ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997 BASKETBALL TAG: 9702280070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: COLLEGE BASKETBALL
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND STAFF REPORTS
Danny Fortson scored 26 points and ninth-ranked Cincinnati seriously damaged Marquette's NCAA hopes with an 80-74 victory Thursday night in Milwaukee.
Cincinnati was comfortably ahead, 73-64, but the Golden Eagles closed to 73-70 on Marcus West's two free throws with 3:07 left.
Ruben Patterson's 3-pointer ended the run and Marquette was unable to get any closer than four points as Cincinnati (24-5, 12-1 Conference USA) won despite playing with a fresh set of guards.
Cincinnati point guard Damon Flint hurt his right wrist Tuesday night against Southern Mississippi and Charles Williams stayed home for what coach Bob Huggins called a violation of team policy.
That left the Bearcats with seldom-used senior Terrence Davis at the point and sixth man Darnell Burton at shooting guard.
Burton had 15 points as the Bearcats, who beat Marquette by 21 points on Feb.8, swept the season series with the Eagles for the first time since the 1992-93 season.
Anthony Pieper scored 23 points and Aaron Hutchins added 14 for Marquette (17-8, 8-5).
In other games:
No. 4 Utah 68, Texas-El Paso 55: Andre Miller and Keith Van Horn each scored 12 points as the Utes beat the Miners in a Western Athletic Conference game in Salt Lake City.
Utah (22-3, 14-1) used strong runs on both sides of intermission to put the Miners (12-13, 5-10) away.
The Utes, who clinched the WAC Mountain Division title Monday by beating Rice 75-66, finished the first half with a 12-2 spurt to lead 35-22 at the break.
Miller had five points in the run, giving him eight points in the half to go with five rebounds and four assists.
The Utes opened the second half with a 14-4 surge. Van Horn canned a 3-pointer and added two free throws with 14:25 to play to give Utah a 49-26 lead.
No. 11 New Mexico 90, Brigham Young 48: Lamont Long scored 24 points and led a second-half surge that sent the Lobos past the Cougars in Provo, Utah.
Leading 38-25, New Mexico scored the first 17 points of the second half. Long had 10 during the burst.
The Lobos (22-5, 11-4 WAC) were never threatened after scoring 11 straight points for a 21-9 lead. BYU (1-24, 0-15) did not score for five minutes as New Mexico took control.
No. 15 Arizona 100, Washington State 86: Michael Dickerson scored 21 of his 32 points in the second half and the Wildcats beat the Cougars for the 24th straight time.
Miles Simon, who had 16 of his 24 points after the break, helped the Wildcats (18-7, 10-5 Pac-10) break away in the second half.
Dickerson made 13 of 22 shots to equal his career high. It was his fifth 30-point game of the season.
Carlos Daniel scored 26 points for the Cougars (12-15, 4-11).
No. 20 Charleston 89, Centenary 71: In Charleston, S.C., Stacy Harris scored 22 points to lead College of Charleston to victory in the first round of the Trans America Athletic Conference tournament, extending the nation's longest win streak to 20 games.
TAAC player of the year Anthony Johnson had 14 points for the Cougars (26-2), while Rodney Conner and Thaddeus Delaney added 13 each. Herbert Lang had 20 points to lead Centenary (9-18).
La Salle 94, Fordham 73: Freshman guard Donnie Carr scored 41 points as the Explorers ripped the Rams in an Atlantic 10 game in Philadelphia.
Carr, the nation's fourth leading scorer with an average of 23.5 coming into the game, connected on 15-27 shots, including eight-for-13 from 3-point range, for La Salle (10-15, 5-10).
Maurice Curtis had 21 points for Fordham (6-19, 1-14).
Georgia Southern 68, East Tennessee State 48: Doug Beaty scored a career-high 25 points as the Eagles (10-17) won a first-round game in the Southern Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
The Eagles (10-17), banned from the postseason last year because of NCAA probation, shot 52.1 percent and advanced to today's quarterfinals against Marshall, the champion of the North Division.
Greensboro 84, Ferrum 79: The Pride went on a 22-10 scoring spurt in the second half to erase a deficit and beat the Panthers in the Dixie Conference tournament in Rocky Mount, N.C.
Ferrum (13-12) led by 14 points in the first half before Greensboro (9-16) began its comeback.
Patrick Brooks led Ferrum with 25 points and Marcus Toney (Magna Vista) added 14.
Women
Radford 77, Charleston Southern 57: Kim Hairston (Bassett) and Kelli Tull scored 18 points each as the Highlanders beat the Buccaneers in the Big South tournament in Lynchburg.
Radford went on a 17-3 spurt early in the second half to turn a 40-37 deficit into a 54-43 lead. The Highlanders will take in UNC Greensboro today at noon in the semifinals.
La Salle 81, Virginia Tech 66: The Hokies concluded their most dismal season in school history by losing in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament in Philadelphia.
Chrissie Donahue led the Explorers (21-6) with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Lynette Nolley (Floyd County) paced the Hokies (10-21) with 17 points.
Greensboro 56, Ferrum 53: Tina Lineberry had 25 points to lead the Pride to victory in the Dixie Conference tournament in Newport News.
Marlo Ferguson (Magna Vista) had 17 points to lead Ferrum (9-16).
Campbell 85, Georgia State 78: Ashley Moore (Lord Botetourt) had a career-high 30 points to lead the Camels to victory in Buies Creek, N.C. Moore, a junior, made six 3-point goals and was 12-for-12 at the free-throw line.
Notes
COACH RESIGNS: Webb Hatch has resigned after 10 years as coach of Marymount's Saints.
Hatch launched the men's basketball program at Marymount and guided the team to a Capital Athletic Conference regular-season championship in 1990-91 and the tournament championship in 1991-92.
The Saints were 9-16 this year. Hatch compiled a 107-149 record at the school in Arlington, Va.
SUSPENSION: Duquesne University center Eriq Mason has been suspended for one year for violating school regulations. Mason, a 6-foot-9 junior, averaged 5.7 points and five rebounds in 22 games with Duquesne this season.
APOLOGY: The Goucher basketball coach has apologized for referring to his team as ``my plantation'' during a practice. Leonard Trevino issued a written apology, calling the remark ``in poor taste and unprofessional.''
ALL-DIXIE: Rodney Ponzo and Marlo Ferguson of Ferrum were selected to the All-Dixie Conference basketball teams announced Thursday. Both made the second team. Jason Childers of Methodist was the men's player of the year and Misty Hart of Christopher Newport was the women's player of the year.
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. James Posey (right) of Xavier dunks despiteby CNBdefensive pressure from Robert Blackwell of St. Bonaventure.