College Top 25 Basketball Capsules: Cal gears up for trip to New York

BERKELEY, Calif. — Many of Mike Montgomery’s players have never been to New York City, let alone played in Madison Square Garden.

"The mecca," guard Patrick Christopher said.

Montgomery knows the 13th-ranked Golden Bears have a great opportunity to make a splash on the national scene come Thursday night, when they face Syracuse at the Garden in the 2K Sports Classic. If Cal wins, next up will be either North Carolina or Ohio State on Friday.

"I don’t think any of us are going to be as good as we are going to be later on, a month or two from now," Montgomery said of the field. "It’s early in the season, but I don’t know if we played anybody of this quality in back-to-back games in the preseason last year. There’s a lot of real pluses with this game. I think for us, the ability to compete with these people 3,000 miles from home is going to be important."

The Bears (2-0) should know a lot more about themselves after this trip East. They are picked to win the Pac-10 this season in Montgomery’s second year and have quite a preseason schedule. Cal has a date at No. 1 Kansas on Dec. 22.

But first things first. The Bears will have to contend with Syracuse’s stingy zone defense and big, physical players at every position.

"Any time you get to play in an exempt tournament like this, you’re going to run into some pretty good people," Montgomery said. "Our preseason schedule is very difficult. Hopefully it will make us stronger. Hopefully we’ll learn we’re capable of playing at this level."

Montgomery has been impressed with his team’s "spirited" practices leading up to the cross-country trek.

"We kind of want to be a little more amped up than calm and on our heels," said Christopher, one of three players averaging 15 or more points. "We want to be fired up."

There’s plenty of reason for positive energy.

Last season in his first year in Berkeley, Montgomery took Cal from ninth place in the Pac-10 to the NCAA tournament. The Bears know they won’t be sneaking up on teams anymore, and Christopher, Jerome Randle and Theo Robertson will have to be more creative to get their points.

The Bears won 22 games last season and placed third in the conference, five spots above where they were picked to finish.

This season, winning these early games could do a lot for an NCAA seeding come March.

"You can’t ask for a better preseason schedule than we have," said Markuri Sanders-Frison, Cal’s 6-foot-8 junior transfer from South Plains College in Texas. "We’re just ready to roll the ball out and get started."

Montgomery has been busy preparing his team for an Orange defense that will trap all over the court for 40 minutes and make it tough to get open looks.

"It’s what they do for a steady diet," Montgomery said.

On Nov. 9, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim became the eighth Division I coach to reach 800 victories when his team beat Albany 75-43 in its first game of the 2K Classic. The Orange are 2-0 after routing Robert Morris 100-60 last Wednesday.

"That’s a lot of wins," said Montgomery, who is friends with Boeheim. "He’s done a great job in that setting. In that environment, he doesn’t have to leave home very often. He doesn’t have to because he has that big arena."

Speaking of big arenas, Montgomery has lots of memories of Madison Square Garden — most notably the elephants kept in the back when the circus was in town and the stinky freight elevator. Montgomery spent two seasons coaching the NBA’s Golden State Warriors before coming back to the college game.

"They are excited about it, as they should be," he said of his players. "It’s an interesting place. It’s all the things that you’ve read and heard about."

Tuesday’s Games

No. 2 Michigan State rallies to beat Gonzaga 75-71

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Durrell Summers hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:02 left, made two at the line with 5.7 seconds to go and finished with 21 points to help No. 2 Michigan State rally for a 75-71 win over Gonzaga on Tuesday night.

The Spartans (2-0) won their 41st straight game at home against a nonconference team, extending a streak that started after a lost to Duke on Dec. 3, 2003.

Robert Sacre matched a career high with 17 points for the Bulldogs (1-1) despite foul trouble. Gonzaga freshman Elias Harris scored 17, Matt Bouldin had 15 points and Steven Gray added 13.

Kalin Lucas made a layup with 39 seconds left to give Michigan State a three-point lead and finished with 19 points. Raymar Morgan scored 16 off the bench.

Michigan State scored first, then was out played by Gonzaga for much of the game.

The Bulldogs led by 13 midway through the first half and were ahead 35-30 at halftime.

They built another double-digit lead early in the second half, but were hurt by the 7-foot Sacre getting called for a third foul and 7-5 reserve Will Foster getting a fourth foul shortly after halftime.

Michigan State freshman Derrick Nix made a putback with 11:52 left in the game to put the home team ahead for the first time since the opening minute.

