Tar Heels Tip Duke In Closing Seconds

Top 25

Dante Calabria’s tap-in with 6.5 seconds left helped North Carolina cap its second straight comeback from a double-digit deficit Wednesday night as the Tar Heels edged Duke 73-72 at Chapel Hill, N.C.

North Carolina, ranked No. 8, improved to 16-4 overall and 7-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Blue Devils dropped to 12-8, 3-5.

North Carolina’s victory overshadowed a 20-point night from Duke’s Ricky Price, who came into the game a 41.5 percent shooter averaging 12 points.

(3) Kansas 84, Oklahoma State 66 At Lawrence, Kan., Billy Thomas hit three 3-pointers during the Jayhawks’ take-charge run in the first half as Kansas (17-1, 5-0 Big Eight) whipped the Cowboys (10-7, 0-5).

Oklahoma State trailed 51-32 at halftime and continued its worst Big Eight start since the 1980 Cowboys were 0-6.

(4) Connecticut 77, Rutgers 59 At Piscataway, N.J., Ray Allen and Doron Sheffer each scored 25 points as the Huskies (20-1, 10-0 Big East) pulled away from the Scarlet Knights (5-12, 2-7) in the final 10 minutes.

Rutgers trailed 51-45 with 11:30 remaining, then missed four shots and committed a turnover before Allen followed his own miss to start Connecticut on a 19-4 run.

(5) Cincinnati 78, NC Charlotte 64 At Cincinnati, Danny Forston had 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Bearcats (15-1, 5-1 Conference USA) defeated the 49ers (10-8, 4-3).

Fortson scored 10 points in a 12-4 run that put the Bearcats in front 20-9.

(9) Georgetown 91, W. Virginia 67 At Landover, Md., Allen Iverson led four Hoyas (18-3, 8-2 Big East) in double figures with 18 points as Georgetown used a 31-10 second-half run to defeat the Mountaineers (8-10, 3-7).

At one point, West Virginia went nearly 6 minutes without a field goal, including a spurt in which the Hoyas scored seven points in 20 seconds.

Michigan St. 61, (10) Penn St. 58 At East Lansing, Mich., Quinton Brooks scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half as the Spartans (12-8, 6-2 Big Ten) downed the Nittany Lions (15-2, 6-2).

Penn State, whose last lead was 34-32 with 17:23 remaining, went almost 4 minutes without a basket early in the second half.

(12) Wake Forest 66, NC State 62 At Winston-Salem, N.C., Ricky Peral’s 3-pointer with 3:55 left helped give the Demon Deacons (14-3, 6-2 ACC) a win over the Wolfpack (12-8, 2-6).

Wake Forest led by 14 with 13:22 remaining, but an 18-4 run by N.C. State tied the score and then a 3-pointer by Curtis Marshall gave the Wolfpack a 60-59 lead with 4:25 left.

(13) Va. Tech 74, NC-Greens. 48 At Blacksburg, Va., the Hokies (15-2) scored 17 of the first 21 points and cruised to a win over the Spartans (13-5).

Ace Custis led Virginia Tech with 15 points and seven rebounds, and Shawn Good and Travis Jackson had 14 points each.

(15) Tex. Tech 78, Oral Roberts 74 At Tulsa, Okla., Koy Smith led a 3-point barrage midway through the second half that carried the Red Raiders (17-1) past the Golden Eagles (8-8).

(17) Purdue 80, (20) Michigan 59 At Ann Arbor, Mich., Chad Austin scored 16 of his 23 points in a dominating first half that helped carry the Boilermakers (16-4, 6-2 Big Ten) over the Wolverines (15-6, 4-4).

Vanderbilt 76, (22) Auburn 62 At Nashville, Tenn., Drew Maddux led a balanced scoring attack with 19 points to help the Commodores (14-7, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) upset the Tigers (15-5, 3-4).

Ohio Univ. 82, (23) E. Michigan 73 At Athens, Ohio, Geno Ford scored 28 points, including 17 in the second half, as the Bobcats (11-10 overall, 5-4 Mid-American Conference) snapped the Eagles’ (15-2, 8-1) eight-game winning streak.