COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Beginning, End Give Vanderbilt a Victory

Vanderbilt ran away from Virginia, but couldn’t hide.

The Commodores, who had been beaten at Penn State by 22 points in their last game, rebounded with a strong first half Tuesday at Nashville.

They took an early double-figure lead, fueled by three-point shooting, stretched it to 18 points, then went cold.

Vanderbilt withstood a 22-7 second-half run by the 20th-ranked Cavaliers, using free-throw shooting ability at the end in a 70-65 upset victory that might help the young Commodores mature.

“We played a heck of a game together as a team,” said sophomore Frank Pride, who scored 14 points as a Vanderbilt reserve. “Virginia, a top-20 team, (us) coming off a 22-point blowout on the road. . . . I thought to me, myself, we had to grow up in a hurry.”

At one time, Vanderbilt (3-1) held a 40-22 lead, but it shot 26% in the second half and didn’t score from the floor in the final 12:29 in nearly blowing the advantage.

Virginia (3-2) whittled away at the lead, cutting it to 63-59 with 1:27 to go, but Vanderbilt made seven of 10 free throws in the final 1:14 to seal the victory.

No. 8 Arizona 96, Florida State 78--Damon Stoudamire scored 25 points and the Wildcats made 12 three-point shots in winning their home opener.

Arizona (4-1) got eight points from Reggie Geary in a 22-8 run in the first 6:47 of the second half to pull away.

Florida State (3-1) was led by Corey Louis with 17 points.

No. 3 Arkansas 121, Centenary 94--Clint McDaniel had two steals, five points and three assists in a 19-0 run by the Razorbacks (4-1) in the second half of a victory over the Gentlemen (1-4) at Fayetteville.

No. 9 Duke 103, George Washington 73--Cherokee Parks scored 19 of his career-high 29 points in the first half as the Blue Devils (4-1) put on a shooting clinic in Durham, N.C.

Duke made 11 of its first 13 shots and made the Colonials (5-2) the 91st consecutive non-ACC team to lose in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

No. 10 Connecticut 74, Boston College 70--The Huskies (4-0) escaped a huge scare when Doron Sheffer’s 15-footer with 34 seconds to play began a 6-2 game-ending spurt that secured the victory over Boston College (2-2) at Newton, Mass.

No. 14 Wisconsin 69, Valparaiso 51--Michael Finley scored 28 points at Madison, where the Badgers (4-0) broke open a close game with a 15-1 run against Valparaiso (1-3) in the final seven minutes.

No. 19 Syracuse 83, Miami 65--John Wallace had 23 points and Lawrence Moten 20 as the Orangemen won at Coral Gables, Fla., handing Miami (3-1) its 21st consecutive loss in the Big East Conference.

Moten’s three-point basket ignited a 17-9 run that gave Syracuse (4-1) a 59-44 lead.

Texas-El Paso 77, No. 22 New Mexico St., 68--Mark Ingles scored 18 points, including 15 from three-point range, to lead the Miners, who had lost to New Mexico State by six points on Saturday.

Six Miners finished in double digits as UTEP (2-1) dominated the Aggies from start to finish. New Mexico State (5-2) only led once, for about 24 seconds, in the first half.

OTHER GAMES

Jason Black scored 27 points at Kalamazoo as Western Michigan (2-2) was a 90-81 winner over Purdue (3-3) for its first victory over a Big Ten team in nine games, since 1986. . . . A Greg Jensen basket followed by his block and a Sande Golgart dunk led Colorado (4-0) to a 75-69 victory over Wyoming (1-2) at Laramie. . . . Freshman Pete Lisicky scored a game-high 17 points as Penn State (4-0) was an 86-55 winner over Maryland-Eastern Shore (1-3) at State College. Pa. . . . Ronnie Henderson scored 34 points and Randy Livingston 23 to lead Louisiana State (4-0) to a 113-78 victory over Troy State (0-5) in Baton Rouge, La. . . . Kyle Dixon scored 17 points as Gonzaga (5-0) came from behind in a 64-58 victory over Idaho (2-1) at Moscow, Idaho. . . . Tony Miller and Roney Eford scored 20 points each and Anthony Pieper added 19 to lead Marquette (5-0) to a 96-74 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson (2-2) at Milwaukee. . . . Dion Barnes scored 17 points as Oklahoma (4-0) eased to an 87-60 non-conference victory over Southern Methodist (1-3) at Dallas.