Lou Henson got his 700th victory Thursday night as New Mexico State beat Utah State 55-52 behind Charles Gosa’s 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Henson, 67, became the 13th Division I coach to reach the 700 milestone. His overall record in 36 seasons is 700-352. Henson began his career at Hardin-Simmons in 1962, coached for 10 seasons at New Mexico State, for 21 years at Illinois and returned to New Mexico State last season.
New Mexico State (19-9, 11-4) held Utah State (15-11, 7-7) scoreless in the final 3 minutes 12 seconds of the Big West game.
Minn. 62, Purdue 48: The Golden Gophers (16-9, 7-8) rebounded from their poor performance at No. 23 Purdue for a crucial Big Ten victory over the visiting Boilermakers (19-10, 7-8).
Big Ten scoring leader Quincy Lewis had 27 points to lead Minnesota, which badly needed the victory to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive after dropping four of its previous five games.
That included Tuesday’s 54-42 loss at Purdue in a makeup of a game postponed by bad weather last month. Lewis had a season-low 13 points in that game, but he matched that by halftime Thursday.
California 89, Arizona 76: Geno Carlisle scored 21 points and Sean Lampley had 20 as the host Bears (15-10, 6-9) upset the No. 7 Wildcats (20-5, 11-4) in the Pac-10.
Stanford 87, Ariz. St. 77: Kris Weems had five of his 19 points in overtime as the No. 6 Cardinal (23-5, 13-2), which hit 12 straight free throws down the stretch, defeated the visiting Sun Devils (14-13, 6-9) to take a commanding lead in the Pac-10.
Cincinnati 64, S. Fla. 53: Steve Logan scored 24 points and the ninth-ranked Bearcats (24-4, 11-4) assured themselves of a bye in the opening round of the Conference USA tournament with the victory over the Bulls (13-14, 6-9) in Tampa.
Utah 75, Texas-El Paso 70: Andre Miller scored 17 points as the No. 12 Utes (23-4, 13-0) beat the visiting Miners (16-10, 8-5) in the Western Athletic Conference and tied a school record with their 18th straight victory.
UCLA 100, Wash. St. 61: Baron Davis had 17 points and 11 assists as the 15th-ranked Bruins (20-7, 10-5) demolished the visiting Cougars (10-17, 4-12) from the opening tip in the Pac-10 game.
New Mexico 85, BYU 64: Kenny Thomas scored 28 points and Kevin Henry had 17 of his 20 points in the second half as the No. 21 Lobos (22-6, 9-4) beat the host Cougars (10-15, 5-8) in the WAC game.
Women
La. Tech 98, S. Ala. 39: Amanda Wilson had 21 points and nine rebounds as the No. 3 Lady Techsters (23-2, 11-0) routed the host Jaguars (7-17, 2-9) in the Sun Belt game.
Colorado St. 75, UNLV 68: Becky Hammon scored 42 points and became the most prolific scorer in WAC history as she led the fourth-ranked Rams (28-1) over the host Rebels (15-10).
UCLA 104, Wash. St. 70: Maylana Martin had 23 points and 10 rebounds as the No. 12 Bruins (21-6, 13-2) made 69 percent of their field- goal attempts in beating the host Cougars (10-15, 4-12) in the Pac-10 game.
Alabama 82, S. Carolina 71: Dominique Canty scored 24 points and Shondra Johnson added 20 as the No. 24 Crimson Tide (18-9) beat the Gamecocks (11-16) in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Chattanooga, Tenn.
Wis.-Green Bay 76, UIC 51: Chari Nordgaard scored 26 points to pace the host Phoenix (15-9, 12-1) to the Midwestern Collegiate Confeence win over the Flames (5-20, 3-10), who were led by Robin Westrom’s 18 points.
