Wake Forest upends North Carolina
Eric Williams spoiled Roy Williams's ACC coaching debut, hitting a jumper in the lane with 36 seconds left in the third overtime to lift No. 14 Wake Forest to a 119-114 victory over fourth-ranked North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. yesterday.
In the Tar Heels' first three-overtime game since Williams was an assistant for Dean Smith in November 1982, the teams provided a thrilling start to the conference season.
Wake Forest's depth proved to be key after Sean May fouled out with 3:41 to play in the third overtime. With May out, the 6-foot-9-inch Williams had his way inside.
Williams scored 24 points and Justin Gray added 20 for the Demon Deacons (7-0), who earned their first road win against a top-10 team in six years.
Rashad McCants scored 25 points and Raymond Felton added 22 for the Tar Heels (6-1), who have lost five straight games in the series. Connecticut 104, Iona 54 -- Junior guard Ben Gordon recorded his first triple-double with 16 rebounds, 11 assists, both career highs, and 17 points, to lead the No. 1 Huskies (8-1) over visiting Iona. Kentucky 80, Indiana 41 -- The No. 2 Wildcats held the host Hoosiers to their lowest point total in nearly 20 years. Chuck Hayes scored 22 points and Erik Daniels added 19 for the Wildcats (6-0).Duke 89, Texas 61 -- J.J. Redick had 20 points to lead six players in double figures and the No. 3 Blue Devils (8-1) beat the No. 11 Longhorns before a pro-Duke sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden. Kansas 72, UC Santa Barbara 52 -- Keith Langford scored 19 points and Wayne Simien had 15 points and 16 rebounds to help the No. 6 Jayhawks beat UC Santa Barbara in the Wolf Pack Holiday Classic in Reno, Nev. Freshman J.R. Giddens added 15 points, and Aaron Miles scored all 13 of his points in the second half for Kansas (6-1). Oklahoma 68, Jackson State 46 -- Freshman Drew Lavender scored 23 points and had five assists to lead the No. 8 Sooners (8-0) to a methodical win over visiting Jackson State.Cincinnati 89, Middle Tenn. St. 54 -- Tony Bobbitt made all six of his shots for 15 points, and the No. 16 host Bearcats (6-0) used their trapping defense to beat Middle Tennessee State. Purdue 80, Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne 69 -- Matt Kiefer scored a career-high 23 points in a reserve role to lead the No. 17 Boilermakers (8-1) in the first round of the Boilermaker Invitational.Pittsburgh 70, Murray State 49 -- Levon Kendall, barely used in Pitt's first nine games, led a decisive first-half surge that carried the No. 18 host Panthers (10-0) past Murray State (8-1). Syracuse 74, Siena 61 -- Hakim Warrick had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Craig Forth added a career-high 14 points to lead the No. 19 host Orangemen (5-1) to their fifth straight victory.Louisville 80, Austin Peay 63 -- In Louisville, Francisco Garcia scored 21 and Luke Whitehead added 17 points and seven rebounds to lead the No. 20 Cardinals (5-1) to their fifth straight win.Wisconsin 63, Marquette 59 -- Alando Tucker scored 17 points, including a free throw with 7 seconds remaining, as the No. 22 Badgers (7-1) topped the visiting No. 23 Golden Eagles (7-2).Merrimack 70, AIC 56 -- Craig Griffin scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the host Warriors (4-3, 2-3 Northeast-10).Maine 69, Morgan St. 63 -- Maine's starting backcourt of Eric Dobson and Kevin Reed combined for 38 points and the Black Bears (5-2) held off a late second-half charge by the visiting Tigers.Bryant 109, Dowling 52 -- Romuald Augustin and Jason Noel of Berlin each scored 19 points to lead the host Bulldogs (7-1) in the team's largest margin of victory since the 1974-75 season.So. New Hampshire 94, Newbury 62 -- Senior center Athanasios Souflias made 7 of 9 shots, scored a career-high 18 points, and grabbed 8 rebounds to lead the host Penmen (6-0).