The Bulldogs, though, refused to wilt in the raucous Breslin Center despite having one of their youngest teams since becoming one of college basketball’s stronger programs.

Sacre made a shot midway through the second half to put Gonzaga ahead by seven and a fadeaway with 4:42 to go for a 65-61 lead.

The Spartans made enough shots and stops in the final minutes in a game that will get them ready to play Florida, North Carolina and Texas before Big Ten play.

Gonzaga, hoping to reload instead of rebuild, also faces a tough schedule with games against Wake Forest, Arizona or Wisconsin, Duke, Oklahoma and 23rd-ranked Illinois before starting its West Coast Conference slate.

-- Larry Lage

Smith helps No. 9 Duke rout Charlotte, 101-59

DURHAM, N.C. — Mike Krzyzewski settled in at the podium between his two veteran guards, gesturing first toward Nolan Smith and then toward Jon Scheyer.

"I know these guys are happy to be together again," Coach K said.

Especially when things click like this.

Smith scored a career-high 24 points in his return to the lineup, Scheyer added 20 and the ninth-ranked Blue Devils routed Charlotte 101-59 on Tuesday night in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Kyle Singler finished with 17 points for the Blue Devils (3-0) — who never trailed, hit 12 3-pointers and shot 52.9 percent in advancing to next week’s semifinal matchup at Madison Square Garden against the TCU-Arizona State winner.

Duke went up by double figures to stay before Charlotte hit its first field goal, and its top three scorers combined for 61 points — two more than the entire 49ers’ roster.

"Those three guys on the perimeter don’t need a bucket to get them going — they are ready to go, and they’re really good basketball players," Krzyzewski said. "The three of them, 61 points, that’s a pretty good night."

Shamari Spears had 20 points to lead the overmatched 49ers (2-1). Sloppy play and 33.9 percent shooting kept them from their first 3-0 start since 1995 and denied them a second straight victory against a ranked opponent dating to last season’s win against then-No. 17 Xavier. They had 17 turnovers — 12 in the first half, when this one was decided.

Charlotte was expected to provide some measure of resistance for the Blue Devils, who were short-handed during their first two games due to forward Mason Plumlee’s broken left wrist and Smith’s two-game suspension yet routed North Carolina-Greensboro and Coastal Carolina by an average of nearly 30 points.

But with Smith back in the lineup after sitting out for playing in an unsanctioned summer league, Duke had little trouble claiming its NCAA-record 71st straight nonconference victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium and 31st consecutive home win against an unranked opponent. The Blue Devils, three-time champions of the preseason NIT, improved to 20-2 in the event.

"(Smith) changes the dynamic of their team," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "They weren’t pushing the ball nearly as much (without him). We knew they would, and had we had days of preparation, we probably would have slowed the game down, but we’re not built that way. ... We wanted to pick our spots, but they almost wouldn’t allow that to happen."

If Smith wasn’t determined to make up for lost time, it sure seemed that way. He reeled off eight quick points in just more than 3 minutes, surpassed his previous best — a 21-point outing at Wake Forest two seasons ago as a freshman — roughly 8 minutes into the second half and finished 9 for 15.

"When I’m in the game, the coaches want us to look to push tempo and be aggressive, getting into the paint and making plays for myself and for others," Smith said. "That’s what I went out there and did."

Meanwhile, Charlotte’s offense at times resembled a one-man show. Spears, a transfer from Boston College who was no stranger to the Cameron Crazies, had his second straight 20-point performance as a 49er. But none of his teammates had more than six points — a big reason why Charlotte was denied its first victory against a top 10 team since 2004.

Miles Plumlee added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Brian Zoubek added 13 boards for the Blue Devils, who made the first half look like one 20-minute-long burst of dominance.

They went up 14-2 before the 49ers’ first basket — Rashad Coleman hit a layup roughly 3½ minutes in — as part of the 20-6 burst they used to begin the game. By the midpoint of the half, they were up by 20 on Scheyer’s 3-pointer in transition, and pushed the lead to 30 on Singler’s finger-roll with 3½ minutes before the break.

The only negative in the first half for Duke would wind up being wiped out by a scoring change: Scheyer originally was charged with his only turnover of the season in 103 minutes. After a postgame review, that giveaway instead went to Smith.

"They really imposed their will on us tonight from the start," Lutz said.

