Arkansas rallies past No. 18 Mississippi
January 31, 2010
OXFORD, Miss. (AP)—Mike Washington had 22 points and 11 rebounds and MarshawnPowell added 19 points and two key blocks as Arkansas snapped a 15-gameSoutheastern Conference road losing streak by upsetting No. 18 Mississippi 80-73Sunday night.
The Razorbacks (10-11, 3-3) earned back-to-back wins over SoutheasternConference Western Division leaders, erasing an eight-point deficit to beat theRebels (16-5, 4-3) just days after overcoming a 12-point deficit againstMississippi State.
Washington had 12 points and eight rebounds in the final 20 minutes andPowell had 12 points and blocked Murphy Holloway twice with the game on theline.
Holloway finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds and Chris Warren had 17 forthe Rebels. Rotnei Clarke scored 18 for the Razorbacks, who snapped Ole Miss’three-game winning streak.
Surprisingly, the Razorbacks were able to snap out of their SEC road woeswithout much help from Courtney Fortson, who led Arkansas to a 67-62 win overMississippi State on Thursday with a career-high 35 points.
This time, though, Fortson spent much of the second half on the bench afterdrawing his fourth foul with nearly 13 minutes left in the game.
Powell and Washington stepped in for Fortson and dominated the shorthandedRebels frontcourt.
They quickly got Ole Miss forwards DeAundre Cranston and Terrance Henry infoul trouble. With center Reginald Buckner also out with an ankle injury, thatleft just Holloway and guards to handle defending the paint. Washington andPowell pressed that advantage mercilessly, converting lob passes into layups asOle Miss’ smaller defenders fronted them.
Powell scored eight points during a 13-6 half-opening run to erase afive-point deficit and give Arkansas a 47-45 lead. Ole Miss pushed back out to afive-point lead, but this time Washington answered by scoring six points in a12-4 run that made it 63-60 Arkansas with 9:08 left.
Warren and Terrico White hit consecutive 3s to give the Rebels one lastlead, but then Washington and Powell scored 10 of the Razorbacks’ next 13 pointsas Arkansas took a 76-71 lead with 1:06 left. Clarke hit four straight freethrows to ice the win.
It was the first loss for Ole Miss in 12 games when it outrebounded itsopponent. The Rebels had a 45-32 rebounding advantage, including 23-5 onoffense. But the Razorbacks outscored Ole Miss 36-34 in the paint and Clarketook advantage, hitting 4 of 6 3-pointers.
Holloway gave Ole Miss an early advantage with boundless hustle under thebasket, especially on the offensive end. Holloway had a double-double in thefirst 13 minutes and finished the first half with 11 points and 13 rebounds,including five on offense.
He scored seven points during a 15-7 run that made it 22-14. He started withan alley oop dunk from Warren, added an old-fashioned three-point play and histhird basket came after he ripped the rebound away from a defender.
But he wasn’t much of a factor in the second half as Washington and Powellshowed their muscle in the paint.
Jones’ 37 help USF defeat No. 17 Pitt
January 31, 2010
TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—Dominique Jones scored 37 points and South Florida extendedits school-best Big East winning streak to three straight games with a 70-61upset of sputtering No. 17 Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Jones made 10 of 20 shots from the field and 14 of 17 free throws. USF(14-7, 4-5) nearly squandered a 14-point lead down the stretch, but held on bymaking 11 of 14 free throws in the final three minutes.
Gilbert Brown scored a career-high 25 for Pittsburgh (16-5, 6-3), which hasdropped three of four conference games after starting 5-0 in the league andworking its way into the Top 10. The Panthers hurt themselves by missing fivefree throws after pulling within 54-50 with 5:33 remaining.
South Florida has won four of five following an 0-4 start in the conference.The Bulls improved to 10-82 against ranked teams, including 4-20 since leavingConference USA for the Big East.
Pitt rebounded from its first two-game losing streak in nearly two years bybeating St. John’s on Thursday night. The Panthers missed 11 of their first 15shots in this one and trailed 22-11 before wiping out the early deficit with an11-0 run led by Brown.
The 6-foot-6 junior had eight points in the spurt and finished the openinghalf with a dunk and jumper that helped the Panthers withstand another USF surgethat carried the Bulls to a 31-26 lead at the break.
Jones averaged 37 points in leading South Florida to overtime wins overProvidence and Seton Hall for the Bulls’ first two-game conference winningstreak since entering the Big East four seasons ago.
The league’s third-leading scorer behind Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody andSeton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell had 13 points on 4 for 11 shooting the first half. Hegot some timely support from Chris Howard and Mike Mercer to regroup afterPitt’s big first-half run.
