USA - Aboya blow for Bruins

LOS ANGELES (NCAA) - Top-ranked UCLA breezed to an 81-47 victory over Yale on Friday night, but it came at a high price.

Cameroonian junior Alfred Aboya, a starting forward for the Bruins, took an elbow to the face during the game and went immediately to hospital with blurred vision.

He was diagnosed with a fracture of the orbital floor below his right eye.

Aboya will seek medical advice to determine whether he can play with a mask. If the injury requires surgery, he would be out indefinitely.

"I'm happy about the win, but it's tempered by not knowing about the extent of the eye injury to Alfred," UCLA coach Ben Howland said after the game. "It's frustrating to have a potential injury that could keep him out for I don't know how long."

Aboya has averaged 3.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in the opening five games of the season for UCLA, who are already missing all-American point guard Darren Collison.

In the same game, star freshman Kevin Love suffered a slight sprain to his right ankle, but he is not expected to miss any significant time.

"I'm worried for (Alfred), it's very frustrating," Howland said. "We had only seven scholarship players at the end. Kevin seems okay. He ... wanted to go back in. He hit some nice jumpers."

The injuries will come as a test to the depth of the Bruins, who have been a cut above so far.

Friday's win came courtest of 15 points apiece from Love and Russell Westbrook.

The Bruins held the Bulldogs without a field goal for over nine minutes and closed the first half with a 16-1 run take a 33-18 lead to the locker room.
Aboya's compatriot Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 14 and 10 rebounds for the Bruins, who shot 54% from the floor (29 of 54).

"I thought Luc had a nice game with a double-double," Howland said. "I thought they missed some easy shots which could have made it tougher on us."

In a busy Thanksgiving weekend of college basketball, virtually all the Top 25 played at least one game.

North Carolina, who share the No. 1 tag with UCLA, won the Las Vegas Invitational with a pair of victories, but did not have things all their own way against either Brigham Young or Old Dominion.

In Saturday's final in Las Vegas, Tyler Hansbrough had 21 points and Wayne Ellington hit a vital trey a little over two minutes from time as the Tar Heels used a late spurt to put away BYU.

Ellington scored 15 points and Danny Green added 14 for the Tar Heels, who were clearly missing the injured Ty Lawson.

BYU had fought hard, and took the lead after a 13-4 burst to start the second half.

But they could not keep pace with North Carolina, who finished on an 11-2 run to win it.

North Carolina had made the final by beating Old Dominion 99-82 on Friday, led by 27 points from Hansbrough.

BYU were surprise finalists, having upset No. 6 Louisville on Friday 78-76 behind 29 points from Jonathan Tavernari.

Louisville let out some of their frustrations on Saturday as Terrence Williams scored a season-high 20 points in a 64-53 win over Old Dominion in the tournament's consolation game.

Fourth-ranked Kansas needed overtime to stay unbeaten with a 76-72 win over Arizona in the inaugural Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series on Sunday.
Brandon Rush scored five of his 17 points in the extra period.

No. 7 Tennessee was on the wrong end of a 97-78 rout on Saturday night as the Volunteers went down to No. 16 Texas in the final of the Legends Classic in Newark, New Jersey.

D.J. Augustin scored 14 of his 23 points in the first half to lead four Longhorns scoring in double figures to down the Vols, who were led by 18 points from Chris Lofton.

Tennessee had reached the final with a tough 74-73 win over West Virginia on Friday while Texas breezed by New Mexico State 102-87.

Freshman Eric Gordon poured in 31 points to lead No. 8 Indiana to a 70-57 win over Illinois State on Sunday night in the Chicago Invitational Challenge.
Ninth-ranked Washington State won the Hispanic College Fund Classic in Spokane with victory over Air Force, 71-62, in Sunday's final. Derrick Low scored 19 points to lead the Cougars, who had made the final with a stunning 71-26 demolition of Mississippi Valley State on Saturday and a 66-55 win over Montana on Friday.

Freshman Tyler King had a breakout night as he scored 27 points to lead No. 10 Duke to a 78-43 win over Eastern Kentucky in Durham on Sunday. King had played a total of only three minutes in his last two games prior to Sunday.

Bosnian center Goran Suton scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds to lead No. 11 Michigan State to a 75-71 victory over Oakland on Saturday. Team USA man Drew Neitzel shook off the flu to add 12 points for the Spartans.

Alan Voskuil scored 28 points to lead Texas Tech to a 73-63 upset over 14th-ranked Gonzaga on Friday night in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout.

No. 15 Texas A&M collected the NIT Season Tip-off championship on Friday night with a 70-47 rout of Ohio State as the Buckeyes' Greek star Kostas Koufos was held to 10 points on four of 16 shooting in the final. No. 21 Syracuse took third-place in the tournament with a 91-85 win over Washington.

Sam Young scored 20 points to lead No. 17 Pittsburgh to a 92-45 rout of Buffalo, while Randal Falker starred for No. 18 Southern Illinois, scoring 23 points in a 63-49 win over Mississippi State. However, the Salukis suffered a blow-out loss on Sunday night as they ran into the young stars of Southern California. Freshman Davon Jefferson scored 18 points and fellow youngster O.J. Mayo add 13 as the Trojans won 70-45 in the title game of the Anaheim Classic.

No. 19 Villanova was upset 69-68 by North Carolina State in the final of the Old Spice Classic on Sunday night, with the Wolfpack winning on the back of Gavin Grants two free throws with four-tenths of a second left. Villanova made the final with Friday's 84-76 win over George Mason.

No. 20 Kansas State enjoyed a pair of wins over the weekend but Michael Beasley finally had the brakes put on. The star freshman had 30 points and 13 rebounds in Friday's 73-71 overtime win over Central Florida, keeping his season averages at 30 points and 16.6 rebounds at that point. However, they will dip now after he was held to just 13 points in Sunday's 82-69 win over Rider.

Twenty-second-ranked Clemson got 16 points from Cliff Hammonds in a 96-67 win over Gardner-Webb, while Mike Green scored 12 of his 23 points in overtime to lead No. 23 Butler to an 84-78 win over Virginia Tech.

Having used a 5-0 start to break into the Top 25, Florida can expect to drop right back out of it after Friday's 65-51 loss to Florida State, while No. 25 Davidson enjoyed a big 98-50 win over North Carolina Central on Saturday night.

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