Arizona Holds On to Beat Tennessee

With two freshmen in the starting lineup and three others playing extensive minutes, No. 18 Arizona defeated No. 9 Tennessee, 73-72, on Friday in the season-opening BCA Classic at Albuquerque.

Guard Jason Terry, who along with center A.J. Bramlett are the only starters back from last season’s team that was 30-5, scored 26 points and Bramlett and freshman Justin Wessel blocked two shots in the final 10 seconds.

Two free throws by Eugene Edgerson gave Arizona a 73-70 lead with 2:04 to play. Tennessee guard Tony Harris, who made seven three-point shots and finished with a career-high 25 points, made a 10-foot jumper off an offensive rebound with 1:43 left for the game’s final points.

Defense got Tennessee another possession when Harris forced Terry into a five-second violation with one minute left.

Arizona’s man-to-man defense, which held Tennessee to 32% shooting in the second half, then took over. Harris penetrated inside and tried a reverse layup that was blocked by Bramlett with 10 seconds to play. Tennessee got the ball back, but Wessel got a hand on a dunk attempt by Volunteer forward Isiah Victor. The loose ball was picked up by guard Brandon Wharton, but his 12-foot shot hit the front of the rim as time ran out.

“It was a flurry,” Tennessee Coach Jerry Green said of the final 10 seconds. “They’re in there fighting a battle and we’re in their fighting a battle. It just didn’t go down for us.”

No. 5 Michigan State 89, Northeast Louisiana 58--Antonio Smith scored 16 points and Mateen Cleaves had 11 assists to lead the Spartans in a season opener at East Lansing, Mich.

It was the eighth double-digit assist game for Cleaves, the Big Ten Conference player of the year last season. Cleaves, who helped lead the Spartans to a share of the conference regular-season championship and the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament last season, also scored 10 points.

Mike Smith had 13 points for Northeast Louisiana, which has only one starter back from last season’s 13-17 team.

No. 8 Kansas 80, Gonzaga 66--Kenny Gregory scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half to help the Jayhawks extend their home winning streak to 61 games with a season-opening victory at Lawrence, Kan.

Matt Santangelo, the leading returning scorer in the West Coast Conference who averaged 16.2 points a game last season, had 24 points for Gonzaga.

Eric Chenowith had 18 points and Nick Bradford, forced into the role of power forward because of a foot injury to T.J. Pugh, had 16 for Kansas.

No. 11 North Carolina 87, Appalachian State 64--Life without Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter began successfully for the Tar Heels as center Brandon Haywood scored a career-high 19 points and Ed Cota added 17 in a season-opening victory at Chapel Hill, N.C.

North Carolina improved to 84-5 in home openers, while the Mountaineers, whose 21 victories a season ago were the most by the Southern Conference school in 20 years, fell to 3-50 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams.

No. 16 Purdue 101, North Carolina Asheville 64--Jaraan Cornell scored 20 points, 14 in the first half, and Michael Robinson score 15 to lead the Boilermakers in their opener at West Lafayette, Ind.

Cameron Stephens and Jamaal Davis each added 11 points for the Boilermakers, who forced North Carolina Asheville into 31 turnovers.

No. 20 New Mexico 82, DePaul 81--Lamont Long shook off back spasms to score 29 points, including the game-winning layup with 9.5 seconds to play in the BCA Classic at Albuquerque.

Long made 10 of 19 shots, including four three-pointers, and Kevin Henry scored a career-high 24 to lead New Mexico. Freshmen Quentin Richardson scored 18 points, Bobby Simmons 17 and Lance Williams 16 for DePaul.

Virginia 86, Virginia Commonwealth 70--Donald Hand scored nine of his 24 points during a 25-6 second-half run to lead the Cavaliers at Richmond, Va.

Arizona State 68, San Jose State 49--Eddie House, playing with his jaw wired shut after suffering a broken jaw in practice three weeks ago, scored 22 points to help make Coach Rob Evans a winner in his debut at Tempe, Ariz..

WOMEN

No. 3 Connecticut 104, No. 4 Duke 74--Svetlana Abrosimova scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Huskies to an easy victory in the season-opening Four in the Fall tournament at San Jose.

Abrosimova, a 6-2 sophomore from Russia, also grabbed 10 rebounds in the opener for both teams.

No. 18 Arkansas 76, No. 17 Stanford 71--In the late game at the Four in the Fall tournament, the Cardinal lost its opener.

No. 1 Tennessee 94, Portland 57--Chamique Holdsclaw scored 29 points as the three-time defending national champion Lady Vols opened the season with a rout at Knoxville, Tenn.

Semeka Randall scored 18 points and Tamika Catchings had 11 as the Lady Vols extended their winning streak to 46 games with their 18th consecutive season-opening victory.

No. 21 Arizona 84, Wisconsin Green Bay 65--Felicity Willis and Angela Lackey scored 18 points each to lead the Wildcats in the CableVision Classic at Lincoln, Neb.