Jones made a 3-pointer and a turnaround jumper in the lane during the burstthat enabled USF to open a 51-37 lead midway through the second half. Pitt madeup most of the deficit with a 12-2 spurt but never got closer than four down thestretch.
Brad Wanamaker scored 14 for the Panthers and Ashton Gibbs added 11. Howardjoined Jones in double figures for USF with 12.
Surging No. 20 Ohio State tops Minnesota
January 31, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Ohio State honored its 1960 national championship team,then the current Buckeyes showed they could play a little, too.
William Buford scored a career-high 26 points and Evan Turner and JonDiebler each had 19 points to lead the 20th-ranked Buckeyes past Minnesota 85-63Sunday for their fifth win in six games.
The Buckeyes (16-6, 6-3 Big Ten) shot 63 percent against Minnesota (13-8,4-5), which came in leading the conference by limiting opponents to just 38.6percent.
Rodney Williams had 13 points, Ralph Sampson III had 11, and Damian Johnsonand Blake Hoffarber each had 10 to lead the Golden Gophers.
The 1960 national championship squad led by Jerry Lucas and John Havlicekwas honored at halftime. That team beat California 75-55 for the school’s onlynational title in basketball.
Against Minnesota, this year’s Buckeyes shot 73 percent from the field inthe opening half to build a 49-35 lead and never looked back.
There was no clear, lopsided run which powered the Buckeyes to the big lead.They just slowly pulled away, playing patiently on offense and getting pointsoff their cloying, trapping defense.
With Ohio State ahead 32-24 late in the half, Buford, the freshman of theyear in the Big Ten last season, hit a runner in the lane, Lighty hit aspectacular driving layup while falling and Buford added two foul shots to pushthe lead to 38-24.
The Golden Gophers, just 1-5 on the road, never got closer than 12 pointsagain. The Buckeyes led by 28 points in the second half and coasted to thefinish.
Turner added eight assists and three rebounds. Buford had five rebounds andfive assists.
Minnesota had 17 turnovers that helped fuel the Buckeyes’ transition game,leading to 24 points.
At halftime, members of the 1960 team—which included Hall of Famers JerryLucas, John Havlicek, Bob Knight and the late coach, Fred Taylor, were honored.Knight spoke of Taylor, crediting him for bringing a disparate group of playerstogether for that one championship season.
A banner honoring Taylor was unfurled from the rafters.
Miami beats Va. Tech to snap 4-game skid
January 31, 2010
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP)—James Dews scored 21 points as Miami defeated VirginiaTech 82-75 Sunday afternoon to snap a four-game losing streak.
The Hokies rallied from a 19-point deficit with a 24-9 run midway throughthe second half. J.T. Thompson scored eight points during the run, and his freethrow with 7:32 remaining cut Miami’s lead to 65-60.
Virginia Tech (16-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) stayed within afive-point deficit and had a final chance to reduce a 75-70 lead with under aminute left. But Malcolm Delaney missed a running jumper with 34 secondsremaining and fouled Reggie Johnson on a put-back attempt.
Johnson converted both free throws, securing the victory.
Malcolm Grant and Duran Scott scored 13 and 12 points as Miami (16-5, 2-5)avenged an 81-66 loss at Virginia Tech on Jan. 13.
Dorenzo Hudson led Virginia Tech with 22 points. Jeff Allen finished with 19points.
Clemson ends 3-game skid, beats Maryland
January 31, 2010
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP)—Trevor Booker shook off missing his first 12 shots to scorenine of his 10 points down the stretch as Clemson broke a three-game losingstreak with a a 62-53 victory over Maryland on Sunday night.
Booker was the Atlantic Coast Conference’s field goal percentage leader lastseason, but could not find the basket for most of this one. He came through,though, when the Tigers (16-6, 4-4 ACC) needed it most.
Booker tied it at 48 on a short jumper, then put Clemson up for good, 52-50,with two foul shots.
He followed 2 minutes later with a 3—his first in nine games—that pushedClemson’s lead to 57-53 with 3:23 left.
Maryland (14-6, 4-2) did not score the rest of the way.
Jerai Grant had a career high 18 points along with 10 rebounds for theTigers. Booker had 16 boards.
Jordan Williams had 13 points to lead Maryland, which has lost threestraight to Clemson.
No. 10 Purdue wins fourth straight
January 31, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP)—Robbie Hummel scored 23 points to help No. 10 Purduebeat Penn State 66-46 Sunday for its fourth straight win.
Hummel made four 3-pointers and had six rebounds. JaJuan Johnson scored 13points and E’Twaun Moore added 12 for the Boilermakers (18-3, 6-3 Big Ten), whohave returned to early-season form after a three-game losing streak inmid-January.
