Mount St. Mary’s Stuns No. 21 Georgia Tech

College basketball

Georgia Tech may well have been looking ahead to No. 2 Massachusetts. That didn’t matter to Mount St. Mary’s coach Jim Phelan after the biggest victory in his 42 years at the tiny Maryland school.

Jeff Balistrere scored his only basket of the game at the buzzer Monday night and the Mountaineers had their shocker, a 71-69 victory over the 21st-ranked Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.

The Mountaineers (4-2), with the fourth-smallest enrollment in Division 1 with 1,400 students at the Emmitsburg, Md., school, were led by Chris McGuthrie’s 37 points, including eight 3-pointers in 16 attempts.

“I can’t remember a bigger win,” Phelan said of his 741st victory at the school against 394 losses. “I think we caught them perhaps in between good wins and tough games.”

Georgia Tech (6-4), which beat No. 25 Louisville 88-77 on Saturday and faces No. 2 Massachusetts on Friday, had tied it at 69 with 20 seconds remaining when freshman Stephon Marbury connected on one of two free throws.

The Mountaineers held the ball until the final seconds when a shot by Riley Inge from the corner missed, but Mount St. Mary’s regained possession. Inge then found Balistrere all alone under the basket with the inbounds pass for the winner.

(1) Kansas 103, Pittsburg St. 48

At Lawrence, Kansas, Scot Pollard scored 16 points as the Jayhawks (7-0) rolled to a win over the Division II Gorillas (3-6).

The Jayhawks scored 31 straight points after T.J. Roberts scored for Pittsburg State with 3:02 remaining in the first half.

(6) Georgetown 88, St. Francis, Pa. 55

At Landover, Md., Allen Iverson had 15 points and nine assists as the Hoyas (8-1) cruised past the Red Flash (1-4).

Georgetown opened the game with a 13-2 run as St. Francis turned the ball over in five consecutive trips down the court.

(12) Wake Forest 91, Appalachian St. 50

At Winston-Salem, N.C., Tim Duncan scored 15 points and Jerry Braswell returned from a season-long academic suspension as the Demon Deacons (5-1) downed the Mountaineers (2-5).

Duncan was 6-of-9 from the field, grabbed eight rebounds and had six blocks and three assists in 28 minutes.

(15) Missouri 81, Austin Peay 58

At Columbia, Mo., Simeon Haley scored a career-high 22 points and his twin brother Sammie added 19 as the Tigers (7-1) crushed the Governors (3-4).

The Haleys scored 15 of Missouri’s 17 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half and finished with 22 of Missouri’s 37 second-half points.

(17) Michigan 84, Cleveland St. 55

At Ann Arbor, Mich., freshmen Albert White and Louis Bullock had 21 and 17 points, respectively, as the Wolverines (9-2) downed the Vikings (1-6).

The Wolverines played without injured regulars Jerod Ward, Willie Mitchell and Robert Traylor.

(22) Virginia Tech 68, West Virginia 62

At Blacksburg, Va., Ace Custis scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Hokies (4-1) over the Mountaineers (3-3), giving Bill Foster his 498th career coaching victory.

Shawn Smith, whose scored the last five points in the run, finished with 17 points.

UCLA 109, Stephen F. Austin 88

At Los Angeles, Toby Bailey scored 19 of his 23 points in the first half and the Bruins (4-3) topped 100 points for the first time this season in a rout over the Lumberjacks (4-3).

UCLA trailed by four points four times in the game’s opening minutes before taking the lead for good at 13-10 on a 3-pointer by Bailey with 15:13 remaining. Oregon St. 68, New Orleans 61

At New Orleans, Rob Williams scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Beavers (2-4) past the Privateers (2-2).

Oregon State broke a 14-game road losing streak against non-conference teams. UNO (2-2) shot only 33 percent from the field overall and 30 percent in the second half of its home opener.

Santa Clara 80, Illinois St. 78

At Normal, Ill., Steve Nash scored 20 points but it was Marion Garnett’s 3-pointer with 53 seconds left that put the Broncos (7-2) over the Redbirds (4-3).

Santa Clara made the difference at the free throw line, where the Broncos were 20 for 25.