Maryland Upsets No. 2 Wake Forest, 54-51

Wake Forest isn’t undefeated anymore, and Maryland will no longer be lightly regarded.

Laron Profit made a three-point shot at the buzzer and the 11th-ranked Terrapins withstood two second-half rallies by No. 2 Wake Forest to pull out a 54-51 victory Sunday at Winston-Salem, N.C., snapping the Demon Deacons’ 25-game home winning streak.

The defeat for Wake Forest, 13-1 overall and 5-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, left top-ranked Kansas as the nation’s only unbeaten team. Maryland, which was picked to finish eighth in the ACC preseason poll, is half a game behind league-leading Clemson.

The Terrapins (15-2, 5-1), led by Sarunas Jasikevicius’ 19 points, blew a 19-point first-half lead. The Demon Deacons went on a 16-0 run to start the second half, grabbing their first lead at 34-32 with 15:28 left.

Maryland’s 9-2 run late in the first half seemed to seal the upset, giving the Terrapins a 51-44 lead with 2:22 to play.

But Jerry Braswell made a three-point shot and Tim Duncan added a bank shot and two free throws with 17.3 seconds to play to tie the score, setting up the last-second heroics by Profit, who shoots 31.3% from long range.

No. 1 Kansas 73, Connecticut 65--Reserve guard Billy Thomas scored eight points during a late burst and the Jayhawks remained unbeaten with the victory over the undermanned Huskies (11-4) at Hartford, Conn.

Connecticut played without starters Kirk King and Ricky Moore, who were declared ineligible during the week pending clarification of an allegation of extra benefits received by the two.

Thomas, who finished with 11 points, scored all of Kansas’ points during an 8-2 run that turned the Jayhawks’ 57-55 lead with 3:45 left into a 65-57 lead with 1:54 left.

Kansas (18-0) closed it out from the free-throw line by going eight for eight over the final 53 seconds to cap a second half in which it made all 16 of its free throws. The Jayhawks were 18 for 19 from the line for the game.

No. 10 Louisville 85, No. 23 Texas 78--Eric Johnson barely beat the clock with a three-point shot at the end of regulation, then made two crucial free throws with 23.4 seconds left in overtime as the Cardinals (15-1) erased a 15-point second-half deficit and defeated the Longhorns (9-5).

No. 14 Xavier 68, Temple 64--Gary Lumpkin scored seven of his 13 points in overtime, including two free throws with 17 seconds to play, giving the Musketeers the victory over Temple (8-5, 2-2) at Cincinnati.

Lumpkin missed a shot at the end of regulation, but Xavier (12-2, 3-1 Atlantic 10) led throughout the overtime. Lenny Brown led Xavier with 20 points.

No. 18 Michigan 79, Iowa 71--The Wolverine big men were ineffective, so Michigan relied on its three guards to win at Ann Arbor, Mich., snapping the Hawkeyes’ eight-game winning streak.

Louis Bullock had 19 points for Michigan (13-4, 4-2 Big Ten). Andre Woolridge led Iowa (14-4, 5-1) with 25.

OTHER GAMES

Brandon Wharton scored 19 points to lead Tennessee (8-6, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) to a 66-52 victory over Louisiana State (8-10, 1-4) at Knoxville, Tenn. . . . Anthony Carter scored 22 points to lead Hawaii (12-3, 4-1 WAC) to a 70-58 victory over Wyoming (5-10, 1-3) at Honolulu. . . . Derrick Brown scored 17 points for Providence (12-5, 4-3 Big East) in a 74-61 win over West Virginia (9-5, 3-4) at Providence. . . . DeMarco Johnson scored 17 points as North Carolina Charlotte (12-4, 4-1) won a Conference USA game, 76-70, over Memphis (9-8, 3-2). . . . Jimmy Carroll scored 22 points for Nevada (10-5, 4-1 Big West), which rallied for a 76-68 victory over North Texas State (6-8, 1-3). . . . Illinois State (12-2, 5-1 Missouri Valley) got 19 points from LeRoy Watkins in a 67-53 win over Evansville (8-10, 2-4) in Evansville, Ind.