-- Joedy McCreary

Tennessee routs UNC-Asheville 124-49

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Volunteers made Bruce Pearl’s 100th win as Volunteers coach one for the record books.

The Vols set a school record for points in a game in a 124-49 victory over North Carolina-Asheville on Tuesday night while holding the Bulldogs to only two field goals in the first half.

"I like the chemistry. I like the way they’re sharing the ball. I like the fact that they’re able to see what they’re capable of doing if they apply themselves," Pearl said.

Tennessee’s 34 assists also set a school record and its 16 3-pointers tied another. The 124 points broke Tennessee’s previous single-game record of 121 points, last achieved by the Vols in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA tournament against Long Beach State.

Pearl is the second-fastest Vols coach to reach the century mark, having coached in 137 games. It took John Mauer 131 games in the late 1930s and early ‘40s to earn 100 wins.

The Vols (2-0) had their way with a Bulldogs team picked to finish second in the Big South Conference, hitting 64.9 percent of their shots from the field in the first half.

Scotty Hopson outscored UNC-Asheville (0-2) at halftime and was two points shy of tying his previous career high of 21. He broke the mark with a 3-pointer at the 18:18 mark in the second half and finished 6 of 7 from behind the arc.

"I think now guys know when to be in a position to shoot it, and of course I know. Whenever Bobby (Maze), J.P. (Prince), Tyler (Smith) create a drive, draw, dish opportunity, I’m going to be ready to knock it down for them."

UNC-Asheville didn’t score a field goal until Terrence Turner hit a layup with 3:10 to go in the first half and only had two in 26 attempts by halftime for a mere 7.7 percent shooting.

J.P. Primm led UNC-Asheville with 13 points.

"At the beginning of the game we did not do a darn thing," Bulldogs coach Eddie Biedenbach said. "I am embarrassed for UNC-Asheville, for Tennessee folks, because we wanted to come in here and make them learn, make them a better basketball team. All we did tonight was give them some exercise."

Tennessee used its full-court pressure defense to force 29 turnovers, scoring 49 points off them.

Maze added 14 points for the Vols, Cameron Tatum had 13 and Wayne Chism, Melvin Goins and Renaldo Woolridge each scored 11.

Tennessee has won all seven games in the series with UNC-Asheville and won the previous six games by an average of 17 points. All games have been played in Knoxville.

In the Vols’ 87-69 win over the Bulldogs a season ago, Tyler Smith logged the school’s first triple-double in history. That game was also Pearl’s 400th career victory.

Tennessee travels to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, this week for the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, where it will open against East Carolina on Friday.

Pearl knows not to expect his Vols to continue holding their opponents to under 35 percent shooting while they’re there.

"(It’s) unrealistic to think we can continue that. We just want to try to build on it," he said.

-- Beth Rucker

Monroe’s layup gives No. 19 Georgetown 46-45 win

WASHINGTON — Whether the games were ugly or pretty, Georgetown found all sorts of ways to lose the close ones last season — enough to sink the Hoyas down to the NIT.

This year’s home opener on Tuesday afternoon was as unwatchable as could be. Georgetown had more fouls (18) and turnovers (16) than made baskets (15), yet the No. 19 Hoyas escaped with a 46-45 win over Temple when Greg Monroe scored the winning basket with 6.5 seconds to play.

"The growth of this team, I think we’re definitely not going to lose these games this year," said Monroe, who drove around Lavoy Allen for the decisive layup. "I think everybody’s really focused, and everybody understands what they need to do personally and what we need to do as a team to win games like this."

Chris Wright scored 15 points, and Monroe had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Hoyas (2-0), who blew a 12-point second-half lead, shot 36 percent from the field and 3 for 18 from 3-point range.

Allen had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Owls (1-1), who recovered from an abysmal first half and almost pulled off the upset. Temple was left to rue a 6-for-13 performance from the free throw line, and Ramone Moore’s miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 with a one-point lead and 23 seconds to play gave Monroe and the Hoyas the chance to win it.

"We had a great opportunity to win the game; we just didn’t close it out," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "We shot poorly down the stretch at the foul line, and we weren’t able to get a shot off on that last possession."

After Monroe scored, the Owls had their own final chance to regain the lead, but Luis Guzman was tied up for a jump ball while driving to the basket with 1.3 seconds remaining.

"The momentum was all with them," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "And for us to be able to maintain our poise, our composure, and whether it was ugly or not, to make the plays, get the rebounds at both ends of the floor to win the game, that was good. It was ugly — don’t get me wrong. They do a good job of making the game ugly."

