COLLEGE BASKETBALL THE TOP 25 : North Carolina Is Upset, 88-62, by Wake Forest

When North Carolina closed the middle on Rodney Rodgers, Randolph Childress saw his opening.

Childress went on a second-half shooting tear and scored 27 points Saturday as Wake Forest upset the third-ranked Tar Heels, 88-62, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Winston-Salem, S.C.

Childress made his first seven shots of the second half, the last six of them three-pointers. Wake Forest (13-3 overall, 5-2 in the ACC) had a 33-30 lead at halftime, which grew to 59-36 with 13:26 to play.

“With the score being so close, I said to myself, ‘If I force the issue a little more, maybe I can make a little difference in what’s going on,’ ” Childress said.

“When I hit those (first) two in a row, then the adrenaline started flowing, the crowd got into it, and it felt really good. After that, the next couple of shots really didn’t matter. I just felt like I couldn’t miss.”

North Carolina (17-2, 6-1) never made a real run at the Demon Deacons, who lost their previous 11 games against the Tar Heels and 23 of 24 to them.

Rogers scored 17 points for Wake Forest, which made 17 of 25 shots (68%) during the second half.

No. 1 Kansas 103, Rollins 56--The Jayhawks, upset by Cal State Long Beach in their previous game, took it out on the Division II Tars at Lawrence, Kan.

Adonis Jordan made a three-pointer that put the Jayhawks (17-2) ahead for good, 20-17, with 15 minutes left. Kansas closed the first half with a 15-0 run for a 55-30 lead.

Eric Pauley added 21 points and Jordan and Richard Scott each had 15 points for the Jayhawks.

Andre Green scored 15 points for Rollins (12-5).

No. 2 Indiana 93, Northwestern 71--The Hoosiers, expected to take over the No. 1 ranking this week, rolled past the Wildcats in a Big Ten Conference game at Evanston, Ill.

Calbert Cheaney scored 22 points and Greg Graham had 21 for Indiana (19-2, 8-0). Cedric Neloms of Northwestern (5-10, 0-6) had 20 points.

No. 4 Kentucky 71, Florida 48--Jamal Mashburn scored 22 points and the Wildcats overpowered the Gators in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky (15-1, 6-1) made only 33.3% of its shots (20 of 60) but dominated by outrebounding Florida (11-6, 4-3) by a 54-36 margin.

Stacey Poole had 16 points for Florida.

No. 6 Cincinnati 80, DePaul 54--The Bearcats forced 31 turnovers and overcame a mid-game blowup between Coach Bob Huggins and forward Erik Martin to rout the Blue Demons in a Great Midwest Conference game at Cincinnati.

Cincinnati (15-1, 4-0) won its 12th consecutive game, longest current Division I winning streak.

Huggins, who has 250 coaching victories in 12 seasons, got into a heated exchange with Martin, who angrily pulled off his shirt and walked to the locker room seven minutes into the game.

Martin, who later took the blame for the blowup, returned during the second half.

Tom Kleinschmidt had 15 points for DePaul (10-9, 1-3), which lost for the fifth time in seven games.

No. 7 Duke 78, Maryland 62--Bobby Hurley sparked an early second-half run that helped the Blue Devils open an 18-point lead en route to an ACC victory over Maryland at College Park, Md.

Hurley had five points during a 14-2 spurt that enabled the Blue Devils (15-3, 4-3) to turn a six-point halftime lead into a 55-37 lead.

Hurley scored 12 of his 17 points during the second half, and Grant Hill had 15.

Kevin McLinton scored 18 points, but only four after halftime for Maryland (10-7, 1-6).

No. 10 Nevada Las Vegas 87, Utah State 78--J.R. Rider scored 29 points as the Rebels beat the Aggies in a Big West Conference game at Logan, Utah.

Jay Goodman scored 26 points for Utah State (6-10, 3-5). Evric Gary added 20 points for UNLV (13-1, 6-1).

No. 12 Vanderbilt 73, Auburn 70--Chris Lawson and Kevin Anglin made three-point plays in the final 1:30 and the Commodores beat the Tigers in an SEC game at Auburn, Ala.

Auburn (8-7, 3-5) led, 61-58, with five minutes to play, but Vanderbilt (16-3, 6-1) scored 11 of the next 13 points, capped by Lawson’s basket and free throw at 1:30 to make the score 69-63.

After Reggie Gallon scored after a steal for the Tigers with 1:01 to play, Anglin completed his three-point play with 42 seconds remaining.

