Cota’s at Home in Tar Heels’ Victory Over the Cardinal

Ed Cota grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., playing schoolyard basketball on concrete courts and dreaming about doing it on the hardwood of Madison Square Garden.

When Cota, a North Carolina junior, finally got there, he made sure it was memorable.

Cota, the shortest man on the court at 6-foot-1, scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, leading No. 9 North Carolina to the Preseason NIT championship Friday night with a 57-49 victory over No. 3 Stanford.

Cota clinched the win for North Carolina (6-0) with four free throws in the final 72 seconds and provided the backcourt leadership for the Tar Heels against Stanford (4-1).

“What a great homecoming,” Cota said. “Our defense and our rebounding was the key. I made a concentrated effort to crash the boards.

“We have a lot of talent. It’s a matter of time. Moving the ball around takes us a long way.”

The Tar Heels and Cardinal reached the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in March but both were eliminated in the semifinals. North Carolina lost to Utah and Stanford was knocked off by eventual champion Kentucky.

No. 1 Duke 93, Fresno State 82--The Blue Devils (5-0) pulled away in the second half and defeated the Bulldogs in the Great Alaska Shootout at Anchorage, Alaska.

The teams were tied, 38-38, at halftime. Duke plays Cincinnati in tonight’s championship game.

No. 2 Connecticut 111, Wagner 46--Richard Hamilton scored 22 points and Edmund Saunders and Khalid El-Amin each had 15 points to help the Huskies to an easy victory at Hartford, Conn.

Connecticut (4-0) has routed four nonconference opponents in 12 days, winning by an average of 41 points. The 65-point margin over Wagner (0-2) was the third largest in school history.

No. 7 Michigan State 87, Central Florida 64--Forwards Jason Klein and Andre Hutson combined for 37 points to lead the Spartans to a victory in the opening round of the Spartan Classic at East Lansing, Mich.

Klein’s 19 points led a balanced offense for Michigan State (3-1), which had four players in double figures. Hutson had 18 points, Charlie Bell 14 and Thomas Kelley added 10.

No. 8 Kansas 78, Nevada Las Vegas 50--Kenny Gregory scored 21 points to help the Jayhawks run away in the second half for a victory in the Tip-Off Classic at Springfield, Mass.

Kansas (4-0) closed the game with an 11-0 run, holding the Runnin’ Rebels (3-2) scoreless over the last 4:50.

Nick Bradford scored 19 points for Kansas. Shawn Marion and Brian Keefe each had 12 points for UNLV, which made three of 13 free throws.

No. 14 Purdue 70, No. 23 St. John’s 69--Jaraan Cornell’s 20-foot jumper with 1.7 seconds remaining capped a Boilermaker comeback in the consolation game of the Preseason NIT at New York.

The Red Storm (3-2) used hot shooting by Ron Artest and Bootsie Thornton to build an 18-point lead. But Tony Mayfield, Alan Eldridge and Cornell made three consecutive three-pointers at the start of the second half to jump-start a Purdue (5-1) rally.

No. 15 Cincinnati 60, Iowa State 52--Melvin Levett scored 12 points as the Bearcats survived a defensive struggle to advance to the championship round of the Great Alaska Shootout at Anchorage, Alaska.

Ryan Fletcher added 11 for Cincinnati (3-0), which managed to shoot 41% from the field. Martin Rancik’s 14 points led Iowa State (2-1).

No. 20 New Mexico 88, Cornell 75--Lamont Long scored 28 points in the first half and Brian Smith scored 13 in a row over a 4 1/2-minute stretch in the second half to lead the Lobos to a first-round victory in the Lobo Classic at Albuquerque, N.M.

Long finished with 32 points and has scored 92 in three games for New Mexico (3-0), which had only four turnovers against Cornell (2-2).

No. 24 Miami-Ohio 70, Boston University 53--A well-guarded Wally Szczerbiak still had 17 points and seven rebounds to lead the RedHawks (4-0) at Halifax, Canada.

OTHER GAMES

Wake Forest 59, Davidson 58--Needing a second-half rally for the third consecutive game, the Demon Deacons (5-1) got two free throws from Robert O’Kelley with two seconds left to win in Winston-Salem, N.C.

O’Kelley’s free throws capped a second half that featured 11 lead changes and eight ties. O’Kelley had 24 points as Wake Forest gained its fourth consecutive victory and defeated the Wildcats (0-3) for the 19th consecutive time.

Villanova 71, Mount St. Mary’s 68--Howard Brown scored 18 points and Malik Allen sparked a late rally for the Wildcats at Villanova, Pa.

Allen and John Celestand each had 11 points for Villanova (5-0). Terrence Wilson, who made all eight of his shots, had 16 for Mount St. Mary’s (1-2).

Georgia Tech 65, New Orleans 62--Jason Floyd scored on a three-point play with 13 seconds remaining in overtime and then added a free throw eight seconds later to give the Yellow Jackets (3-0) a victory in the opening round of the Big Island Invitational at Hilo, Hawaii.

Alaska Anchorage 88, Notre Dame 82--Chris Hamey scored 22 points, 18 of them in the second half, to lead the Division II Seawolves (3-1) to an overtime victory over the Irish (1-4) in a consolation-round game at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska.

WOMEN

No. 5 North Carolina 77, St. John’s 67--Chanel Wright scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Tar Heels (6-0) in the first round of the Rainbow Wahine Basketball Classic at Honolulu.

No. 8 Alabama 77, New Mexico State 31--Beth Vice came off the bench to score 17 points, including five of seven from three-point range, to lead the Crimson Tide (4-0) in the first round of the Moran Classic at Chicago.