The loss ended Tempe’s streak of 68 straight wins when holding opponents to under 50 points, but for a while it seemed neither team would score as much as 30. This was the 4 p.m. game in ESPN’s 24-hour Tip-Off Marathon, but it was more suited for the 6 a.m., should’ve-stayed-in-bed snoozer.

The halftime score was 19-13, with Georgetown leading by default. Here are more ugly facts from one of the worst halves of basketball ever seen at the Verizon Center:

—There were more combined fouls (14) and turnovers (13) than made baskets (12).

—Both teams shot 1 for 10 from 3-point range.

—Ryan Brooks, who scored 23 points in Temple’s season-opening win over Delaware, was 0 for 6 with two turnovers. He finished the game 2 for 14. Monroe, the Big East rookie of the year last season, was 1 for 5 with three turnovers in the half.

—Temple shot 19 percent (5 for 26), Georgetown a relatively robust 30 percent (7 for 23). During one painful stretch, the teams combined to miss 11 straight shots.

The Hoyas appeared to get their act together at the start of the second half, opening with an 8-2 run, but Allen and Moore started playing as if they were ready to lead the Owls to a third straight Atlantic 10 title. A 24-6 run gave Temple a six-point lead, but Monroe converted a pair of three-point plays in a 9-0 spurt that put Georgetown back in front.

Craig Williams’ 3-pointer tied the score at 42 with 4:53 to play. The Hoyas didn’t lead again until Monroe’s game-winner.

The final score brought back memories of low-scoring Ivy League games when Thompson was at Princeton and Dunphy was at Pennsylvania, a point made to Thompson by one of the assistant coaches after the game ended.

But Thompson’s Princeton teams made 46-point games look much more elegant.

"It’s like Princeton because I was sitting on one bench, and Fran was sitting on the other bench," Thompson said. "Every other way, it’s not like Penn and Princeton."

-- Joseph White 

Delk spurs Louisville past Arkansas 96-66

ST. LOUIS — Rick Pitino easily got the best of another matchup against a former player. Then again, John Pelphrey was at a decided disadvantage.

Reginald Delk scored 20 points in a reserve role to double his previous career high and sparked key surges in both halves, helping No. 20 Louisville open with a 96-66 victory over depleted Arkansas in the Hall of Fame Showcase on Tuesday night.

"We had more numbers, we had fresher bodies," Pitino said. "I’m real proud of John Pelphrey, he’s just undermanned right now."

Jared Swopshire added 10 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double and Pitino won in his 750th career game. Pelphrey played for Pitino at Kentucky from 1989-92, but is severely short-handed in his third season at Arkansas after suspending five players indefinitely — including three who were identified but not charged in a rape complaint.

"I’m not really worried about whether we were worn down or not," Pelphrey said. "This is what it is right now. We’re not making any excuses."

Rotnei Clarke had 16 points for Arkansas (1-1), four days after scoring an SEC-record 51 points with 13 3-pointers in the opener against Alcorn State. Marshawn Powell had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Razorbacks, who have just six scholarship players.

"I felt like they had a pretty good game plan," Clarke said. "I didn’t have a lot of looks."

Pitino said controlling Clarke was a crucial element of the plan, saying "We made up our mind we were going to yell out Clarke’s name on every pass."

Pelphrey expected the attention after Clarke’s big opener.

"I was actually surprised I didn’t see a couple of players at the airport waiting for him," Pelphrey joked. "I knew they were going to try to limit him as much as possible."

Delk scored 20 points in 22 minutes. He totaled 44 points in 28 games last season, his first at Louisville after transferring from Mississippi State, with a high of 10 points against DePaul. He had a pair of 3-pointers in the final 4½ minutes of the first half as the Cardinals outscored Arkansas 20-5 and seemingly took control with a 48-31 cushion.

Arkansas scored 14 straight points to open the second half while Louisville was 0 for 6, cutting the deficit to 48-45. The Cardinals answered with 10 straight points, seven from Delk, and pulled away from there.

"We weren’t panicking," Swopshire said. "We were just waiting for that run."

Louisville has big hopes for Delk, a fifth-year senior. But he was a reserve in the opener because he’s struggled in practice.

"I hit a couple of jump shots and my confidence got up," Delk said. "I showed people I can still shoot. I hope they’ll be counting on me."

