College Basketball Roundup : Florida Defeats Kentucky to Reach Semifinals of the SEC Tournament

“It may be the biggest win in Florida basketball history in terms of making believers of Florida fans and ourselves,” Coach Norm Sloan said Thursday after his Gators had scored a 58-55 victory over Kentucky in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Birmingham, Ala.

“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves before this game and during this game,” Sloan said. “We said we were going to win.”

The victory marked the first time that Florida (18-10) has beaten the Wildcats (16-12) twice in one season.

“The NCAA is the farthest thing from my mind,” Sloan said, “but we didn’t hurt ourselves any.”

He said a key was holding Kentucky’s 6-8 Kenny Walker, the SEC scoring leader with a 23-points-per-game average, in check. Walker was held to just 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Kentucky Coach Joe B. Hall said he had no idea what chance his team has to get an NCAA bid, adding that a response to a possible NIT bid would be up to the school’s administration.

Since an NCAA tournament will be held on Kentucky’s court, Hall said, that could be a problem.

Florida will face Auburn in tonight’s semifinals.

Alabama 42, Mississippi St. 31--All-conference forward Buck Johnson scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Crimson Tide (20-8) into the SEC tournament semifinals, where it will meet Georgia.

Alabama was ahead by only one point, 32-31, with 1:30 left to play before sophomore guard Terry Conner started a 10-point streak with a driving layup. Johnson, a 6-7 junior, then scored four of the next six points, and sophomore guard Jim Farmer closed it out with a dunk.

Georgia 67, Tennessee 61--Joe Ward scored 21 points to lead the Bulldogs (21-7) into the SEC semifinals. With Ward picking up 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting, Georgia built a 30-24 halftime lead. Tennessee tied it four times during the first half, but never led.

In the second half, Georgia, which lost two one-point decisions to Tennessee in regular-season play, built a 12-point lead with just over three minutes to play. But the Bulldogs almost let it get away when Tennessee guard Tony White, who wound up with 20 points, scored 12 of his team’s last 15 points, and several times in the closing moments had the Vols (18-14) within four points of the lead.

But Ward sank two free throws to give Georgia its final margin with only 15 seconds remaining.

Auburn 58, Louisiana State 55--Chuck Person sank four clutch free throws down the stretch as the Tigers (18-11) upset 19th-ranked Louisiana State to advance to the SEC semifinals.

Person gave Auburn the lead for good at 52-51 on a layup with 4:49 remaining, and the SEC’s second-leading scorer came back with two free throws with 1:56 to go and another pair with 29 seconds left.

LSU, the conference champion, dropped its ninth postseason contest in succession, beginning with a pair of setbacks in the 1981 Final Four at Philadelphia. The Tigers fell to 19-9 for the year.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS Big East Georgetown 93, Connecticut 62--Patrick Ewing and Bill Martin each scored 20 points at New York to lead the top-ranked Hoyas (28-2) to the most lopsided victory in the six-year history of the Big East Conference tournament.

Ewing and Martin also came up with a total of 20 rebounds. Georgetown, which has a 10-game winning streak, will meet Syracuse in tonight’s semifinals.

St. John’s 90, Providence 62--Walter Berry scored 23 points, Chris Mullin had 22 and Bill Wennington added 21 as the Redmen (26-2) rolled over the Friars (10-20) in another Big East tournament quarterfinal game.

St. John’s, which twice led by as many as 34 points, will face Villanova in the semifinals.

Villanova 69, Pittsburgh 61--Dwayne McClain and Harold Pressley each scored 19 points as the Wildcats improved their record to 19-9.

Syracuse 70, Boston College 69--Dwayne (Pearl) Washington’s field goal with 21 seconds remaining earned the Orangemen (21-7) the narrow win. Boston College freshman Troy Browers’ short jumper at the buzzer rolled around the rim and out.

Metro Conference Memphis State 68, Southern Mississippi 58--Keith Lee scored 17 points to lead the fourth-ranked Tigers to the first-round win at Louisville, Ky.

Florida State 97, Virginia Tech 93--Alton Lee Gipson’s 33 points and David Speight’s 23 were enough to give the Seminoles the win.

Cincinnati 58, Tulane 44--Roger McClendon scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, including six straight free throws, as the Bearcats (16-12) won going away. Tulane, led by John Williams’ 13 points, fell to 15-13.

Atlantic 10 Conference St. Joseph’s 52, George Washington 49--The Hawks scored their 13th victory in the last 15 games by beating the Colonials in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Piscataway, N.J.

Maurice Martin’s 16 points helped St. Joseph’s raise its record to 18-10, while George Washington fell to 14-14.

NONTOURNAMENT GAMES Michigan State 68, Indiana 58--Sam Vincent scored 31 points as the Spartans (19-8 and 10-7) had little trouble with the Hoosiers in a Big Ten Conference game at Bloomington, Ind.

Indiana’s loss, its ninth in the last 13 games, dropped it to 15-12 and 7-10 and assured Bob Knight of his first losing conference season in 14 years as the Hoosier coach.

Illinois 59, Iowa 53--Anthony Welch’s four free throws in the last 16 seconds of overtime clinched Illinois’ comeback from a 10-point second-half deficit in the Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois improved to 23-8 overall and earned sole possession of second place in the conference at 11-6. The loss dropped Iowa to 21-9 and 10-7.

Purdue 79, Minnesota 67--James Bullocks’ 18 points and 10 rebounds gave the Boilermakers (19-8, 10-7) the Big Ten victory at West Lafayette, Ind. Minnesota (13-14, 6-11) was led by Tommy Davis’ game-high 27 points.