‘52 Pickup Not in the Cards for Tar Heels

North Carolina avoided its first five-game losing streak since 1952 as center Brendan Haywood matched his career high with 24 points in a 75-63 victory over No. 22-ranked Maryland on Thursday at Chapel Hill, N.C.

North Carolina, 12-8 overall and 3-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, took control with a 14-0 run midway in the second half. The Tar Heels scored 13 of the game’s final 16 points.

Maryland (13-6, 2-4) made 10 of its first 17 three-point shots in leading by as many as 11 points, then missed its final 10 attempts from behind the arc.

The game was postponed a day because of a 20-inch snowstorm that hit the area Monday.

No. 1 Cincinnati 75, Louisville 65--Freshman guard DerMarr Johnson made his first eight shots--including five from three-point range--and scored all of his 21 points in the first half at Louisville, Ky., to lead the Bearcats (19-1, 7-0 in Conference USA) to their 11th consecutive victory.

The Cardinals (11-7, 3-4) have lost four of five games.

No. 6 Connecticut 64, Providence 50--Guard Albert Mouring scored eight of his 20 points in a 23-9 first-half run at Hartford, Conn., to lead the Huskies (14-4, 3-3) to their first win in three Big East home games. It was the fifth loss in a row for the Friars (8-11, 1-5).

Connecticut played most of the second half without point guard Khalid El-Amin and forward Kevin Freeman. El-Amin suffered a bruised his right thigh, and Freeman took an elbow to the back and sat out with spasms.

No. 9 Michigan State 59, Northwestern 29--The Spartans (14-5, 5-1 in the Big Ten) held the Wildcats (4-14, 0-6) without a field goal for a 17-minute span in the first half at Evanston, Ill.

Northwestern made only seven of 39 shots en route to its second-lowest point total of the season, having scored 26 in a November loss to Evansville. The NCAA record for the fewest points since the shot clock was adopted in 1985-86 was 21 by Georgia Southern against Coastal Carolina in January 1997.

No. 13 Tulsa 89, Texas El Paso 71--Reserve forward David Shelton scored 21 points at El Paso to help the Golden Hurricane (20-1, 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference) extend its winning streak to 13 and become the first Division I team with 20 victories this season. The Miners are 10-8 and 1-4.

Clemson 59, No. 21 North Carolina State 42--The Wolfpack (13-4, 4-3 in the ACC) missed 15 of its first 20 shots, then went the final seven minutes without scoring in losing to the Tigers (7-12, 1-5) in a game at Clemson, S.C., that was postponed a day because of heavy snowfall.

It was the fewest points for North Carolina State since a 38-36 loss to Princeton in 1997.