Indiana Uses Small Lineup for Big Victory Over Michigan, 72-70

Indiana went small and came up big with maybe its biggest victory of the season.

Bothered by inconsistency and injury, the 21st-ranked Hoosiers went to a three-guard lineup, built a 15-point lead and held off No. 13 Michigan, 72-70, Tuesday night in a Big Ten game at Bloomington, Ind.

“Our play, our attitude, everything was totally different than the past couple of weeks,” said freshman guard Michael Lewis, who had 10 points and four assists.

Neil Reed, the upperclassman in the back court, scored 20 points and freshman guard A.J. Guyton added 15 points and grabbed a game-saving rebound in the final seconds to preserve the victory.

The Hoosiers, 16-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten, had lost three of their past four games, including a 17-point blowout at Purdue on Saturday. On Monday, their leading scorer and rebounder, Andrae Patterson, went out because of a slight dislocation of his left knee cap during practice.

The Hoosiers also were hurt by the loss of freshman center Jason Collier (back spasms) in the second half.

The Hoosiers led, 65-50, but were outscored, 20-7, the rest of the way.

“We had enough of a cushion to be able to play a zone,” said Coach Bob Knight, who rarely deviates from a man-to-man defense. “The zone helped us out a lot, to my amazement, but we made some mistakes on offense to let them back in the game.”

A rebound basket and two free throws by Maceo Baston capped an eight-point run that brought Michigan (13-5, 4-3) within two points with three minutes left.

Neither team scored after that, although both had plenty of chances.

No. 7 Maryland 103, Pennsylvania 73--Keith Booth returned home to score 26 points and Rodney Elliott made his first nine shots and scored a career-high 22 points as the Terrapins (16-2) routed the Quakers (5-7) at Baltimore.

No. 9 Cincinnati 77, North Carolina Charlotte 67--Danny Fortson scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Bearcats (13-3, 3-0) held off a late charge by the 49ers (12-5, 4-2) for a Conference USA victory at Charlotte, N.C. DeMarco Johnson had 21 points for the 49ers.

No. 10 Duke 70, North Carolina State 55--Mike Chappell, who didn’t play in the first half, made a three-point shot and completed a three-point play during a key second-half stretch as the Blue Devils (15-4, 4-2) displayed their depth in an Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Wolfpack (8-7, 0-6) at Raleigh, N.C.

Jeff Capel had a season-high 25 points off the bench--including seven over the final 2:27--and Trajan Langdon added 16 for the Blue Devils.

No. 18 Colorado 74, Baylor 70--Martice Moore scored 19 points, including the go-ahead three-point shot with 1:17 left at Waco, Texas, and the Buffaloes (15-3, 6-0) beat the Bears (12-6, 1-5) in Big 12 action for their eighth consecutive victory.

The victory in its first game as a ranked team in 28 years kept Colorado and No. 1 Kansas the only undefeated teams in the Big 12. They play Sunday.

No. 22 Boston College 81, Pittsburgh 61--Mickey Curley scored 16 points and 12 rebounds, including eight on the offensive boards, for the Eagles (13-3, 7-1) in a Big East victory over the Panthers (9-9, 3-4) at Newton, Mass.

OTHER GAMES

Victor Page scored a career-high 35 points as Georgetown (11-6, 4-5) broke a three-game losing streak with a 62-57 Big East victory over St. John’s (9-7, 4-4) at Landover, Md. . . . Lari Ketner scored 13 points as Massachusetts (9-9, 3-2) used an 11-0 run in the second half to score a 64-60 Atlantic 10 victory over Rhode Island (11-5, 5-1) at Amherst, Mass. . . . Derek Hood broke out of a slump with 11 first-half points in 11 minutes as Arkansas (10-5, 4-2) notched a 98-64 victory over Mississippi State (8-10, 2-3) at Fayetteville, Ark.