Ohio State looks to end skid in Madison
February 3, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Among the hundreds of games fighting for position inAaron Craft’s mind, one stands out.
And the factor he remembers most from Ohio State’s gorgeous upset loss lastyear at Wisconsin is that runaway torrent of cardinal flowing proper at him fromall directions.
“It was the 1st time I’ve ever had a court stormed on me,” the OhioState point guard mentioned of the then-No. 1 Buckeyes’ 71-67 loss in Kohl Centerlast Feb. 12. “You appear up and it’s almost like `deer in the headlights’—what’s going on? You’re shaking hands and (then just trying) to discover the way tothe locker room.”
When the third-ranked Buckeyes (19-three, 7-two) put the top rated spot in the Big Tenon the line Saturday in Madison, Wis., they don’t want to get caught in thecrush again.
The Buckeyes had sliced through every single opponent prior to getting their perfectseason finish after 24 games final year in Madison, Wis. This year they hold aslight lead more than three teams with 3 losses—No. 19 Wisconsin (18-5, 7-three),Michigan and Michigan State.
The Badgers, who have won their final six, feel as if a lot of teams arerooting for them.
“We’re playing for the whole conference, in a way,” mentioned Jordan Taylor,who scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half of last year’s victory overthe Buckeyes. “It’s a huge game. I’d be lying to you if I said it wasn’t. Butwe’re going to strategy it just like any other game.”
Ohio State coach Thad Matta doesn’t like to elevate a single game—oh, my gosh,they’re rivals!—from other individuals on his schedule. He tries to be short-sighted,dealing only with the opponent at hand. And he tries to pass that attitude on tohis team, to prevent it from losing track of the activity at hand.
But even Matta, who is -6 at Wisconsin in his eight years at Ohio State, isitching to finish that losing skid.
“I don’t drive to perform in morning saying, `This is the most significant game of theyear. We have to do this …”’ he stated. “It’s more like, `Hey, we’re playing agreat basketball team, a top-20 team.”’
He hesitated for an instant ahead of adding, “The fact that we haven’t wonthere as a program, it does make you want to absolutely win.”
Immediately after Wisconsin stormed back from a 15-point deficit and then stormed thecourt, Ohio State’s All-American forward, Jared Sullinger, stated a fan spit inhis face. Badgers coach Bo Ryan stated there had been surveillance cameras around KohlCenter which may possibly have picked up the alleged expectoration, while no proof wasever presented 1 way or the other.
He ended up discounting the alleged incident, adding, “Deal with it.”
Ohio State’s fans chanted that phrase in the course of the rematch in Columbus inwhich the Buckeyes coasted to a 93-65 win.
But Buckeyes forward Deshaun Thomas mentioned Sullinger has not talked anythingbeyond routine game preparation this week.
“He actually doesn’t go over it,” Thomas mentioned of Sullinger. “He just goeson to the subsequent game. He’s a guy who’s focused right now.”
Moments soon after the Badgers beat Penn State 52-46 on Tuesday night, Ryan wasalready thinking about the Buckeyes, who have won their final four.
“We know what Ohio State has. We know what they bring,” he mentioned. “Thingsare going to genuinely have to jell to (beat) a team like that.”
Matta doesn’t believe his players are talking about how Wisconsin has wonthe final nine home meetings with Ohio State. With a couple of difficult gamesmost weeks, there’s not considerably time or effort left over for vendettas or revenge.
“My largest thing is do they know why we haven’t won there?” he mentioned.
Asked if he knew why, he said, “There’s a lot of causes. And they’ve hadreally very good teams up there.”
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Kansas-Mizzou border rivalry up a notch
February 3, 2012
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP)—Any time Kansas comes to town, it’s a large deal forMissouri. It seems a bit bigger this time around.
The border rivalry that dates to the Teddy Roosevelt administration is aboutto be shut down indefinitely as Missouri leaves for the Southeastern Conference. Oh, and each schools are in the top 10, too.
The fourth-ranked Tigers (20-2, 7-2 Major 12) have been a season-extended surpriseunder first-year coach Frank Haith, who arrived from Miami as a relative unknownwith a shaky track record. Now he’s a contender for national coach of the year,acquiring the maximum from a seven-man rotation heavy on senior experience.
When again, they’re chasing eighth-ranked Kansas (18-4, 8-1), looking for itseighth straight conference championship and with a one-game lead in the Major 12over Missouri and Baylor. Thomas Robinson is a candidate for national player ofthe year, and the only player in the conference averaging a double-double everynight.
Missouri students began camping out Wednesday night, eager for Saturdaymorning’s ESPN GameDay show ahead of that night’s game. For the Jayhawks’ finalvisit to Columbia for a Large 12 game, Robinson figures the taunting will be takento a new level.
