College Basketball Roundup : Charles Scores 25 as He Helps N.C. State Jostle Duke, 70-66

North Carolina State forward Lorenzo Charles drew a crowd every time he touched the ball, but his performance and the scoreboard seemed to say, the more the merrier.

Charles scored 25 points, including 18 in the second half, to give the Wolfpack a 70-66 victory over Duke in an Atlantic Coast Conference game Wednesday night at Durham, N.C. Duke is ranked fifth by United Press International and sixth by Associated Press.

Charles got most of his points in the lane, jostling two or three Blue Devils, then soaring above them for deadly jumpers.

“I thought Charles was tremendous,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He was unstoppable. It took, I think, a magnificent performance on his part to beat our team. I really felt that for only two minutes in the second half we played poorly.”

The Wolfpack, which trailed by as many as 17 points, pulled within 49-44 at the 12:10 mark. Charles, calling for the ball, scored 14 of the Wolfpack’s next 24 points, including a shot with 6:38 left that gave the Wolfpack the lead for good.

North Carolina State is 17-7 and 7-4 in the ACC; Duke is 19-5 and 6-5.

North Carolina 69, Wake Forest 59--Junior center Brad Daugherty scored a career-high 30 points as the Tar Heels won the ACC game at Chapel Hill, N.C., and presented Coach Dean Smith with his 15th straight 20-victory season. North Carolina is ranked 13th by AP and 15th by UPI.

The Tar Heels, who led by as many as 16 points in the first half, weathered an early second-half run by the Demon Deacons to raise their record to 20-6, 7-4 in the ACC. Wake Forest fell to 14-10, 4-7.

Virginia 69, Clemson 66--Olden Polynice led five Virginia players in double figures as the Cavaliers extended their winning streak to four games with the ACC victory at Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers, who got 17 points from Polynice and 16 from Tom Sheehey, improved their record to 15-11 with their seventh win in their last nine starts. The Cavaliers, 3-8 in ACC play, also got 10 points each from Jim Miller, Tim Mullen and Mel Kennedy.

Clemson had won five of its last six starts but had not won at Virginia since 1978. The Tigers fell to 15-9 and to 5-7 in the ACC.

St. John’s 71, Boston College 69--Chris Mullin scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half, hitting 8 of 11 outside shots in the Big East game at Queens, N.Y., as the top-ranked Redmen rallied for their 18th consecutive victory. It was the eighth time this season that the Redmen had trailed at the half and come back to win.

Mullin, who uncharacteristically missed three free throws in the final two minutes, scored the clincher for St. John’s when he buried a side jumper with 42 seconds remaining to give the Redmen a 70-67 lead after they had blown almost all of a 10-point advantage.

St. John’s has the nation’s longest winning streak and is 23-1 overall, 13-0 in the conference. Boston College is 18-7, 7-7.

Kentucky 76, Florida 68--Kenny Walker, shut out in the first half, scored 17 points after intermission at Gainesville, Fla., as Kentucky fought off Florida’s second-half challenge and retained its share of the Southeastern Conference lead.

Kentucky’s record is 15-9 overall and 10-5 in the SEC. Florida, loser of three in a row and four of its last five games, dropped to 16-8 and 8-7.

Memphis St. 60, Tulane 49--Keith Lee took control of the game with 2:11 left in the first half to lead fourth-ranked Memphis State from a 10-point deficit to the Metro Conference victory at New Orleans. The win clinched at least a tie for the league championship for Memphis State.

With Memphis State (21-2,11-1) trailing, 30-20, Lee hit eight straight points in the closing minutes of the first half and the first six points of the second half to tie the score at 34-34 three minutes into the second period. Memphis State’s defense then took over and throttled Tulane (12-12, 4-8).

Wisconsin 54, Iowa 53--Six-foot guard Shelton Smith scored on a rebound after a scramble underneath Wisconsin’s basket with six seconds left as the Badgers upset Iowa in a Big Ten game at Madison, Wis.

Michael Payne’s three-point play with 1:21 left had given Iowa a 53-52 lead. The Badgers then missed two outside shots before Smith converted a layup in traffic for the victory. A desperation 20-footer by Iowa’s Andre Banks bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Wisconsin (12-12, 3-11) avenged last month’s 40-point loss at Iowa and dropped the Hawkeyes (19-7, 8-5) into a three-way tie for second place in the conference.

Connecticut 71, Syracuse 69--Earl Kelley hit a 16-foot jump shot with four seconds remaining in the Big East game at Hartford, Conn., as Connecticut stunned seventh-ranked Syracuse for the second time this season.

Kelley, a junior guard, led Connecticut with a game-high 21 points and added nine assists as the Huskies evened their overall record at 12-12. They are 5-8 in conference play.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Syracuse (19-5, 8-5).

Kansas 75, Kansas St. 64--Seven-footer Greg Dreiling scored 20 points, and Ron Kellogg and Cedric Hunter sank saving free throws in the final 90 seconds in the Big Eight game at Lawrence, Kan.

The victory snapped Kansas’ first two-game losing streak since Larry Brown became head coach in 1983 and raised the Jayhawks’ overall record to 21-6 and conference mark to 8-3. Kansas State fell into last place in the Big Eight at 11-13 and 2-9.

LSU 64, Vanderbilt 55--Freshman John Williams pumped in 19 points, and Jerry Reynolds added 18 to pace Southeastern Conference co-leader LSU to victory at Baton Rouge, La. LSU is 16-8 and 10-5; Vanderbilt is 10-14 and 3-13.

TCU 72, SMU 64--Carven Holcombe, Dennis Nutt and Tracy Mitchell combined for eight free throws in the final three minutes as TCU upset the Mustangs at Fort Worth. SMU is ranked eighth by UPI and ninth by AP.

The loss left SMU and Texas Tech tied at 9-4 for the Southwest Conference lead. The skidding Mustangs fell to 20-6 with their fourth loss--all on the road--in their last six games.

TCU is 15-10, 7-7.