Our weekly wrap of college basketball in the States highlights some more strong performances from former Harbour representative players.

It is not often that a player picks up five fouls in two minutes and can be congratulated on playing an important part in his teams win but that is exactly what happened to Matt Freeman as Oklahoma Sooners (No 12) beat Kansas (No 5) 85-80.

With the Sooners trailing deep into the second half Freeman was inserted into the game to mark, or more accurately foul, Kansas big man Udoka Azubuike. The ploy worked a treat as Azubuike missed five straight free throws allowing the Sooners the opportunity to capitalize and turn a five-point deficit into a five-point win.

The victory lifts Oklahoma to 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference.

Jack Salt made 7 points (3/3FG, 1/1FT) and snared 3 rebounds and a pair of blocks as Virginia Cavaliers held off No 4 ranked Duke to win 65-63.

The win further strengthens the Cavaliers No 2 ranking and they are now unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference with eight straight victories and overall have won 12 on the bounce.

Also in the Atlantic 10 it was lucky 13 for Sam Waardenburg as Miami Hurricanes defeated Louisville 78-75 in overtime. The former Rangitoto College forward garnered a season best 7 rebounds plus an assist and block in 13 minutes of action on Thursday.

Three days later the Hurricanes were again taken to overtime but fell 103-94 to Florida State. Waardenburg was again in action knocking down his solitary three-point attempt and registering his first five points in Atlantic Coast Conference play – Miami 4-4 in ACC play.

Having broken their Pac West Conference duck on Friday Biola University Eagles made it two wins in two days by defeating Notre Dame de Namur 60-52. Alex Talma was in the thick of the action recording 15 points, 7 rebounds, two steals, two assists and a block. He shot a very efficient 5 rom 7 from both the field and the foul line.

In junior college action Joel Coffey scored 12 points and a game high 9 points as State College of Florida were defeated 74-71 by St Petersburgh College slipping to 1-4 in Conference play.

Despite Virginia Commonwealth Rams slipping to 1-7 in Atlantic 10 Conference play after a narrow 62-59 loss to La Salle and a 77-68 overtime defeat at the hands of Richmond, Tera Reed was once again to the fore. The freshman was named Atlantic 10 Co-Rookie of the Week as she averaged 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds across the two games.

Brooke Blair scored 19 points (7/13FG) but Idaho State Bengals fell 84-73 at Weber State and are now 4-4 in the Big Sky Conference.

Tiarna Clarke scored 8 points for Northern Colorado but the Bears slipped to a second straight loss, and 5-3 in Big Sky Conference play after going down 79-71 to Idaho.

Hawaii Pacific Sharks came up with a programme tying 12^th straight win in thumping Chaminade 73-42. Ella Fotu produced 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist in 21 minutes of action.

Katie Diakhaby is reeling off double-doubles with monotonous regularity for Northeastern Junior College. She scored 25 points and accumulated 17 rebounds –her 11^th double D of the season - as Northeastern won 83-76 at Eastern Wyoming. On Saturday they went down 94-59 to Western Nebraska with Diakhaby making 14 points. Northeastern are 6-4 in their conference campaign.

Also in junior college North Dakota State College Wildcats are undefeated at the halfway stage of Mon-Dak Conference play. The Wildcats are 6-0 after thumping Dakota at Bottineau 91-36. Georgia Perrott-Hunt scored four points and Olivia Bell two points as the Cats improved to 20-2 overall.