COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : South Carolina Deflates Clemson

Basking in the glory of its first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship, Clemson was ripe for a letdown when the Tigers played intrastate rival South Carolina Monday night.

Jo Jo English took advantage of the situation, making an eight-foot jump shot with one minute to play as South Carolina upset the No. 17 Tigers, 54-53, at Columbia, S.C.

Clemson (23-7) had a chance to win, but Elden Campbell missed a short jump shot in the final seconds and time ran out with players from both teams scrambling for the ball.

Stefan Eggers, a reserve forward, scored a career-high 18 points for the Gamecocks (14-13).

Other Nontournament Games

Notre Dame 80, Kentucky 67--Elmer Bennett made eight free throws in the final 1:30 and finished with a career-high 22 points to lead the Fighting Irish at South Bend, Ind.

Kentucky (14-14), ineligible for postseason competition, concluded its first season under Coach Rick Pitino the same way it began it--by losing to Notre Dame (16-11).

Joe Fredrick led the Irish with a game-high 23 points.

Derrick Miller scored a team-high 17 points for the Wildcats.

Houston 84, Texas 79--Carl Herrera scored 29 points to lead the Cougars to their 11th consecutive victory in a Southwest Conference game at Houston.

The Cougars (23-6, 13-3) finished second in the SWC.

Travis Mays scored 19 points to lead the Longhorns (20-7, 12-4), who dropped to third in the SWC.

TOURNAMENTS

Sun Belt

South Florida 81, North Carolina-Charlotte 74--Radenko Dobras scored 24 points as the Bulls won the championship at Birmingham, Ala., and earned their first berth in the NCAA tournament.

Hakim Shahid added 13 points for South Florida (20-10).

Henry Williams scored a team-high 25 points for UNC (16-14).

Colonial Athletic

Richmond 77, James Madison 72--Ken Atkinson scored 25 points at Richmond, Va., as the Spiders (22-9) won the championship for the second time in three years.

Steve Hood scored a game-high 29 points for James Madison (20-10).

Atlantic 10

Massachusetts 64, Penn State 59--Jim McCoy scored a game-high 25 points at Philadelphia as the Minutemen advanced to the championship game.

Tony Barbee added 12 points for the Minutemen (17-12), who had never advanced past the first round of the conference tournament.

Ed Fogell scored a team-high 19 points for the Nittany Lions (21-8).

Temple 65, Rutgers 57--Mark Macon scored 28 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds as the Owls advanced to the championship game.

The Owls (19-10) scored their final 20 points from the free-throw line, with Macon converting 13 of 14.

Keith Hughes scored a game-high 24 points for Rutgers (16-16).