HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Pete Mickeal made three free throws in the final two minutes - the only Cincinnati points in that span - as the No. 3 Bearcats beat Southern Mississippi 54-52 Saturday.
Mickeal's personal winning streak reached 87 games as the Bearcats (4-0 Conference USA, 15-0 overall) remained one of only three unbeaten Division I teams along with Auburn and Connecticut.
Southern Miss (2-2, 10-6) used a 14-2 run to go ahead 51-50 when Neil Reed made a short jumper that went in despite a goaltending call with 2:54 left.
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| AP PHOTO Kentucky used 14 3-point bombs to ice Vanderbilt in Nashville and go 3-0 in Southeastern Conference play. The Wildcats had been shooting only 29 percent from 3-point range before Saturday. |
Cincinnati led 50-43 after Aaron McGhee's jumper with 5:03 left. But the Bearcats, who shot 54 percent in the first half to build a 14-point lead, didn't make another field goal after that.
But Southern Miss managed only one more free throw by Reed after his go-ahead shot.
No. 5 Maryland 94, North Carolina State 48
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Steve Francis and No. 5 Maryland bounced back from two straight lackluster performances in a big way yesterday.
Francis made all nine of his shots from the field and scored 22 points as the Terrapins registered the most lopsided Atlantic Coast Conference victory in school history, 94-48 over North Carolina State.
Laron Profit scored 17 for Maryland (3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference, 15-2), which was coming off an 18-point home loss to Duke and a narrow win at Virginia. The 46-point margin surpassed a 40-point rout of ACC foe Clemson in 1953.
Francis, who missed 11 of 14 shots against Duke and scored only 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting against Virginia, was perfect against the Wolfpack - he made both his 3-point tries and was 2-for-2 at the line.
Keith Bean scored nine for N.C. State (1-3, 10-5), which does not have a senior on the squad. The Wolfpack played without leading scorer Adam Harrington, who was sidelined with a sprained ankle.
Maryland has won 10 straight home games against N.C. State, the Terrapins' longest streak against an ACC team in school history.
No. 6 Kentucky 73, Vanderbilt 57
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Sixth-ranked Kentucky finally looked like the Wildcats of old in routing Vanderbilt 73-57 Saturday night.
The Wildcats (3-0 Southeastern Conference, 14-3) came in as the SEC's worst 3-point shooters, averaging 29 percent. But Kentucky had its best game this season from 3-point range, hitting 58 percent (14-of-24).
Vanderbilt (1-2, 10-5), which hasn't beaten Kentucky in 11 tries under coach Jan van Breda Kolff, tried to match the 3-point age.
The Commodores shot better from beyond the arc (40 percent) than inside (36 percent), but it just wasn't enough.
Scott Padgett scored 12 points, on four 3s, to lead the Wildcats, and Ryan Hogan came off the bench and added 10.
Kentucky also held Vandy's leading scorer Dan Langhi to just five points. He had been averaging 16.9 points a game. Michael LeBlanc and Sam Howard each had 11 to lead Vandy.
No. 8 Arizona 88, Washington 86
TUCSON, Ariz. - Jason Terry threw up an off-balance air ball but teammate Richard Jefferson caught it and tossed it in at the buzzer Saturday to give eighth-ranked Arizona an 88-86 victory over Washington.
Terry, who led the Wildcats (3-1 Pac-10, 11-1 overall) with a career-high 30 points, couldn't get an open shot against Washington's Donald Watts at the finish and his desperate 18-footer was far short of the rim.
Jefferson was there to grab the ball, though, and scored from point-blank range as the game ended for Arizona's 24th consecutive homecourt victory.
A.J. Bramlett added 16 points, while Jefferson and Michael Wright scored 13 apiece for Arizona. Ruben Douglas added 11 points. Jefferson, Wright and Douglas all are freshmen.
Washington, considered a contender for the Pac-10 championship before the season began, fell to 0-3 in the conference, 7-6 overall.
01-11-99
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