College Basketball Roundup : St. John’s Gets 82-70 Win, and Walter Berry Back Next Season

For once, the crowd got what it wanted.

A sellout crowd of 6,008 at St. John’s Alumni Hall in New York chanted, “One more year!” as junior forward Walter Berry went to the foul line Saturday night during the Redmen’s final home game of the season.

And after No. 8-ranked St. John’s beat Seton Hall, 82-70, to finish as co-champion of the Big East Conference and gain the No. 1 seeding for next week’s Big East tournament, Berry announced he would return next season for his senior year instead of turning professional.

“My thoughts right now are on school,” Berry said after scoring 31 points and setting a school single-season scoring record. “Like they said, one more year. No question, I’ll be back.

“What they did touched something real deep inside me, and I wanted to play as best I could. I am 15 credits short of graduating, and when I leave, I want it to be with a degree. I worked very hard and came a long way for that.”

Berry, who also had 12 rebounds, broke Chris Mullin’s year-old scoring record of 694 points.

Willie Glass added 16 points for St. John’s, while Mark Bryant finished with 18 for Seton Hall. Andre McCloud and James Major had 16 each for Seton Hall.

St. John’s, 27-4 overall and 14-2 in the Big East, finished tied for the Big East regular-season title with Syracuse, which beat Connecticut, 75-58, Saturday night. Seton Hall wound up 13-17 and 3-13.

St. John’s will be top-seeded in the Big East tournament starting Wednesday in New York because it scored two wins over the third-place team, Georgetown, while Syracuse split with the Hoyas.

Syracuse 75, Connecticut 58--Dwayne Washington scored 17 points and Rafael Addison added 15 at Hartford, Conn. as the No. 6 Orangemen raised their record to 23-4 and 14-2. Connecticut fell to 12-15 and 3-13. The crowd of 16,014 was the largest ever to see a college basketball game in New England. Freshman Cliff Robinson led Connecticut with 17 points.

Georgetown 93, Pittsburgh 62--David Wingate hit 11 of 19 shots and scored a career-high 26 points, including 11 straight in the first half, as the Hoyas (22-6 and 11-5) blew away the Panthers (15-12 and 7-10) at Landover, Md. Demetreus Gore (P) 21; Reggie Williams (G) 18; Charles Smith (P) 15.

Villanova 74, Boston College 63--Freshman Doug West scored 22 points as the Wildcats (21-12 and 10-6) came from behind to turn back the Eagles (13-14 and 4-12) at Villanova, Pa. Trailing, 54-50, in the second half, the Wildcats outscored the Eagles, 18-3, to take a 68-57 lead. Roger McCready (BC) 24; Troy Bowers (BC) 16; Harold Pressley (V) 16.

Jacksonville 70, Alabama Birmingham 69--Otis Smith and Ronnie Murphy sparked a 12-5 run late in the game and the Dolphins automatically qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning the Sun Belt tournament at Birmingham, Ala. It was the first of four Sun Belt tournaments in Birmingham that UAB had not won. Jacksonville is 24-10, Alabama Birmingham 21-9. “We just lost to a very good team,” UAB Coach Gene Bartow said. “They may be one of the 10 best teams in the country right now. I think they will win some games in the NCAA.” Smith scored 20 points and Murphy had 19 for the Dolphins. Archie Johnson (UAB) 16.

Houston 85, TCU 83--Rickie Winslow and Ricky Jackson each sank two free throws in the final 13 seconds in overtime as the Cougars upset the Horned Frogs in the final home appearance for Houston Coach Guy Lewis. Houston closed out the regular season 14-13 overall and 8-8 in the Southwest Conference. TCU (20-7 and 12-4) fell one-half game behind Texas which can win the conference title today with a victory over Texas Tech at Austin. Winslow led the Cougars with 23 points. Carl Lott (TCU) 25; Greg Anderson (H) 20; Greg Grissom (TCU) 19.

Texas A&M; 93, Arkansas 76--Don Marbury scored 26 points and Winston Crite added 22 at Fayetteville, Ark., as the Aggies (18-10 and 12-4) moved into a second place tie with TCU in the Southwest Conference. Arkansas fell to 12-15 and 4-12. It was the first time the Aggies had won at Fayetteville since 1971. The Razorbacks played without starters William Mills and Kenny Hutchinson, suspended by Coach Nolan Richardson earlier in the week.

Kentucky 68, LSU 57--Kenny Walker scored 17 points as the champion Wildcats (26-3 and 17-1) closed out the Southeastern Conference season with a victory at Lexington, Ky. After the game, LSU Coach Dale Brown walked over to the Wildcat bench to congratulate Walker. “In 29 years of coaching, I’ve never done that before but he is special,” said Brown. “He’s the John Havlicek of college basketball. There’s not a player in the country that can out-hustle him.” Nikita Wilson had 21 points for LSU (21-10 and 9-9).

Illinois 59, Georgia Tech 57--Efrem Winters hit a 13-foot jumper with 31 seconds left as the Illini (20-8) upset the Yellow Jackets (22-5) at Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets took a 45-35 lead with a 10-0 blitz in the second half, but the Illini responded with a 20-10 run to tie the score at 55-55. Ken Norman (I) 17; Tony Wysinger (I) 14; John Salley GT) 14; Mark Price (GT) 14.

Oklahoma 72, North Carolina State 69--Tim McCalister’s jumper with 34 seconds remaining, his only field goal in seven second-half tries, proved decisive as the Sooners (24-6) ended a three-game losing streak by turning back the Wolfpack (18-11) at Norman, Okla. Chris Washburn (NCS) 22; Darryl Kennedy (O) 21; Bennie Bolton (NCS) 17.

Notre Dame 74, Marquette 66--Mark Stevenson scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and David Rivers sank seven free throws in the final 49 seconds to lead the Irish (21-5) over the Warriors (17-9) at Milwaukee. Marquette led, 36-27, in the second half, but Notre Dame went on a 15-1 run to take a 42-37 lead. Ken Barlow (ND) 18; Rivers 17; Kerry Trotter (M) 16.

Maryland 87, Virginia 72--Len Bias scored 22 points as the Terrapins avenged their worst loss of the season at College Park, Md. Earlier, at Charlottesville, Va., the Cavaliers had beaten the Terrapins, 70-49. Maryland wound up the regular season 17-12 overall and 6-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference; Virginia is 18-9 and 7-7. Jeff Baxter (M) 19; Keith Gatlin (M) 18.

Kansas 90, Iowa State 70--Ron Kellogg scored 20 points as the Big Eight-champion Jayhawks closed out the regular season at Lawrence, Kan. Kansas is 28-3 overall and 13-1 in the conference; Iowa State 18-9 and 9-5. The 28th season victory and 33rd consecutive home victory tied long-standing Kansas school records. Jeff Grayer (IS) 26.