Louisville was 15 for 38 from 3-point range — three off last season’s best for 3-pointers made — behind Delk (4 for 5), Preston Knowles (3 for 5) and Jerry Smith (4 for 10). Samardo Samuels added 17 points for the Cardinals, who have won six straight openers and 15 of 17.

Pitino is 25-7 against former players who are head coaches. He said it’s mostly because most of the games have been at home.

"They’re all very kind to me when they become head coaches and I give them an extra $20,000 guarantee and play them at home," Pitino said. "If we played them neutral I’d have a losing record."

-- R.B. Fallstrom

Flames no match for No. 22 Clemson, 79-39

LYNCHBURG, Va. — David Potter felt good from the start, early wakeup call included, and his career-best performance helped No. 22 Clemson roll over Liberty 79-39 Tuesday.

"My shot just felt good, even in warmups," the senior said after scoring 17 points and hitting five 3-pointers. "It just felt good from the beginning, so I was just shooting."

The Tigers hit 10 3s in all, most on wide open looks, and buried the Flames from the opening tip at 10 a.m. They led 17-1 before Liberty got its first field goal, and 42-19 at halftime, giving them more points than their smothering defense allowed in 40 minutes.

Potter needed only eight minutes to match his career high of 12 points. He made four 3-pointers, and later added another 3-pointer and a layup.

"He’s one of the guys that we’re looking to and he certainly delivered," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said of the senior, whose other 12-point game came in his freshman debut.

The Tigers (2-0), who needed to rally late last year to beat the Flames at Clemson, had no such issues this time. They led by 30 points or more for the last 16 minutes.

Liberty (1-2), which got 24 points from freshman sensation Seth Curry in the 80-75 loss at Littlejohn Coliseum last season, could have used him again in the rematch. Curry, however, transferred to Duke after the season, seeking a higher level of competition.

Clemson, a rival of the Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference, showed what he will face. The victory was the 28th in a row in November for the Tigers under Purnell, a streak dating to his second season in 2004, and Tigers made it happen with their tight defense.

"The rebounding was the difference, their defense was the difference, their outside shooting was the difference," Flames coach Dale Layer said. "Any of those things would probably have been good enough on their own, but throw it all together, it’s an onslaught."

Trevor Booker was the only other Clemson player in double figures with 12 points and 12 rebounds, but 14 Tigers played and starting center Jerai Grant was the only one not to score.

Jesse Sanders led the Flames with seven points but also had nine of their 28 turnovers. Kyle Ohman, the Flames top scorer with a 19-point average, had just 4 on 1-for-9 shooting.

"I missed a few layups, I missed a wide open three," Ohman said. "Every shooter ha a bad night, well, bad morning this morning. I guess it just happened to hit me today."

Sanders felt he was due a big share of the blame for being sloppy, but said the key for the Flames will be seeing how they respond. They play Old Dominion and at Notre Dame next.

"Now we really get to see what we’re made of, who we are," he said. "We’ll see tomorrow in practice who’s ready to work because everybody’s bottom of the barrel right now.

"We got beat by 40 on national television with our families, all our friends watching, our whole school out there supporting us, and we just got stomped."

And it surely wasn’t just the point guard.

Harassed by Clemson’s defense and full court pressure, Liberty missed its first nine shots from the field and never got into it. They finished shooting just 30 percent overall.

The point total was the second-lowest for Liberty in the Vines Center. The Flames scored just 38 in a loss to the College of Charleston in 1991.

The game started at 10:05 a.m., and students who attended and stayed until the end were given a stamped card on the way out that excused their absence from morning classes.

The school said 5,380 of about 7,000 students on campus attended the game.

-- Hank Kurz Jr.

No. 23 Illinois beats Northern Illinois 80-61

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Brandon Paul scored all 20 of his points in the first half, leading No. 23 Illinois to a 80-61 victory over Northern Illinois on Tuesday night.

Paul, a freshman guard, had 14 of Illinois’ first 21 points. He finished 6 of 16 from the field, including 4 of 8 from beyond the arc.

Paul’s outside shooting opened the lane for 7-foot-1 center Mike Tisdale and 6-9 forward Mike Davis. The two big men combined to shoot 7 of 15 with Davis and Tisdale scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively. Davis added a career-high 17 rebounds for his 11th career double-double.

