Gophers win another NIT

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A turbulent day for the Big Ten ended with a trophy presentation.

Minnesota gave the conference a distraction from Northwestern's point-shaving scandal by winning its second National Invitation Tournament title in this decade last night with a 79-72 victory over league rival Penn State.

Kevin Clark overcame a flu bug to score a career-high 28 points, Sam Jacobson had 23 and Quincy Lewis 19 for the Gophers (20-15), an NCAA Final Four team last year.

Clark, a junior who had 58 points and 11 rebounds in two games at Madison Square Garden, was the tournament's MVP.

The Golden Gophers, who lost seven players from the Final Four team, dropped their first six league games. But Clem Haskins' squad regrouped to win 11 of its last 14, giving the Big Ten its second straight NIT champion and third in six years. The Gophers won the tourney in 1993 and Michigan captured the crown last season.

"This is a bigger thrill for me than getting to the Final Four," Haskins said, "because we weren't expected to be here."

Playing in its first men's basketball championship game, Penn State (19-13) was hoping to shed its image as a football-only school. But the Nittany Lions couldn't rally after falling behind by 10 points in the second half.

Calvin Booth led Penn State with 14 points and eight rebounds. Senior Pete Lisicky, the second leading scorer in school history, was just 3-for-12 from the field.

"I was forcing some and they were playing tough," Lisicky said. "They were able to do some things defensively against us that non-conference teams couldn't."

The all-Big Ten final was the first for the NIT since 1979, when Indiana beat Purdue, and much of the pregame conversation among fans and reporters centered around another Big Ten school, Northwestern, which had two players indicted yesterday for shaving points in 1994-95.

Lewis and Clark scored 27 of Minnesota's first 29 points in the second half, and combined with Jacobson to score 70 of the Golden Gophers' points for the game.

"That's a typical Minnesota game," Haskins said. "We like to ride the hot hand."

Georgia 95, Fresno St. 79: Georgia used the 3 to claim third place in the NIT.

G.G. Smith made nine of a school record 19 3-pointers, sending Georgia over Fresno State in the NIT's consolation game.

Smith, whose father, Tubby, will coach Kentucky in the Final Four in San Antonio this weekend, made six 3-pointers in the second half, including three in a 3:10 span when Georgia pulled away.

Tubby Smith attended his son's semifinal loss to Penn State on Tuesday night, but wasn't around to see him set a career-high in scoring with 27 points by going 9-for-15 from 3-point range.

For Fresno State (21-13), a troubled season that included suspensions and arrests of several of its star players and national criticism of coach Jerry Tarkanian's program, ended with its second-worst loss.

Tremaine Fowlkes led Fresno State with 24 points -- 14 on free throws -- and Larry Abney had 15 and 11 rebounds.

Fresno State was within striking distance, trailing 68-62 with 10:10 left after two free throws by Chris Herren.

But Georgia made five 3-pointers during an 18-2 run, capped by Ray Harrison's 3 that made it 86-64 with 5:31 remaining.

Ray Harrison was 4-for-5 on 3-pointers, Derrick Dukes was 4-for-9 and Georgia went 19 -for-35 to better the school mark of 18 3-pointers set in a Nov. 25 win over Charleston Southern.