Backcourt Paces Umass Past Memphis

Top 25

With most of the attention rightly directed at center Marcus Camby, top-ranked Massachusetts won again because of its backcourt.

The Minutemen (11-0) beat No. 3 Memphis (8-1) 64-61 Thursday night in Worcester, Mass., and while Camby, the 6-foot-11 junior had 23 points and outplayed counterpart Lorenzen Wright, the guard tandem of Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padillla came up with the big plays down the stretch.

The Tigers (8-1), who trailed by 16 in the first half, took the lead at 48-46 on a 3-pointer by Rodney Newsom with 11:02 to play.

Donta Bright finished with 15 points and Travieso had 13 for Massachusetts, which has beaten six ranked teams already this season including then-No. 1 Kentucky. Padilla had seven assists, and he and Travieso were responsible for Johnson’s 5-for-18 effort from the field.

Wright had 17 points for the Tigers, who are 0-5 against No. 1 teams, while Johnson had 12 points and Chris Garner and Cedric Henderson had 10 each.

(4) Kansas 108, E.Tennessee St. 73

At Lawrence, Kan., freshman Paul Pierce scored 30 points and the Jayhawks (9-1) stifled the Buccaneers (3-5).

East Tennessee State shot just 22 percent in the first half to score just 25 points as Kansas took a 60-25 lead.

The Jayhawks blocked seven shots in the first half.

(16) North Carolina 96, N.C. State

At Chapel Hill, N.C., freshmen Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison had season scoring highs as the Tar Heels (10-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) survived without leading scorer Jeff McInnis to down the coldshooting Wolfpack (8-3, 0-1).

North Carolina didn’t have a very good offensive night early without its injured point guard, but the Tar Heels just let N.C. State shoot themselves out of it from 3-point range.

(18) Va.Tech 76, NC Charlotte 60

At Worcester, Mass., Ace Custis scored 15 points and Jim Jackson had all 14 of his in the second half as the Hokies (7-1) took advantage of the 49ers’ (5-4) poor shooting.

Virginia Tech used an 11-point run to take a 13-2 lead and stayed in front by 5 to 16 points the rest of the way for their fourth straight victory.

(25) New Mexico 61, Air Force 49

At Air Force Academy, Colo., Charles Smith scored 18 points to lead the Lobos (11-1, 1-1 Western Athletic Conference) to a win over the Falcons (4-7, 0-2).

New Mexico outshot Air Force 39 percent to 32 percent, a season low for the Falcons.