Michigan State 72, No. 14 Purdue 64--Shawn Respert scored 23 points and sparked a run that led the Spartans to a Big Ten upset of the Boilermakers at West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue (12-4, 3-4) had a 27-24 lead when Mike Peplowski’s layup with 2:01 to play in the first half started Michigan State (11-5, 3-4) on a 21-4 surge. Respert, who had seven points during the run, made an 18-footer with 28 seconds remaining in the half to put the Spartans ahead for good.

Glenn Robinson scored 28 points for Purdue.

Virginia Tech 59, No. 15 Virginia 53--Shawn Smith scored 10 of his 15 points during the last 5:36 and the Hokies overcame a 16-point deficit in the final 17 minutes to upset the Cavaliers at Richmond, Va.

Virginia (12-4) had a 35-22 halftime lead but made only five baskets during the second half and lost for the fourth time in five games.

Virginia Tech (7-7) trailed, 40-24, with 17 minutes to play, but the Cavaliers made only two of 15 shots and had 10 turnovers in the next 13 minutes. The Hokies went ahead to stay, 52-51, on two free throws by Smith with 4:11 remaining.

No. 16 Arkansas 97, Georgia 79--Roger Crawford scored 25 points, including six during an early 19-point surge, and the Razorbacks ended a three-game losing streak at Fayetteville, Ark.

Dwight Stewart opened the run with a basket and Darrell Hawkins finished it with two free throws that made the score 28-8 with 10:58 remaining in the half. During the first 8 1/2 minutes, Arkansas (13-4, 4-3) made 10 of 13 shots while Georgia (7-9, 2-5) made three of 16.

Cleveland Jackson scored 23 points for Georgia.

No. 20 Oklahoma 94, Colorado 70--Bryatt Vann scored 40 points and the Sooners handed the Buffaloes their 14th consecutive road defeat in a Big Eight game at Norman, Okla.

Oklahoma (14-5, 2-2) beat Colorado (8-9, 0-5) for the 13th consecutive time in Norman, forcing the Buffaloes into 25 turnovers.

Boston College 71, No. 21 Georgetown 61--The scoreboard malfunctioned and so did the Hoyas’ offense as the Eagles won a Big East game at Boston.

Georgetown (12-4, 5-3) made only eight of 31 shots and committed 14 turnovers as Boston College (12-5, 6-3) pulled away after leading, 36-35, at halftime.

Billy Curley had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles and helped hold Georgetown center Othella Harrington without a basket during the second half.

The game was delayed for seven minutes when the scoreboard went blank after Curley made a shot with 13:25 remaining in the half. Timekeepers used a stopwatch for the 45-second clock and a small portable clock to keep the game time until the scoreboard returned to working order.

St. John’s 72, No. 22 Connecticut 59--Derek Brown scored 24 points and the Redmen upset the Huskies in a Big East game at New York.

The Huskies (9-6, 4-5) played without second-leading scorer and rebounder Scott Burrell, who was sidelined because of injuries.

St. John’s (11-5, 6-2) took control early in the second half when a 9-0 run gave the Redmen a 50-36 lead with 13:06 to play.

No. 23 Tulane 65, Southern Mississippi 52--Pointer Williams scored 18 points and the Green Wave won its 10th consecutive game, a Metro Conference victory over the Golden Eagles at New Orleans.

Anthony Reed had 10 points and five steals for Tulane (15-3, 5-0), which had 14 steals in the game. Bernard Haslett had 19 points for Southern Mississippi (6-11, 2-5).

No. 24 Marquette 65, St. Louis 62--Damon Key scored 21 points and the Warriors held off the Billikens for a Great Midwest victory at St. Louis.

Marquette (15-2, 4-0), which had a 63-55 lead with 1:45 to play, helped St. Louis make it close by missing five of seven free throws in the final 1:03, but held on for its eighth consecutive victory. Erwin Claggett had 25 points for St. Louis (6-10, 0-3).

Southern Methodist 70, No. 25 Houston 60--Tim Mason sparked a second-half rally with two three-pointers and the Mustangs took over first place in the Southwest Conference by beating the Cougars at Dallas.

Mason’s three-pointers gave the Mustangs (12-5, 5-1) a 46-42 lead with 10:30 to play. Mike Wilson and Matt Timme scored, stretching the lead to 50-42, and Houston (11-4, 4-2) did not threaten again.