South Kingstown, R.I. ? The perfect record might suggest that Saint Joseph’s has had an easy season; Rhode Island knows otherwise.

Second-ranked Saint Joe’s needed Delonte West’s three-pointer in the final minute to remain undefeated and beat the Rams, 57-55, Saturday. Jameer Nelson scored 21 and West had 19 for Saint Joe’s, which has only a home game against last-place St. Bonaventure and the Atlantic 10 tournament standing in the way of a perfect regular season.

“We’re all looking forward to Tuesday,” Saint Joe’s coach Phil Martelli said of the St. Bonaventure game. “If you have a ticket for the game, you will be seeing history.”

No team has entered the NCAA Tournament unbeaten since UNLV in 1991. Top-ranked Stanford (25-0) beat Oregon, 76-55, Saturday.

Saint Joe’s (26-0, 15-0) and Rhode Island were within three points of each other for the final 9:29, and for the last 5:42 it was two points or fewer with three lead changes and three ties. Rhode Island led by two before West hit the three with 57 seconds left to make it 56-55.

The Hawks haven’t had a game this close since Dec. 20, when Nelson hit the game-winner against California with five seconds left.

No. 1 Stanford 76, Oregon 55

Stanford, Calif. — Josh Childress had 29 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocks for No. 1 Stanford, which won its school-record 25th straight game and remained undefeated.

Childress was 10-for-16 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range.

Stanford (25-0, 16-0 Pac-10) beat the Ducks at home for the 18th consecutive time in a matchup that was nothing like the last meeting, when the Cardinal rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit to win 83-80 Jan. 31 in Eugene, Ore.

Luke Jackson scored 18 points for the Ducks (12-11, 7-9).

The sellout crowd of 7,391 took advantage of its last chance to rock Maples Pavilion for nearly 10 months. Renovations begin Monday on the 36-year-old arena, which will receive a $30 million facelift that’s expected to be completed by early January 2005.

No. 4 Gonzaga 80, Santa Clara 64

Spokane, Wash. — Blake Stepp scored 14, and Gonzaga beat Santa Clara in the final game at The Kennel, extending a team record with its 18th consecutive win. Stepp added eight assists as Gonzaga (25-2, 14-0 West Coast Conference) completed the first undefeated WCC season in school history and the first in the league since Pepperdine in 1992.

No. 7 Miss. State 72, Vanderbilt 69

Nashville, Tenn. — Lawrence Roberts scored 18 and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Mississippi State held off Vanderbilt to remain perfect away from home this season. The Bulldogs (23-2, 12-2 Southeastern Conference) improved to 11-0 on the road and stayed a game ahead of Kentucky, which plays today at LSU, in the race for the league’s regular-season title. But it wasn’t easy against Vanderbilt (18-7, 7-7), which had won three straight and five of seven. Timmy Bowers added 16 points for the Bulldogs. Matt Freije led Vanderbilt with 26.

No. 8 Connecticut 75, Villanova 74, OT

Philadelphia — Emeka Okafor, the nation’s leading shot blocker, blocked a Villanova shot at the end of regulation and again at the end of overtime. Josh Boone put in a rebound of a miss by Ben Gordon with 5.5 seconds left in overtime to give the Huskies a 75-74 lead, and Okafor sealed the victory with a spectacular block on a driving layup by Randy Foye just before the buzzer sounded. Gordon had 21 points and Okafor added 17 for the Huskies (23-5, 11-3 Big East), who have won four straight.

No. 11 Wake Forest 91, Maryland 83

College Park, Md. — Vytas Danelius scored a career-high 23 points for the Demon Deacons, who won their sixth straight and clinched at least a tie for third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Justin Gray scored 22 points and Jamaal Levy had 14 points and 15 rebounds for Wake Forest (19-6, 9-5). John Gilchrist led Maryland (14-11, 5-9) with 26 points. The Terrapins, who fell into a tie for seventh place in the nine-team ACC, need a whirlwind finish to extend to 11 their streak of consecutive NCAA appearances.

No. 15 Cincinnati 75, Charlotte 67

Charlotte, N.C. — Jason Maxiell scored 18 and Field Williams had 15 as No. 15 Cincinnati avenged an earlier loss to Charlotte, which had won seven of eight. Kareem Johnson added 14 points for Cincinnati (20-5, 11-3 Conference USA), which reached the 20-win mark for the 13th time in coach Bob Huggins’ 15 seasons at the school.

No. 16 S. Illinois 72, Bradley 71

Carbondale, Ill. — Sylvester Willis hit a layup with 0.5 seconds left, and Southern Illinois beat Bradley despite blowing a 22-point halftime lead. The Salukis (24-2, 17-0 Missouri Valley Conference) are one win from becoming the third team in MVC history to finish a season undefeated in league play.

No. 17 Arizona 72, Washington State 60

Tucson, Ariz. — Salim Stoudamire returned from a one-game suspension to score 21 points, including 16 in the second half, and the Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak. Arizona (18-8, 10-7 Pac-10) beat the Cougars for the 38th consecutive time. Washington State last beat Arizona on Jan. 30, 1986, in Pullman, Wash. Stoudamire was 8-for-16 from the field and 3-for-7 from three-point range.

No. 18 Georgia Tech 79, Clemson 60

Clemson, S.C. — B.J. Elder scored 16 of his 17 points in the second half, and Georgia Tech reached 20 victories for the first time in eight seasons. Elder went 0-for-4 from the field in a crazy first half that was delayed about 20 minutes by a power outage. The Yellow Jackets (20-8, 7-7 ACC) snapped a two-game losing streak.

No. 21 Louisville 66,

No. 19 Memphis 60

Louisville, Ky. — Francisco Garcia scored 18 points and Louisville snapped a four-game losing streak. Otis George added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Cardinals (18-7, 8-6 Conference USA), who won for just the second time in eight games. Sean Banks scored 26 points and Antonio Burks added 22 for the Tigers (20-5, 11-3), who had an 11-game winning streak snapped.

No. 23 Illinois 66, Northwestern 56

Champaign, Ill. — Dee Brown scored 20 points to lead Illinois. Nick Smith had 14 points and Roger Powell added 13 for the Illini (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten). Vedran Vukusic and Jitim Young each had 16 points for Northwestern (12-13, 7-7), which beat Illinois 70-60 earlier in the season.