Tennessee Barely Escapes With a Victory

In Tony Harris’ mind, there was no way anyone else was going to take the final shots for No. 16 Tennessee on Friday night.

The 6-foot junior guard scored 23 points, including two three-pointers in the final two minutes, as the Volunteers held off Middle Tennessee State, 78-77, at Knoxville, Tenn.

Harris’ three-pointers put Tennessee (8-0) up, 78-73, with 1:37 remaining. The Blue Raiders (2-3) were able to pull within 78-77 on a layup by Ron McKnight with 34 seconds left.

The Volunteers turned the ball over in the final seconds, but a desperation shot by McKnight was wide at the buzzer and Middle Tennessee lost its third straight.

“The momentum was flowing and the game was real close and I felt like I had to do something,” Harris said. “I was feeling it, so I felt like I should be the one to take it in that situation.”

Vincent Yarbrough had 18 points for Tennessee, while C.J. Black added 12.

“When you don’t play well and still win, it tells you something,” Tennessee Coach Jerry Green said.

No. 15 Indiana 106, Buffalo 55--A.J. Guyton had 22 points and the Hoosiers cruised to victory in the first round of the 26th annual Indiana Classic at Bloomington.

The Hoosiers (6-0) will face Indiana State in today’s championship game.

Kirk Haston added 15 points for the Hoosiers and Jeffery Newton had a career-high 14.

Alexei Vasiliev had 13 points and Louis Campbell added 11 for Buffalo (2-5).

WOMEN

No. 10 Oregon 79, Kansas State 69--Shaquala Williams scored 22 points to lead Oregon in the opening round of the Women’s Sports Foundation Basketball Classic at Springfield, Mo.

Kansas State (5-3) whittled Oregon’s 43-34 halftime lead to 45-40, but Nicky Ramage, the Wildcats’ leading scorer, left with four fouls with 17:41 to play.

The Lady Ducks (6-0) took advantage of Ramage’s absence and pushed the lead to 59-46 with 12:08 left.

No. 17 Illinois 74, DePaul 64--Illinois’ Allison Curtin scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half at Champaign, Ill.

Susan Blauser led Illinois (7-3) with 20 points, 15 in the first half. Lenae Williams led the DePaul (4-2) with 25 points.

No. 19 Arizona 96, Texas Southern 46--Angela Lackey scored 19 points for Arizona in the opening round of the Insight.com Bowl Classic at Tucson, Ariz.

Indiana defeated Middle Tennessee, 81-68, in the other game and will face Arizona for the championship Sunday.

No. 21 Old Dominion 86, Virginia 65--Sharron Francis had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Old Dominion at Norfolk, Va.

Natalie Diaz added 20 points for the Lady Monarchs (5-1). Telisha Quarles led Virginia (4-4) with 19 points, and Erin Stovall had 13.