Men’s basketball: Memphis avoids upset with OT win
Derrick Rose made three free throws in overtime and No. 2 Memphis beat No. 24 Southern California 62-58 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
The Tigers (7-0) managed to win despite playing a game more toward the pace USC wanted. Neither side wanted the poor shooting or turnovers that plagued both teams throughout.
Robert Dozier had 13 points for Memphis, Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 10 and Rose added nine points and 10 rebounds.
O.J. Mayo had 16 points and fellow freshman Davon Jefferson added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Trojans (6-3), who lost to No. 3 Kansas 59-55 during the weekend.
The game was billed as a matchup of star freshmen, Rose for Memphis and Mayo for Southern Cal, but both struggled. Rose was 3 of 9 from the field and had five turnovers.
Mayo was 6 of 20 from the field – including missing seven straight shots the last 14 minutes of regulation and the first 4:45 of overtime.
(1) North Carolina 106, Penn 71: At Philadelphia, Tyler Hansbrough scored 29 points, Danny Green had 19 and the top-ranked Tar Heels easily held off the overmatched Quakers (2-7).
North Carolina, coming off an 86-77 win over Kentucky, is 8-0 for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
Tyler Bernardini led Penn with a career-high 26 points and Brian Grandieri had 17.
The Tar Heels led 50-37 at the break.
(9) Michigan State 66, Bradley 61: At Peoria, Ill., Drew Neitzel heated up just in time to help the Spartans avoid a costly upset.
Neitzel’s clutch 3-pointer started an important run and Raymar Morgan scored 15 to help the ninth-ranked Spartans (7-1) rally for a victory over the Braves (6-3).
Michigan State trailed by nine in the second half but Neitzel came through in the latter stages after struggling for most of the game.
His 3 with just less than 5 minutes left cut it to 51-50 and started a 7-0 surge that put the Spartans ahead for good at 54-51.
(10) Tennessee 76, Chattanooga 70: At Chattanooga, Tenn., Chris Lofton had 16 points, JaJuan Smith added 13 and the Volunteers survived a scare to beat the Mocs (4-4).
Playing their first true road game of the season, the Vols (8-1) shot a season-low 36 percent from the field. Tennessee’s only other games outside Knoxville were at neutral sites against Texas and West Virginia.
Chattanooga muscled its way past the Vols for much of the game, but a season-high 34 turnovers cost the Mocs a chance to score their second consecutive upset over Tennessee.
They defeated the Vols in the last meeting between the schools in 2004.
Chattanooga dropped to 3-39 against ranked opponents.
UW’s Oliver transfers
Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said sophomore guard Adrian Oliver is transferring because he wants to be closer to home. He’s from California.
Oliver was part of a heralded recruiting class at Washington that included Spencer Hawes, Phil Nelson and Quincy Pondexter. Only Pondexter remains; Hawes left early for the NBA and Nelson transferred to Portland State in April.