“I’m not letting anybody in that fitness center, stadium, state, cease me,” Robinsonsaid. “So they can say what they want. You’re not listening to the crowd.Otherwise, you wouldn’t be no great.”
Haith hopes there’s a way to preserve the series going beyond the return matchupFeb. 25 in Lawrence, Kan., which will be Game 267 dating to 1906-07, when theJayhawks had been coached by basketball inventor James Naismith but lost onconsecutive days at Missouri. Haith noted optimistically that Clemson-SouthCarolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech and Florida-Florida State, 3 series closer tohis old job at Miami, are alive and well regardless of getting in diverse conferences.
“Absolutely. I assume it’s a good rivalry. I’m excited about getting a partof this thing, this weekend,” Haith stated. “Hopefully in time, we can rekindlethat and we can nevertheless play.”
Bad blood off the court is responsible for halting this one particular.
When Missouri joins the SEC in July it’ll be the first time the schoolshaven’t been in the very same conference. The move could endanger the Huge 12television package if West Virginia isn’t in a position to extricate itself from the BigEast in time for next season, leaving the conference with just nine teams.
Huge 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas recently labeled Missouri’sdecision “selfish” and “disruptive,” adding that the SEC had presented todelay the Tigers’ move till 2013. And don’t forget the Kansas universityrelations Twitter account, which had this reaction to the move in November:“Missouri forfeits a century-old rivalry. We win.”
So, anticipate emotions to be high for the Columbia finale.
Kansas coach Bill Self mentioned he’s not mad, just disappointed.
“Kids on each sides are prideful, fans are prideful,” Self said. “There’stalk on each sides of it and that translates down to players as well.”
Missouri players have been reminded all week to ignore hoopla andconcentrate on the game. Top scorer Marcus Denmon, sixth man Michael Dixonand reserve forward Steve Moore, all from Kansas City, want no much more incentive.
“All that stuff you hear is going on, you try to block it out mainly because allthat stuff, you can’t manage,” Moore mentioned.
Guard Kim English, one particular of the much more outspoken Missouri players, waspurposefully respectful. He made meticulous note of Kansas’ rich tradition,though he added, “But we’re living in the right here and now.”
“Respect their players, actually appear up to them, respect their coach,” hesaid, “that’s about it.”
The same goes for Kansas, even though players are ready to ramp it up intribute to the spirit of a beloved series on the verge of cancellation.
“This rivalry goes way back just before we even know, so we type of take on thatrole of not seriously liking those guys,” guard Tyshawn Taylor. “We’re going toembrace the crowd, we’re going to embrace the fans, we’re going to go out and dowhat we do. That’s why we came to Kansas, to play games like this.”
The rivalry really has been rather lopsided, with Kansas holding adecisive 171-94 advantage and carrying a 5-game winning streak intoSaturday’s matchup.
The final time Missouri had a higher ranking for a matchup was 2009, when itwas 11th, four spots ahead of the Jayhawks, and lost by 25 points in Lawrence,Kan.
It’s been a bigger game for Missouri in recent years mainly because of Kansas’stature, and the Tigers’ lack of it.
“We cannot win any games except for Kansas and we had a fantastic season,”Missouri forward Ricardo Ratliffe stated, echoing remarks from seasons past.
Kansas had a ten-game winning streak snapped at Iowa State last week, but iscoming off a 22-point victory more than Oklahoma on Wednesday. That’s not substantially timeto prepare for Missouri’s four-guard offense, with dazzling sophomore PhilPressey distributing to 3-point threats Denmon, English and older brother MattPressey.
The lone inside man is a major beneficiary, too. Ratliffe is shooting 75percent, threatening the single-season NCAA field aim percentage record of 74.6percent by Oregon State’s Steve Johnson in 1981. He will have his hands fullwith Robinson.
“I don’t see it as a matchup dilemma simply because I think I have the capability toat least contain them, and stay in front of them,” Robinson stated. “And I lookat it like they have to check me. It functions both techniques.”
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AP Sports Writer David Skretta and AP freelance writer Jake Kreinbergcontributed to this report.
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ACC tourney to include all 14 teams
February 3, 2012
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)—The Atlantic Coast Conference will play anine-game schedule in football and each and every team will compete in the ACC basketballtournaments once Syracuse and Pittsburgh join the league.
The league announced Friday how it will incorporate the schools once theyleave the Massive East Conference. ACC commissioner John Swofford stated Friday it’sstill unclear when that will occur due to the fact Big East bylaws demand a 27-monthnotice for a school to leave.
