COLLEGE BASKETBALL

DePaul, elevated to No. 1 for the first time in Coach Ray Meyers' 38 years at the school, survived a serious scare against Lamar, then knocked off 17th- ranked LSU in a nationally televised game to up its record to 15-0. DePaul's three victories further solidified its top ranking since both Ohio State and Syracuse, the teams right behind the Blue Demons in the coaches' poll, were upset.

* Unranked Lamar, which came from nine points down to tie DePaul with 37 seconds left, had its upset bid extinguished by Skip Dillard's 17-foot, jump shot with just three seconds remaining. Paving the way to Sunday's victory over LSU were Mark Aguirre, who scored a career-high 31 points, and Clyde Bradshaw, who sank five free throws in the final 35 seconds. The tigers were forced to play almost the entire game without their leading scorer, Durand Macklin, who was injured in the opening minutes.

Ohio State, now 12-2, suffered a 75-74 overtime loss to Michigan on Saturday, a setback that came on the heels of 75-70 overtime win against Minnesota. In the latter contest, the Buckeyes erased a 12-point, second-half deficit, then were ignited by Herb Williams and Kelvin Ransey, who scored all 11 of OSU's overtime points. Previously undefeated Syracuse fell to Old Dominion 68-67 when Bobby Vaughan made a tip-in basket at the buzzer. The Orangemen bounced back, though, running their home winning streak to 53 games with an 89-83 victory over Detroit.

In sunday's other big game, Maryland snapped a nine-game losing streak to North Carolina with a 92-86 upset victory that moved the Terrapins to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Albert King paced Maryland with 28 points. Earlier North Carolina narrowly averted an upset to Georgia Tech, 54-53, as fifth-ranked Duke (14-2) flirted with danger before slipping past Wake Forest 67 - 66.

in other games involving ranked teams, No. 4 Oregon State (17-1) knocked off Washington 89-84, No. 7 Notre Dame beat UCLA 80-73, No. 8 St. John's nipped Georgetown 71-69, and No. 9 Kentucky defeated Vanderbilt 106-90.