HOYAS DOWN IRISH

PLAYING AT home for the last time, Jason Clark and Henry Sims combined for 25 points, 12 rebounds and six assists on "Senior Day," helping No. 11 Georgetown beat No. 20 Notre Dame, 59-41, last night in a key game for Big East Tournament seeding.

Clark finished with 13 points and six rebounds, while Sims had 12 points and five assists. While they have led the way all season for Georgetown (22-6, 12-5) on a roster with 10 freshmen and sophomores, there was plenty of help from the youngsters, as usual.

Greg Whittington contributed 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including 3-for-3 on three-pointers, and another freshman, Otto Porter, had 10 rebounds.

Notre Dame (20-10, 12-5) lost its second straight following a school-record, nine-game Big East winning streak. It made three of 17 three-point attempts after going 4-for-31 in a loss at St. John's on Saturday.

The Irish shot only 33 percent from the field overall, and no one scored more than the nine points from Eric Atkins and Scott Martin.

Georgetown led by 10 points at halftime and kept pulling away. Wittington's three with about 8 1/2 minutes left capped a 9-0 run that made it 48-29 and pretty much sealed the victory.

Clark and Sims left to a standing ovation with 1:43 remaining and Georgetown leading, 59-36.

"I remember my last home game. Many moons ago, but I remember it very well," Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. "And I'm sure they will remember tonight for the rest of their lives."

Both the Hoyas and Fighting Irish are in the running for a top-four seeding and a double-bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Georgetown finishes its pre-tournament schedule by playing at No. 8 Marquette on Saturday, while Notre Dame closes at home against Providence on Friday.

At Oklahoma State, Tyshawn Taylor had 27 points and No. 3 Kansas (25-5, 15-2 Big 12) downed the Cowboys, 70-58.

* At Baylor, Perry Jones III had 15 points and the No. 9 Bears (25-5, 12-5 Big 12) routed Texas Tech, 77-48.

At VMI, Stan Okoye scored 16 points and made two clutch free throws with 19 seconds left to help the Keydets (15-15) beat Radford, 55-53, in the first round . . . High Point (13-17) beat visiting Gardner-Webb, 68-58.

Connecticut men's coach Jim Calhoun had what the school said was successful surgery to address the spinal condition that has forced him to miss the Huskies' past seven games. The 2-hour surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York involved removing a "large extruded disk fragment" that had been pressing on a spinal nerve, the school said.

* Mississippi State backup guard Shaun Smith will miss the remainder of the season after breaking the middle finger in his right hand during Saturday's loss to Alabama.

* Missouri coach Frank Haith said he is fully cooperating with the NCAA in the latest round of trouble at the University of Miami, his home for 7 years before taking over the Tigers this season. The Hurricanes declared center Reggie Johnson ineligible over the weekend, saying his family received impermissible travel benefits from an unidentified member of Miami's staff when Haith was in charge of the program.

* Auburn coach Tony Barbee said he's not sure whether guards Varez Ward and Chris Denson, who are suspended indefinitely for violating unspecified team rules, will play tomorrow night at Alabama.

* Kentucky and Syracuse are the top two teams in the Associated Press' Top 25 for a fifth straight week, while Kansas moves up to a season-high No. 3. Temple fell one spot to No. 23 after losing Saturday to Saint Joseph's. Baylor remained the unanimous No. 1 women's team for the 13th straight week.