Tar Heels Win Game, Lose Another Starter

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The No. 1 basketball team in the nation is down to six scholarship players.

North Carolina dominated non-conference visitor North Carolina-Asheville Saturday at Chapel Hill, winning 95-77 despite losing starting swingman Dante Calabria to a sprained right ankle. X-rays disclosed no fracture, but the team said he’d be out indefinitely.

Calabria’s loss further trims the top-ranked Tar Heels’ bench already thinned by injury to Pat Sullivan and the transfers of Kenny Harris to Virginia Commonwealth and Larry Davis to South Carolina.

“We weren’t deep to start with,” North Carolina coach Dean Smith said. “We had seven players that were offered Division I scholarships available as of today, and now we’re down to six. That’s not a good situation approaching the Atlantic Coast Conference season.”

Rasheed Wallace had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Jerry Stackhouse had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Tar Heels. Guard Donald Williams added 19 points and point guard Jeff McInnis had 15 points and 10 assists.

(6) Kansas 93, Fort Hays St. 55

Seven-footer Greg Ostertag scored a career-high 23 points in his first start since a two-game benching as the Jayhawks dominated the NCAA Division II Tigers at Manhattan, Kan.

The Jayhawks (8-1) pounded the ball inside against the physically overmatched Tigers, and smothered them on the other end of the court, forcing them out of an offense that was averaging 102.8 points a game in Division II.

Kansas played with enthusiasm against an obviously inferior opponent, but still was troubled by turnovers that may cost the Jayhawks against a better team.

The Jayhawks, perhaps trying to do too much, made 21 turnovers in a game that was scheduled four years ago to fill a hole in their schedule and give Fort Hays State, a western Kansas school 14th-ranked in Division II at 7-2, a payday.

Dennis Edwards, averaging 32.8 points a game, was held to 14 for Fort Hays State.

Ostertag started with a vengeance. He slammed home a pass from Jerod Haase for the first points of the game, and then blocked shots on three straight Fort Hays State possessions.

Marquette 80, (19) Wisconsin 65

At Milwaukee, Tony Miller scored 18 points as Marquette defeated the Badgers, the 11th consecutive road defeat for Wisconsin.

Sophomore Rashard Griffith scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half as Wisconsin (6-3) tried to rally, but Marquette (8-1) maintained at least an eight-point advantage for most of the half.

Leading 32-24, Marquette opened the half with an 8-0 run, helped by a pair of 3-pointers by Miller. Marquette pushed the margin to 61-47 on another Miller 3-pointer with 6:14 left.

Roney Eford added 17 points for Marquette, which used a 10-0 run late in the second half to extend the lead to 72-51. Miller had two free throws during the run and set up a basket apiece by Anthony Pieper and Amal McCaskill.

(23) Nebraska 108, Appal. St. 71

Guards Erick Strickland and Jaron Boone triggered runs of 22-0 and 16-5 as the Huskers posted their 10th straight victory with a rout of the visiting Mountaineers at Lincoln.

Strickland, who missed a game Thursday with tonsillitis, returned to lead Nebraska with 21 points, including 18 in the first half.

Nebraska (11-1) led 25-21 after the Mountaineers’ Chad McClendon scored with 8:42 left in the half.

But Nebraska shut out Appalachian State for more than seven minutes with the 22-0 run to end the half. Strickland scored 7 points in the run and made 2 steals that turned into easy hoops. The Huskers led 47-21 at the end of the streak and 47-25 at halftime.

Appalachian State was in foul trouble early, sending Nebraska to the line for the 1-and-1 bonus just 4 minutes into the game. Nebraska sank 15 of 20 free throws in the half, led by Strickland’s 9-for-9 effort.

For the second straight game, Nebraska held its opponent to 29-percent shooting in the first half.