“This just puts us in position of getting further ready to accept themcompetitively as soon as they can join and as soon as that’s worked out betweenthe two schools and the Major East,” Swofford mentioned.
The conference’s annual winter meetings marked the very first timerepresentatives from Syracuse and Pittsburgh had been involved in ACC discussions.They couldn’t vote mainly because they’re not however complete members, even though Swofford saideach school was “a full participant” and “they were supportive of everythingthat was carried out.”
The league will leave its division alignments in location for football.Syracuse will join the Atlantic Division and Pittsburgh will join the Coastal.The two will serve as cross-division partners for scheduling purposes, meaningthey’ll play every single year.
In basketball, the league assigns partners to assure two schools play eachother twice each year. When the league expands to 14 teams, the partners willbe: Boston College-Syracuse, Clemson-Georgia Tech, Duke-North Carolina, FloridaState-Miami, Maryland-Pittsburgh, North Carolina State-Wake Forest andVirginia-Virginia Tech.
The league previously announced it would play an 18-game basketball schedulenext season regardless of whether the schools have joined by then.
Swofford stated league schools decided on the expanded conference schedulesbecause “you want to see and play each other as a lot as attainable.”
In Olympic sports, all teams will play each and every conference team at least onceexcept in baseball, which currently doesn’t play all league opponents.
The addition of Pittsburgh will give the league 4 gymnastics applications,the quantity required to hold a conference championship occasion. The league held agymnastics championship in 1984.
Volleyball will be the only league sport that won’t hold a championshipevent or tournament. The sport will continue to recognize its champion throughregular-season play.
Jones has 43 as Iona rolls past Canisius
February 3, 2012
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (AP)—Lamont Jones set a career high with 43 points,matching a scoring output from two decades ago for Iona, as the Gaels defeatedCanisius 105-86 Thursday night.
The 43 points matched the second-highest output in Gaels history, tying SeanGreen’s total in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament game versusSiena on March 3, 1991. Jones’ total is also a Hines Center record.
Iona (18-5, ten-2), which has scored 100 points or more 4 times thisseason, set a season-high with Thursday night’s total.
The Gaels led by 4 points at intermission and outscored Canisius 54-39 inthe second to seal it.
Scott Machado added 14 points and 14 assists, while Michael Glover had 12points and 11 rebounds for the Gaels. Iona has won 3 straight games and fiveof six.
Gaby Belardo had 27 points and Alshwan Hymes scored 23 to pace the GoldenGriffins (four-18, 1-11), who have lost six straight contests.
Hartsock’s 24 get BYU by No. 24 Gonzaga
February 3, 2012
PROVO, Utah (AP)—Brigham Young had an additional difficult night making outsideshots, hitting 3 of 12 from 3-point range Thursday against Gonzaga.
The Cougars made up for it defensively in an 83-73 win more than No. 24 Gonzaga,holding the Bulldogs to 27 percent shooting in the very first half and 41 percentoverall.
“That’s a large win for our team and for our guys,” BYU coach Dave Rosesaid. “Every player that went in the game tonight played with real urgency anda good work. Our effort was extreme the entire night and that was our focusgoing in.”
The Cougars had 14 steals and forced Gonzaga into 15 1st-half turnovers,and 19 for the game.
The Cougars also had a robust inside game to offset another poor-shootingnight, outscoring the Bulldogs 44-36 in the paint and finishing the game making49 percent of their shots overall.
BYU is 14 of 85 from 3-point range the past five games.
Noah Hartsock had 24 points and 14 rebounds to lead BYU.
Matt Carlino added 18 points and five assists for the Cougars (19-6, 7-3West Coast Conference) and Brandon Davies scored 15 points. Anson Winder got hisfirst start out and had 10 points, five assists and three steals.
Reserve Sam Dower scored 15 points for Gonzaga (17-four, 7-2). Gary Bell Jr.added 14 for the Bulldogs, Marquise Carter had 13 and Robert Sacre 11.
“They just out-toughed us. They played tougher than us,” Sacre said.“That’s generally the case for us. If we get outplayed, then we’re not going toget a win.”
The Cougars, who had 12 steals in the initial half, led 38-24 at the break.BYU stretched the lead to 55-36 with 13:30 to go before the Bulldogs trimmed itto nine in the final two minutes.
“Our hands were active, our feet had been active, and we were difficult forrebounds,” Rose stated. “That’s when we’re very good. Our guys respond to that andbuild on it and it offers them confidence. We have been a team that has playedreally tough.”
Gonzaga, behind defensive pressure that forced BYU into some sloppyturnovers and a few bad shots, trimmed BYU’s lead to 65-55 with two Michael Hartfree throws.