Talor Battle scored 13 points, David Jackson scored 11 and Bill Edwards had10 points and 13 rebounds for Penn State (8-13, 0-9).
It was the ninth straight loss for the Nittany Lions.
Purdue, which has allowed under 60 points in three straight games, held theNittany Lions to 31 percent shooting and surrendered its second-lowest pointtotal of the season. The Boilermakers shot 46 percent and committed just sixturnovers.
The score was close throughout the early part of the first half, but Purdueheld Penn State without a field goal for 7 minutes to take a 25-17 lead beforethe Nittany Lions made it 28-26 at halftime.
Hummel opened the second half with a 3-pointer, then made another three, wasfouled and converted a four-point play to give the Boilermakers a 35-26 lead twominutes into the half. Those buckets were part of a 13-0 run that gave Purdue a41-26 lead.
The Boilermakers held Penn State scoreless for more than three minutes tostart the second half, and kept them without a basket for nearly four minutesafter the break. Penn State cut the deficit to 11, but Moore scored eight pointsin the next two minutes to push Purdue’s lead to 59-40.
Hayward helps Butler win 10th straight
January 31, 2010
MILWAUKEE (AP)—Gordon Hayward scored 25 points to lead Butler to its 10th winin a row, a 73-66 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday.
Ronald Nored and Shelvin Mack added 13 points apiece for the Bulldogs (18-4,11-0), who are aiming for their fourth consecutive Horizon League championship.
Anthony Hill scored a career-high 21 points for Wisconsin-Milwaukee (13-10,5-6).
Willie Veasley’s basket ended an 8-0 Butler run, putting the Bulldogs up58-55 midway through the second half. The Panthers came within 65-64 on a3-pointer by James Eayrs, but Butler pulled away at the end.
Hill scored 12 points in the first half as the Panthers led 35-34 at thebreak.
Hopson gets No. 14 Vols by Florida 61-60
January 31, 2010
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Scotty Hopson came out of a timeout and quickly hit along jump shot with 21 seconds left to give No. 14 Tennessee a 61-60 win overFlorida on Sunday.
The basket gave the Volunteers (16-4, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) theirsixth straight win over their East Division rival and fifth straight victory inKnoxville. It also kept Tennessee from dropping a third game in a row.
Alex Tyus, who led the Gators with 18 points, had a chance to grab the leadback for Florida (15-6, 4-3) but missed a jumper in the middle of a crowd underthe basket with 5 seconds left.
After playing poorly in the first half, Wayne Chism led the Vols with 16points and 11 rebounds and hit two key free throws with 42 seconds left. Hopsonscored 10 points, and J.P. Prince had 12.
In his short career, Hopson has been at his best against the Gators. Helogged 20 points as a freshman last season against them in Knoxville and came upwith a big block on a potential game-tying 3 by Erving Walker with 37 secondsleft in Tennessee’s win in Gainesville.
Tennessee overcame a slow, sloppy first half to dominate Florida in thesecond half. The Vols were scrappier on defense and put a strong effort on theboards, outrebounding the Gators 27 to 12 after halftime.
Before the break, it was all Florida.
The Gators used a pressing defense reminiscent of one Tennessee has usedagainst them in the past. They limited the Vols to 36.4 shooting andoutrebounded them 20-14 before halftime while taking control of the paint onboth ends.
Dan Werner hit a 3-point shot from the corner of the floor and the Gatorshit two more in the paint to grab a 15-7 lead with 12:55 to go.
Florida led by 10 points in the first half thanks to 57.7 percent shooting,but the Gators cooled off considerably in the second half, hitting just 36.4percent from the field.
Bruce Pearl is now 8-1 against Florida and Billy Donovan, who joined theTennessee coach for a $1,000-per-couple social on Saturday night to raise moneyfor cancer screening as part of Tennessee’s Outlive initiative.
No. 5 Spartans improve to 9-0 in Big Ten
January 31, 2010
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP)—Durrell Summers started each half with an alley-oopdunk and finished with a season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, leading No. 5Michigan State to a 79-70 win over Northwestern on Saturday night.
The Spartans (19-3) are off to their first 9-0 start in Big Ten play.
John Shurna made six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 31 points for theWildcats (14-7, 3-6). Shurna had 20 points midway through the second half, whilehis teammates combined for just 19.
Michigan State opened the second half with an 18-4 run after leading by justtwo at halftime following six lead changes and four ties.
Kalin Lucas had 23 points, Draymond Green had nine points, 11 rebounds andfour assists, and Delvon Roe scored 13 for the Spartans.
Raymar Morgan fouled out without a point on an 0-for-5 night after missingonly one of 15 shots in the previous two games—a pair of one-point wins on theroad against Michigan and Minnesota.