Foul trouble by Demetri McCamey forced Illinois head coach Bruce Weber to give freshmen Paul and D.J. Richardson more minutes, though turnovers were a problem. The Illini gave the ball away 14 times while recording only 15 assists. The Illini turnovers resulted in 17 Huskie points.

Richardson and Paul struggled handling the ball at times, but the team made up for it on the defensive end. Illinois had 10 blocks while holding the Huskies to 36.8 percent shooting, including 26.3 percent from behind the 3-point line.

Illinois shot 43.5 percent from the field. McCamey had eight assists.

Northern Illinois gave Illinois (2-0) a scare at the end of the half, going on a 14-3 run to close the gap to 49-41 on a half-court buzzer beater by the Huskies’ Byran Hall.

After cutting Illinois’ lead to three on a layup by Najul Ervin with 18:30 left in the game, a dunk by McCamey off a steal and an assist from Richardson extended the lead to five. A jumper by forward Dominique Keller and a Davis layup extended the Illini’s lead to nine.

The Huskies didn’t let up, trimming the Illini’s lead to seven points with 12:27 remaining in the game but were unable to get any closer after Keller’s dunk followed by McCamey’s steal and layup put Illinois ahead by 11 and effectively shut the door on a Huskies comeback attempt.

Ervin and Tony Nixon led the Huskies (0-2) in scoring with 10 points each.

No. 25 Maryland breezes past Fairfield 71-42

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Eric Hayes scored 14 points, and No. 25 Maryland celebrated its return to the AP poll with a 71-42 victory over Fairfield on Tuesday night.

Landon Milbourne had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Sean Mosley scored 13 for the Terrapins (2-0). After opening the season with an 89-51 rout of Charleston Southern, Maryland resurfaced in the Top 25 this week for the first time since the end of the 2006-07 season.

The Terrapins took control against Fairfield (2-1) with a 15-0 run in the first half, then pulled away with a 14-4 spurt immediately after halftime.

Greivis Vasquez scored seven points on 3-for-11 shooting and led the Terrapins with six assists. The senior guard was 1 for 9 before hitting a 3-pointer from the left side to put Maryland ahead 41-26 with 14:12 left. As soon as the ball dropped through the net, he turned his head toward the crowd and flashed a "check-that-out" look.

Freshman Derek Needham scored 15 for Fairfield (2-1). The Stags trailed by only eight points at halftime, but fell hopelessly behind after making only one basket in the opening 7½ minutes of the second half.

Milbourne made two straight field goals immediately after intermission, then added a tip-in following a Fairfield basket. Minutes later, Maryland freshman James Padgett followed his own miss to launch an 8-0 spree that put the Terps up by 18.

Hayes scored 10 points, and the Terrapins held Fairfield scoreless for a stretch of nearly eight minutes in going up 30-22 at halftime.

Maryland missed 11 of its first 14 shots while falling behind 12-7. Fairfield then wilted under the Terrapins’ pressure defense, and Hayes peeled off seven straight points to cap a 15-point run that put Maryland in front for good.

After scoring seven points in the opening seven minutes, Needham did not score the rest of the half. He also had four of the Stags’ 13 turnovers.

-- David Ginsburg

Women

Lavender leads No. 3 Ohio State past UAB

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Preseason All-American Jantel Lavender and No. 3 Ohio State wore down Alabama-Birmingham.

Lavender scored 21 of her 30 points in the first half and the Buckeyes beat UAB 88-55 on Tuesday night.

"Once I realized and heard how hard the other post players were breathing I was like, ‘You’ve got to dig deep and run extremely hard every time because they were pretty winded,"’ she said.

Lavender came close to outscoring the Blazers in the first half when she hit 10 of 11 field goals en route to a 43-24 advantage for the Buckeyes. She made both of her shots in the second half and added five free throws before leaving the game with 10½ minutes remaining and Ohio State comfortably ahead.

"She’s just a phenomenal player," UAB coach Audra Smith said. "I’ve got some injuries with some of those big kids and they haven’t had the opportunity to really get in and condition as well as the guards. One of the things that hurt us was we weren’t able to keep up with her in transition."

Brittany Johnson had 15 points and Samantha Prahalis added 13 for the Buckeyes (3-0).

Tamika Dukes led the Blazers (1-1) with 20 points and Amber Jones scored 11.

UAB was within 19-17 before the Buckeyes gradually pulled away, helped by hitting nine straight field goals in the final seven minutes before halftime.

"We played an absolutely terrific first half," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said.

