North Carolina Hands Clemson Its First Loss

Antawn Jamison and Jeff McInnis each scored 17 points as No. 10 North Carolina maintained its home-court mastery of previously unbeaten No. 16 Clemson with an 86-53 victory Sunday at Chapel Hill, N.C.

In 42 games away from home, the Tigers have never defeated the Tar Heels. The latest meeting was typical of the trouble Clemson, 11-1 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, has had at Chapel Hill, as North Carolina (12-3, 3-1) used its pressure defense to force mistakes against the young Tigers.

After Clemson closed to within 24-20, North Carolina went on a run to build a 42-25 halftime lead.

No. 9 Memphis 60, South Florida 59, OT--Lorenzen Wright made four clutch free throws and scored six of his 15 points in overtime as the Tigers (11-2, 3-0) shrugged off their road woes and held on for the Conference USA victory over the Bulls (7-6, 0-3) at Tampa, Fla.

No. 13 Utah 82, Hawaii 46--Keith Van Horn scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half as the Utes (11-3, 3-1) charged to an early lead and coasted late Saturday night over the Rainbows (4-9, 1-4) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Honolulu.

No. 14 Syracuse 81, Rutgers 80--John Wallace scored seven of his game-high 25 points in the final 3:05 as the Orangemen (13-2, 4-1) defeated Rutgers (4-8, 1-3) in a Big East game at Syracuse.

OTHER GAMES

Reserve Bevan Thomas scored nine points in the last nine minutes to lead Boston College (11-3, 4-2) to an 83-80 Big East victory over Seton Hall (7-6, 3-3) at Boston. . . . Rod Howard’s two late free throws gave North Carolina Charlotte (8-5, 2-1) a 60-58 Conference USA victory over Tulane (7-5, 1-2) at Charlotte.

College Basketball Notes

The men’s basketball game between Iona and Fairfield at Fairfield, Conn. was postponed after 10 Fairfield players and two coaches were hospitalized for a short time because of food poisoning. They had attended a Friday night dinner of chicken and salad made by some of the players. . . . Marquette Coach Mike Deane returned to Milwaukee with his team, and will coach tonight’s game against Illinois-Chicago, after undergoing medical tests at a Cincinnati hospital that were negative. Deane felt nauseous and lightheaded during Saturday night’s 91-70 loss at Cincinnati. . . . Ryan Holmes was suspended indefinitely from the Central Michigan team following a locker-room fight after an 81-76 loss to Eastern Michigan. Teammate Mike Walker sustained a broken jaw.