College Basketball

RICHMOND —  As soon as Demonte Harper missed the free throw that would have won the game, he knew what he had to do. Forget about it. Harper could have hung his head after missing from the foul line with two seconds  left in a tie game. Instead, he helped Morehead State hang a loss on archrival Eastern Kentucky. He bounced back with two big baskets in overtime to help the Eagles earn a 76-68 victory at McBrayer Arena in a critical Ohio Valley Conference game for both teams.

Stanford native Ethan Spurlin has been named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball player of the week after leading Transylvania to a pair of league wins last week. Spurlin, a sophomore guard, averaged 19.5 points in Transy’s wins over Franklin and Defiance. He shot a combined 15 for 23 from the field and had seven rebounds. The 2009 Lincoln County graduate ranks second in points per game (10.6) and first in rebounds (5.3) for the Pioneers (15-6, 9-5 HCAC)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chris Wright went from 0 points to 24 in two days, keeping Georgetown’s winning streak alive and finally lifting the Hoyas into the top half of the Big East standings. After going scoreless in a win over Villanova, Wright had a season-high 24 points Monday night as the 13th-ranked Hoyas overcame a major dose of Big East ugly to get their fifth straight win, blowing an 11-point second-half lead before pulling out a 62-59 victory over No. 15 Louisville.

RICHMOND — Steve Payne never thought he’d be at his current job this long. Then again, he never thought he would enjoy it so much. Assistant coaches are a nomadic lot, with many of them thinking about how they can best position themselves to run their own program someday. Payne said he thinks about those things, too, but the Liberty native said he also thinks he’s got it pretty good at Tennessee Tech. A combination of special circumstances and a special affinity for the community where he and his family have settled has led Payne to put down roots in Cookeville, Tenn.

University of Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart learned Friday that Enes Kanter had been declared permanently ineligible by the NCAA - a finding he vehemently disagree with - and then watched the Kentucky football team get pummeled 27-10 by Pittsburgh Saturday in the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham to end coach Joker Phillips’ first season at 6-7. He offered his thoughts on both Kanter and the football team after Saturday’s bowl...

Now we know that Enes Kanter won’t play basketball for Kentucky this year. That became clear when Chuck Wynne, the director of communication strategy for the NCAA, told WLEX-TV in an e-mail Thursday that there would be “no decision on the prospective student-athlete's initial eligibility until after the first of the year. Any reports saying otherwise are wrong.” Several sources had been speculating that the NCAA might give Kentucky a ruling this week on its appeal of Kanter’s status after he was originally ruled “permanently ineligible” for receiving excessive payments when he played for a Turkish club team before he came to the United States two years ago. His parents have contended all along that the money was spent on his education and the other funds were placed in an escrow account.

LOUISVILLE (AP) — Rick Pitino didn’t buy into the hype, even as No. 20 Louisville ripped off eight straight wins to open the season. The coach refused to say whether the Cardinals were “legit” following a victory over UNLV last weekend, believing all the 22nd-ranked Runnin’ Rebels did was expose his team’s weaknesses — even if he refused to say what they were. There’s no need for him to expand now, not after Drexel methodically dismantled the Cardinals 52-46 on Tuesday night, ending Louisville’s unbeaten run at its new downtown arena.

LOUISVILLE — Louisville guard and former George Rogers Clark standout Preston Knowles would like to set the record straight: his diet isn’t nearly as bad as coach Rick Pitino says. “I eat pretty good, I eat Subway, what’s the guy? I think his name is Jerry, he and I had a little talk,” Knowles said. The senior captain, chastised recently by Pitino for poor conditioning and eating habits, certainly looked lighter on his feet on Wednesday night against Florida International, scoring a season-high 18 points as the Cardinals rolled by the lifeless Panthers 92-55.

It wasn’t hard for Chicago’s Anthony Davis to explain why he thought Kentucky was the best place for him to play college basketball. “They have a nice basketball program, produce a lot of NBA players, and coach (John) Calipari and his coaching staff is just awesome. They teach you a lot, and I will have a chance to reach the next level by going to Kentucky,” said Davis, a 6-10 forward who is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 senior by Scout.com “I am very happy to have signed with Kentucky.