Summers has been inconsistent throughout his three-year career, impressingNBA scouts with his jaw-dropping talent and befuddling those same people duringgames in which he is barely noticed.
The 6-foot-4 guard was at his best against the Wildcats.
He soared for alley-oop dunks to open each half against their zone, made3-pointers, pull-up jumpers and dunked in a half-court set late in the game whenthey were rallying.
Summers’ performance rivaled the 21-point, 11-rebound game he had in a winthis season against Gonzaga, when he set a season high and broke his career markin rebounds.
The junior from Detroit was held scoreless this season against Wisconsin andThe Citadel, but might be showing signs of dependability. He was spectacular onegame after scoring 10 and grabbing 10 rebounds in Tuesday night’s thriller overMichigan.
As dominant as Summers and the Spartans were at times, they couldn’t putNorthwestern away.
Drew Crawford made a 3-pointer with 2 minutes left, giving the Wildcats asecond player with double digits in scoring and pulling them within eightpoints. Crawford and Jeremy Nash finished with 12 points each.
Shurna’s layup made it 71-65 with 1 1/2 minutes left and that shot matched theprevious career high of 29 he had Jan. 2 in a 21-point loss to Michigan State.
The Spartans made enough free throws the rest of the way to avoid gettingstunned by Northwestern at home for the second straight season.
Tebow has shaky outing at Senior Bowl
January 31, 2010
MOBILE, Ala. (AP)—Mardy Gilyard had 103 yards receiving and caught a 32-yardtouchdown pass in the fourth quarter to help the North race to a 31-13 victoryover the South in Saturday’s Senior Bowl.
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, meanwhile, had a shaky outing running apro-style offense against a sturdy defense.
He fumbled twice and finished 8 of 12 passing for 50 yards in the showcasefor senior NFL prospects. Tebow’s longest completion was 11 yards and he netted4 yards on four rushes, but was never turned loose as a power runner as he oftenwas with the Gators. He battled strep throat early but didn’t miss any practicetime during a week when he was trying to prove to skeptical NFL teams and draftanalysts that he could be a starting pro quarterback.
South squad quarterback Tim Te… AP – Jan 30, 5:41 pm EST NCAAF Gallery function prev_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index > 0) { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index – 1); } else { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index); }}function next_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index 0) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next); }*/}function goto_photo(p) { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { for(i = 0; i < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos.length; i++) { if (i == p) { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, ); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, none); } } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page) { YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page.innerHTML =(p + 1); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = p; } } update_buttons();}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init = function () { YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_prev, click, prev_photo); YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_next, click, next_photo); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = 0; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page = YAHOO.util.Dom.get(carousel_page); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos = YAHOO.util.Dom.getElementsByClassName(item, div, leadphoto); if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { goto_photo(0); }}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init();
One of the nation’s top all-purpose threats, Gilyard also set up athird-quarter touchdown with a 43-yard catch down the right sideline and hadfive receptions. Both that pass and the TD came from Central Michigan’s DanLeFevour.
Michigan defensive lineman Brandon Graham had two sacks and a forced fumbleand was chosen the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Gilyard returned two kicks for 52 yards and gained 24 on two punt returns.He was named offensive player of the game while Mississippi State’s Jamar Chaneyearned defensive honors.
Tulane receiver Jeremy Williams had six catches for 82 yards and added a27-yard run on an end around, and was chosen the South’s most outstandingplayer. That honor went to Central Michigan’s LeFevour for the North. Hecompleted half of his 10 passes for 97 yards and added a 1-yard touchdown run ona sneak, once again outdistancing the much more heralded Tebow.
LeFevour finished with more total touchdowns (150) than any other player inFootball Bowl Subdivision, including Tebow (145).
Zac Robinson had the game’s best passing numbers, throwing for 176 yards anda touchdown before getting intercepted late in the game.
Tebow played 11 snaps in the first half, and the South was down two scoresby the time he re-entered the game to loud applause late in the third.
Dexter McCluster fumbled two plays into his first drive of the half, and hissecond began at the South’s 1-yard line.
Tebow led the South to a couple of first downs before Koa Misi stripped theball from him. He had another fumble on the next drive but lineman Jeff Byersfell on the ball.
Gilyard’s teammate, Tony Pike, is considered the top-rated NFL prospectamong the participating quarterbacks and he looked solid in a brief outing. Hewas 5 of 12 for 45 yards all in the first half. Gilyard caught two of thosepasses for 21 yards.
LeGarrette Blount had a 14-yard touchdown run for the North, while LonyaeMiller gained a game-high 44 yards on nine carries.
Alabama players accounted for all of the South’s points. Robinson hit tightend Colin Peek for a 19-yard touchdown and Leigh Tiffin booted field goals of 43and 33 yards.
