SPORTSWIRE: St. Joseph's falls at DePaul in tuneup for Quakers

Colonials top Owls at McGonigle; Explorers win at Civic Center; UMass whips URI DePaul (7-5) hit 11-of-24 3-pointers, and went on a 21-4 run in the second half to lead 43-31. At 13:35, DePaul led 53-41 after a free throw by Brendan Cole. The Hawks (8-5), who host Penn tomorrow, then scored 10 straight points to pull to within 53-51 when Reggie Townsend scored at 10:25. Kleinschmidt then hit consecutive 3-point baskets to begin a 14-3 run in which he scored 11 points. That increased DePaul's lead to 67-54 with 6:13 remaining. The Hawks trimmed the lead to 71-66 on Bernard Blunt's basket at 1:23, but that was the last time St. Joseph's scored. DePaul got its final points at the free throw line. DePaul's Peter Patton had a career-high 16 points. Mark Bass and Dmitri Domani each had 12 points for St. Joseph's, while Carlin Warley added 11. DePaul held a 39-31 advantage at halftime. · George Washington 69, Temple 62 Kwame Evans scored 23 points and George Washington rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit to defeat Temple, 69-62, in an Atlantic-10 game yesterday at McGonigle Hall. Antoine Hart added 13 points for the Colonials (10-7, 3-2), who won for only the second time in their last 26 meetings with Temple The Owls (7-3, 3-2) led 44-36 on two free throws by Levan Alston with 16:05 remaining. George Washington then ran off 15 straight points to take a 51-44 lead with 11:34 to go. Temple rallied and went ahead 57-56 at 4:34 but the Colonials, sparked by an Evans 3-pointer, went on a 12-5 run to take a 68-62 advantage with 14 seconds to play. Temple had streaked to a 28-8 lead with 10:22 remaining in the first half, but Evans sparked G-W on a 21-4 run and the Colonials trailed only by 38-31 at halftime. Nimbo Hammons added 11 points for George Washington, while Lynard Stewart, Rick Brunson and Johnny Miller each had 12 points for the Owls. · La Salle 75, Cleveland St. 67 Kareem Townes scored 26 points and Paul Burke added 25 to lead La Salle to a 76-67 victory over Cleveland State last night in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference at the Civic Center. The Explorers (9-5, 3-1) scored 12 of the games' final 14 points in notching their third conference victory in four games. Cleveland State (5-10, 0-5) was led by Jamal Jackson, who scored 23 points. Center Gary Meeks and guard Joe Rey added 13 each for the Vikings. Townes, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, averages 24.5 points a game. Burke scored 16 points of his 25 points in the second half. He averages just under 15 points a contest. The first half ended tied at 33-each as neither team was able to open up. Cleveland State had the half's biggest lead at 19-12, while La Salle's biggest margin was just three points, twice in the early going. · No. 1 Massachusetts 91, Rhode Island 75 PROVIDENCE -- Marcus Camby scored 27 points as Massachusetts, the nation's top-ranked team, coasted to a 91-75 victory last night over Rhode Island, the last-place team in the Atlantic 10. It was the 11th straight win for the Minutemen (12-1, 4-0 Atlantic 10), while Rhode Island (4-9, 0-4) dropped its sixth in a row. Massachusetts had the game wrapped up with an 87-60 lead before the Rams closed with a 15-4 run in the last 2:03. Camby was instrumental in ruining any Rhode Island comeback hopes, scoring 11 straight Massachusetts points and 13 of 16 as the Minutemen stretched a 50-38 lead to 66-45. Only two of Massachusetts' last nine opponents have lost by fewer than 15. Camby missed his career high by five points. Derek Kellogg added 14 for the Minutemen. Rhode Island was led by Cordell Llewellyn with 21 points and Cuttino Mobley with 17. · No. 13 Arizona State 81, USC 71 TEMPE, Ariz. -- Ron Riley scored 20 points and Mario Bennett had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead 13th-ranked Arizona State past Southern Cal 81-71 last night in Pacific-10 Conference play. Five players scored in double figures for Arizona State (13-3, 3-1 Pac-10), which has won eight of its last nine. Riley scored six of his 10 first-half points to key an 11-1 run that gave the Sun Devils a 30-17 lead with 4:37 remaining in the half. Arizona State closed the half with a 16-4 run to lead 46-26 at the half. During that run, Bennett, the Sun Devils' leading scorer, scored all six of his first-half points and Jeremy Veal added five. Southern Cal (7-8, 2-3) outrebounded Arizona State 23-16 in the first half but committed 18 turnovers and shot 43.5 percent from the floor. · No. 23 Cincinnati 84, Saint Louis 73 CINCINNATI -- Foul-troubled Art Long came off the bench and scored eight points in the final seven minutes, helping No. 23 Cincinnati pull away from Saint Louis for an 84-73 victory last night. Long, playing with four fouls, hit two baskets in a seven-point spurt that put Cincinnati (13-5, 3-0 Great Midwest Conference) ahead to stay 70-64 with just under five minutes left. It was a familiar ending for Saint Louis (11-3, 2-1), which is 3-24 against the Bearcats overall and hasn't won in Cincinnati in 13 years. The Billikens played most of the game on even terms but wound up losing because of a brief lapse. David Robinson had a technical foul during the decisive seven-point spurt, giving Cincinnati two extra free throws and possession. Robinson was whistled while jockeying for position under the basket during a free throw. LaZelle Durden led Cincinnati with 23 points, Danny Fortson and Darnell Burton added 18, and Long had 12. Erwin Claggett and Scott Highmark had 21 apiece for Saint Louis. Knicks 93, Rockets 77 HOUSTON -- John Starks shook off the memory of his last game at the Summit, scoring 22 points and shooting above 50 percent from the field to lead the New York Knicks past Houston 93-77 last night in a rematch of the NBA finals. Starks was only 2-of-18 from the field last June 22 when the Rockets beat the Knicks 90-84 in Game 7 of the championship series, but he was on target in the rematch, going 3-of-3 from 3-point range and leading the Knicks in scoring. Houston never led in the game and managed only one tie at 53-53 in the third quarter. New York outscored Houston 30-18 in the fourth period. Hakeem Olajuwon led the Rockets with 28 points and 17 rebounds. Otis Thorpe added 15 points. Derek Harper scored 16 points for the Knicks and Patrick Ewing had 15 points and 18 rebounds. New York snapped a five-game regular season losing streak at the Summit. New York hit its first four shots while the Rockets missed their first five, setting the tempo for the first half before the Knicks settled for a 47-42 halftime lead. The Knicks had a 47-34 lead with 1:40 left in the half, but the Rockets scored eight straight points, four each by Olajuwon and Thorpe, to narrow the deficit. After fighting in the board rooms, players will be battling on the ice as the NHL season opens today. Their labor dispute behind them, NHL teams will finally get their season under way with eight games tonight -- including a long-awaited opening night at Madison Square Garden where the New York Rangers will raise their Stanley Cup banner. The same kind of excitement that surrounded the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals last spring, when the Rangers beat Vancouver for the title, has surrounded this game. It has become as much an event as a sporting contest. A sellout crowd will be on hand to watch the ceremony celebrating the Rangers' first Cup since 1940. The banner will join the three others the Rangers have hung in the rafters. The Rangers open against the Buffalo Sabres. In other games today, it's Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay, Chicago at Detroit, Calgary at Winnipeg, Anaheim at Edmonton, Dallas at Vancouver, St. Louis at San Jose and Toronto at Los Angeles.