’Juan Baker scored on a 17-foot jumper with 17 seconds left for the decisive basket for the Bearcats, who overcame an 18-point deficit in the Conference USA game at Cincinnati.

Larry Hughes’ three-point shot went off the rim at the buzzer as Saint Louis (20-9, 11-5) lost to Cincinnati for the ninth consecutive time. The Bearcats will be the top-seeded team for the Conference USA tournament on their home court, where they are 16-1 and winners of 15 in a row.

Miami 70, No. 19 West Virginia 66--Kevin Norris scored seven points in the final 1:09 to lead the Hurricanes (18-8, 11-7) past the Mountaineers (22-7, 11-7) in the Big East game at Miami.

Norris, a senior playing in his final game at Miami Arena, was hoisted onto the shoulders of his teammates and carried off the court when the game ended. He had 13 points and eight assists.

No. 21 Michigan 76, Wisconsin 70--The Wolverines (21-8, 11-5 in the Big Ten) defeated the Badgers (11-18, 3-13) for the 15th consecutive time at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Robert Traylor scored 26 points for Michigan, which won despite being outshot (61% to 45%) and outrebounded (27-20). Wisconsin had 19 turnovers in losing its 11th consecutive conference game.

Maryland 83, No. 24 Temple 66--Senior forward Rodney Elliott had 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds for the Terrapins (18-9) in the nonconference game at the Baltimore Arena.

Laron Profit scored 21 points to surpass 1,000 for his career while Sarunas Jasikevicius had five of Maryland’s nine three-point baskets--a season-high against Temple’s matchup zone. The Owls (19-7) also gave up their second-highest point total of the season--18 above their average.

OTHER GAMES

Michael Redd became the first freshman to lead the Big Ten in scoring, but his career-high 32 points weren’t enough for Ohio State (8-21, 1-15) in an 89-85 loss to Penn State (15-11, 8-8) that was the last game at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio. During an emotional halftime ceremony, more than 100 Ohio State players from the arena’s 42 years were introduced to a capacity crowd of 13,276. Among those in attendance were Bill Hosket, Jimmy Jackson, Jim Cleamons and Larry Siegfried, along with Hall of Fame coach Fred Taylor. After the game, Gene Millard, who had scored the first basket at the arena, returned to the court to make the final one. After making the shot, and while the crowd roared, he put up another shot from behind the three-point arc--and made it. Ohio State had a 426-151 record at St. John, but finished with its longest losing streak (eight games) in the arena. Next season, the Buckeyes will play in the new $105-million Value City Arena. . . . Iowa (20-9, 9-7) earned a first-round bye for the Big Ten’s inaugural tournament with an 84-70 victory over Indiana (18-10, 9-7) at Iowa City. The Hawkeyes have defeated the Hoosiers four consecutive times.

Kevin Robinson made an off-balance shot with two seconds left as Radford (20-9) came back from a 17-point deficit in a 63-61 win over North Carolina Asheville (19-9) in the Big South championship game at Lynchburg, Va. Radford earned its first NCAA tournament berth with its 11th consecutive victory. . . . College of Charleston (24-5) gained its second consecutive NCAA tournament berth with a 72-63 victory over Florida International (21-8) in the Trans America Athletic Conference championship game in Charleston. S.C. Last year, Charleston upset Maryland in the first round, then lost to eventual national champion Arizona.