No. 3 Syracuse men surge past Cincy
Associated Press
CINCINNATI — Down by six points with 12 minutes to go, third-ranked Syracuse knew it was time for some shutdown defense. The Orange nearly pitched a shutout the rest of the way.
Syracuse held Cincinnati to one field goal over the final 12 minutes yesterday, extending the best start in school history with a 71-54 victory, its 10th in a row.
Syracuse (23-1, 10-1 Big East) closed the game with a 28-5 run that featured Kris Joseph's two pivotal 3-pointers and a lot of good defense. The Bearcats (14-9, 5-6) managed only one field goal and three free throws after pulling ahead 49-43 with 12:26 left.
"It comes down to the last 10 minutes," said Joseph, who finished with 17 points. "The last 10 minutes is crunch time. For us, it's just playing great defense. We've seen everything. When we get on a run and get ahead, there's not a lot of teams that can come back."
Joseph's first 3-pointer put Syracuse ahead to stay. His second one pushed the lead to 10.
"Kris stepped up," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "He had two wide-open looks. He's been telling me all year that he can make those shots."
Andy Rautins led the Orange with 20 points.
No. 13 Ohio St. 68, Iowa 58: Evan Turner matched his career high with 32 points, helping host Ohio State (18-6, 8-3 Big Ten) beat Iowa (8-16, 2-9). Jon Diebler added 12 points for Ohio State, which has won four in a row.
PACWEST MEN
HAWAI'I-HILO 70, NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR 50: Bryan Ngo scored 15 points, Kevin Bruce added 14 and Justin Smith had 12 as the host Vulcans (12-7, 6-3) beat the Argonauts (2-20, 0-11). Chris Silzer scored 16 for Notre Dame de Namur.
TOP 25 WOMEN
No. 1 Connecticut 84, Louisville 38: Tina Charles had 20 points and nine rebounds as visiting Connecticut (23-0, 10-0 Big East) breezed by Louisville (11-12, 3-7) in a rematch of last year's national championship game. The victory was UConn's 62nd in a row.
No. 2 Stanford 77, Southern California 39: Jayne Appel passed Nicole Powell to become Stanford's career rebounding leader with 1,153, Kayla Pedersen had 18 points and 14 boards and the Cardinal (21-1, 11-0 Pac-10) beat Southern California (13-9, 7-4) for its 42nd straight home win at Maples Pavilion. Appel finished with 15 points and 13 boards.
No. 7 Xavier 67, Richmond 55: Dee Dee Jernigan matched her career high with 15 points to lead four Xavier players in double figures and host Xavier (18-3, 8-0 Atlantic-10) held off Richmond (15-8, 4-4).
No. 8 Ohio State 86, Penn State 73: Samantha Prahalis had 26 points and visiting Ohio State (23-3, 11-2 Big Ten) overcame a 15-point deficit to beat Penn State (15-8, 7-6).
South Carolina 52, No. 14 Georgia 42: Valerie Nainima scored 21 points to lead visiting South Carolina (13-10, 6-5 SEC) past Georgia (19-5, 6-5).
No. 15 Florida State 83, Wake Forest 38: Chasity Clayton had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead host Florida State (20-4, 6-2 ACC) over Wake Forest (14-9, 5-4).
No. 17 Texas 81, Texas Tech 51: Brittainey Raven scored a game-high 22 points to help host Texas (16-6, 5-3 Big 12) rout Texas Tech (13-9, 1-7).
Mississippi 102, No. 19 LSU 101: Kayla Holloway's layup with 11 seconds left in the third overtime lifted visiting Mississippi (15-8, 6-4 SEC) to a wild win over LSU (15-7, 4-6). Bianca Thomas led Ole Miss with 29 points.
No. 20 Kentucky 71, Arkansas 57: A'Dia Mathies scored 27 points and Victoria Dunlap added 22 points and 11 rebounds to help visiting Kentucky (20-3, 8-2 SEC) beat Arkansas (9-14, 1-9).
No. 22 Iowa State 65, Missouri 39: Alison Lacey had 18 points and seven assists to lead visiting Iowa State (18-4, 6-3 Big 12) over Missouri (11-11, 1-8).
No. 25 St. John's 66, Seton Hall 45: Kelly McManmon and Centhya Hart each scored 11 points to lead visiting St. John's (19-4, 7-3 Big East) past Seton Hall (9-14, 1-9).
PACWEST WOMEN
NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR 60, HAWAI'I-HILO 51: Laura Zasly scored 18 points, Pilar Mullins added 13 points and 19 rebounds, and Katie Zasly had 13 points as the visiting Argonauts (11-11, 7-4) beat the Vulcans (6-14, 3-6). Kirsty Imai scored 13 points and Hotia Vaaimamao added 11 for Hilo.