Lavender was a major part of the surge. The center scored on a turnaround from 5-feet, from underneath on rebounds, on a jumper with her foot on the three-point line and off the fast break with a layup.

"It’s not often you find a kid that size (6 feet 4) with the ability to run the floor in transition like she does. She finishes so well around the basket," Smith said.

The Buckeyes host West Virginia on Thursday in the semifinals of the Preseason WNIT.

No. 17 Cal holds on to beat Saint Mary’s

BERKELEY, Calif. — Freshman Layshia Clarendon hit a go-ahead jumper with 48 seconds left and a free throw with 7 seconds remaining and No. 17 California overcame a cold shooting night to beat Saint Mary’s 68-65 on Tuesday for its fifth straight win in the series.

Tifa Puletasi missed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc as the buzzer sounded for Saint Mary’s, which was trying to beat a ranked team for the first time since Nov. 17, 2000, a 74-63 win over Stanford.

It was far from a pretty tuneup for the Golden Bears (2-0) before Sunday’s highly anticipated showdown with No. 8 Baylor at Haas Pavilion — 11 months after these teams were supposed to play. The Baylor team couldn’t make it to the Bay Area last December because of weather.

Natasha Vital scored 17 points to lead Cal and freshman DeNesha Stallworth added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Kate Gaze hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Saint Mary’s ahead 64-59 with 4:30 left before Cal rallied. Gaze finished with 10 points but also six of her team’s 24 turnovers. Katie Batlin led the Gaels (1-1) with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Alexis Gray-Lawson made two free throws with 2:20 left to give Cal the lead, then Jontelle Smith’s free throw with 1:53 to play tied the game at 65.

It was quite a change from the tough night Saint Mary’s endured the last time it played in Berkeley. Gray-Lawson scored 15 of her 19 points during a 35-1 second-half run in the Bears’ 85-44 victory, including scoring eight straight during one stretch.

Cal knows it will have to be better come Sunday.

Baylor beat Tennessee Tech 100-55 behind 10 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks from freshman phenom Brittney Griner, who missed her only dunk attempt.

Louella Tomlinson, coming off a triple double in the Gaels’ opener, had eight points and five rebounds before fouling out with 2:20 remaining. Having her on the bench hurt Saint Mary’s.

The Gaels’ crisp ball movement kept the Bears off balance much of the game and created open looks on the perimeter, but the turnovers cost them too many chances.

Gray-Lawson shot 3-for-14 for Cal, which opened the season with a 100-43 rout of Idaho State on Sunday but never looked in sync. The Bears missed all seven of their 3-point tries Tuesday and shot 36.5 percent overall.

Cal’s tallest player, 6-foot-5 Rama N’diaye, is still recovering from an arthroscopic cleanup procedure on her troublesome right knee before the season. N’diaye missed much of last season following reconstructive surgery on the same knee after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament during Cal’s 2008 first-round NCAA tournament victory against San Diego.

But the Bears have been able to better handle her absence with much more depth this season than they had last year.

-- Janie McCauley

Men's News & Notes

Attorney seeks end to case against Minn player

EDINA, Minn. — The attorney for suspended Minnesota freshman Royce White says he hopes to have the case resolved soon and indicated he may seek a plea bargain.

White is charged with theft and fifth-degree assault after an October incident at the Mall of America. He is also under investigation following the alleged theft of a laptop computer on campus.

White’s attorney, F. Clayton Tyler, said Tuesday that he is planning to review security tapes from the mall parking lot after which he "will be able to make some fruitful discussions, hopefully, with the prosecutor."

A Nov. 25 hearing has been scheduled in the mall case. Coach Tubby Smith has made it clear that White won’t play until his legal matters are resolved.

The 24th-ranked Gophers (2-0) host Utah Valley on Thursday.

-- Jon Krawczynski

Purdue G Jackson out indefinitely

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue point guard Lewis Jackson is out indefinitely after surgery Tuesday to repair a foot injury he suffered in practice last week.

Jackson started 30 games as a freshman last season and averaged a team-best 3.3 assists per game. He was expected to return from two suspensions in time for the No. 7 Boilermakers to play South Dakota State on Friday at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.

Jackson missed the season-opening win against Cal State-Northridge for playing in an unspecified NCAA-sanctioned event without approval. He missed the preseason after he pleaded guilty in April to charges of illegal alcohol consumption and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Freshman Kelsey Barlow is expected to get extra minutes in his place.