Hopson's career-high 25 leads Tennessee

WIRE, SPECIAL REPORTS

Scotty Hopson, a University Heights graduate, had a career-high 25 points, and No. 10 Tennessee set a school record for points in a game with a 124-49 victory over North Carolina-Asheville on Tuesday night. It was Coach Bruce Pearl’s 100th win with the Volunteers, and the 124 points broke Tennessee’s previous single-game record of 121 points, last achieved by the Vols in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament against Long Beach State.

The Vols (2-0) had their way with a Bulldogs team picked to finish second in the Big South Conference, hitting 64.9 percent of their shots from the field in the first half.

Hopson had outscored UNC-Asheville (2-0) by himself at halftime and was two points shy of tying his previous career high of 21. He broke the mark with a three-pointer at the 18:18 mark in the second half and finished 6-for-7 from behind the arc.

UNC-Asheville didn’t score a field goal until Terrence Turner hit a layup with 3:10 to go in the first half.

Men

Louisiana State 71, Western Kentucky 60: Bo Spencer scored a career-high 28 points and made a tie-breaking three-pointer as LSU defeated Western Kentucky at Baton Rouge. Storm Warren had his third straight double-double with a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds for LSU (3-0), which advanced to the NIT Tip-Off semifinals against Connecticut next week. Sergio Kerusch led Western Kentucky (1-1) with 25 points. A.J. Slaughter, a Shelby County graduate who scored 30 points on Monday night against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, shot 3-for-17 from the field and finished with 11 points.

No. 12 Connecticut 76, Hofstra 67: Jerome Dyson scored 23 points, and host Connecticut rallied for a victory over Hofstra in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. UConn (3-0) trailed Hofstra 54-45 with nine minutes remaining but went ahead 59-58 on two free throws by Dyson with 5:20 to go. The teams then exchanged the lead four times before the Huskies went up for good 63-62 with 4:16 left.

No. 2 Michigan St. 75, Gonzaga 71: Durrell Summers hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 3:02 left, made two at the line with 5.7 seconds to go and finished with 21 points to help Michigan State rally for a win at home.

No. 9 Duke 101, Charlotte 59: Nolan Smith scored a career-high 24 points, and the host Blue Devils routed Charlotte in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Jon Scheyer added 20 points, and Kyle Singler had 17 for the Blue Devils (3-0).

Marshall 63, Middle Tennessee 60: Damier Pitts sank four free throws in the final 35 seconds to help Marshall hold off visiting Middle Tennessee State. The Thundering Herd (2-0) also got 11 points and four rebounds from Tyler Wilkerson (Lafayette).

Florida International 88, Florida Memorial 82: Isiah Thomas earned his first win as a college coach when Phil Gary Jr. scored a season-high 27 points at Miami. The Golden Panthers improved to 1-3 in Thomas’ first season.

Wofford 60, Georgia 57: Cameron Rundles made both ends of a one-and-one with 3.1 seconds remaining to secure a Wofford victory at Georgia.

Xavier 101, Bowling Green 57: Jordan Crawford, the brother of former UK star Joe Crawford, scored 15 of his career-high 24 points in the first half in Xavier’s home win.

Campbellsville 57, Union (Tenn.) 50: Tigers point guard T.J. Bishop was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds to secure a win in Jackson, Tenn. Caleb Harris and Nestor Colmenares led the Tigers with 15 points apiece.

Transylvania 77, Berea 66: Tim Tierney (Covington Catholic) scored 18 points in the Pioneers’ win at Berea.

Women

Hartford 62, No. 23 Louisville 50: Erica Beverly had 14 points and 11 rebounds to help host Hartford to an upset. Louisville was sloppy throughout. The Cardinals had 25 turnovers and made one three-pointer in 10 tries. Becky Burke led Louisville with 15 points.

Bellarmine 76, Kentucky State 62: Brittany Edelen, a transfer from Kentucky who starred at Washington County, scored 22 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked five shots in her debut for visiting Bellarmine. Allison Matheis added 17 points and seven rebounds. Jessica Vaughn and Shana McCombs (Hopkinsville) scored 18 and 17 points, respectively for the Thorobrettes.

Georgetown 72, Charleston 66: Jayme Gilbert (Clay County) and Kourtney Tyra (Jackson County) scored 19 points apiece, and Emily Drees (Notre Dame) grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers at home.

Transylvania 80, Spalding 69: Holly Milburn (Scott County) went 11-for-15 from the field and scored 22 points to lead the host Pioneers. Brittany Henderlight (Woodford County) and Kennae Demus (Lafayette) added 15 points apiece.

Notes

Alabama: Senior guard Anthony Brock was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules, Coach Anthony Grant announced Tuesday. Brock scored 15 points and had three steals in the Crimson Tide’s season-opening 71-67 loss to Cornell.

Mississippi State: Coach Rick Stansbury suspended forward Kodi Augustus for two games. The coach announced his decision Tuesday, four days after Augustus criticized Stansbury following a season-opening 88-74 loss to Rider. Purdue: Point guard Lewis Jackson is out indefinitely after surgery Tuesday to repair a foot injury he suffered in practice last week. Jackson started 30 games as a freshman last season and averaged a team-best 3.3 assists.