David Stockton missed an open three that could have trimmed the margin once more,and a hook by Davies with 1:30 remaining put the Cougars back ahead by 12 and incommand.
“BYU came out and played us physical. They got after us,” Gonzaga coachMark Handful of mentioned. “They were the ones causing (turnovers). The post (players)attacked us well—Hartsock and Davies. Carlino pushed the ball well, which putus back on our heels.”
No. 18 St. Mary’s wins 12th straight
February 3, 2012
MORAGA, Calif. (AP)—Rob Jones watched Matthew Dellavedova slice throughthe lane and waited for the lob. The ball arched via a crowd of defenders,some his former teammates, and he hammered house a two-hand dunk that put thepunctuation on a night that in no way figured to be so close.
Not in these parts, anyway.
Jones had 28 points and eight rebounds against his former team, and No. 18Saint Mary’s survived a slow begin to beat San Diego 84-73 on Thursday night forits 12th straight victory.
“It has absolutely nothing to do that I employed to play for them at all,” stated Jones,who spent two seasons at San Diego and enrolled at Saint Mary’s in 2010. “Everygame a person steps up and delivers, and it just happened to be me tonight.”
What timing.
The alley-oop from Dellavedova to Jones extended Saint Mary’s lead to 80-73with 54 seconds to play, bringing an announced crowd of 3,500 anxious fansroaring to their feet. San Diego shot 60 percent and Saint Mary’s only 46percent.
Saint Mary’s still escaped unscathed.
Stephen Holt scored a career-high 23 points and Dellavedova added 17 points,six rebounds and 5 assists to anchor a late 15-6 run that gave the Gaels(22-two, 11-) the lead for good against a surprising West Coast Conferencechallenger. Saint Mary’s has won 15 straight at property to maintain alive its chancesfor the plan’s initial undefeated season at McKeon Pavilion.
“For whatever purpose, we haven’t had a lot of close ones,” Saint Mary’scoach Randy Bennett said. “You have to play in those so that you have to makegood decisions and play under that sort of pressure. In a funny way, it’s allright for us. It could aid us down the road.”
Chris Manresa had 25 points and Dennis Kramer scored 17 for the Toreros(8-14, 3-7), who pushed the Gaels to the brink for the second time this season.San Diego lost 78-72 at home to Saint Mary’s on Jan. 5.
Duplicating that kind of performance has been a uncommon sight this year forMcKeon Pavilion guests.
The Toreros, who upset Saint Mary’s 74-66 in San Diego last season, showedno signs of slipping this year. They pulled ahead in the opening minutes with atorrid commence from beyond the arc and kept the Gaels on edge with production fromacross the roster.
Kramer came off the bench and produced a pair of 3-pointers in the course of a suddenspurt that gave San Diego a 24-19 lead. The Toreros went ahead by as numerous as sixuntil the Gaels started to create momentum just ahead of half, tying the score at42 on Stephen Holt’s layup in the opening minutes of the second session.
“No one’s played them as close in the league as we have,” San Diego coachBill Grier. “And we’ve battled them. For whatever purpose, we appear to match upwell with them.”
Tiny separation occurred till late.
A total of 15 ties and six lead adjustments highlighted a tight contest. Bothteams shot nicely—San Diego at 60 percent and Saint Mary’s at 46 percent—andmade handful of blunders.
Dellavedova shook off a timid start off to tame the Toreros, producing a three-pointer,brief jumper and two cost-free throws through a 15-6 stretch that put the Gaels aheadby seven. Later, he feathered the alley-oop to Jones that sealed the victory.
“Our coaches do a very good job of keeping almost everything in perspective,” saidHolt, whose previous finest was 21 points against Portland earlier this season.“Yeah, we’re ranked and we’re undefeated in the conference, but we stillhaven’t accomplished our objective of a WCC championship.”
Yet another robust season shaping up for Saint Mary’s has had small come easylately.
After breaking his thumb last week in a locker area mishap, Bennett alreadywas wearing a cast about his suitable hand and a short-sleeve collared shirtinstead of his usual sharp suits. He stated he opened a door and a white boardfell on his thumb, requiring emergency surgery in Los Angeles following avictory at Loyola Marymount.
Most students also were absent because of a brief vacation among terms.That nevertheless didn’t quit crowds from flocking to tiny McKeon Pavilion to createanother strong and feverish turnout at the mid-main powerhouse.
Saint Mary’s is one of eight teams in Division I—along with WCC rivalGonzaga and newcomer BYU—to win at least 25 games in every of the last fourseasons. The ranking this week in the AP poll is the highest for Saint Mary’ssince 1989.
The highest ranking ever for the plan is No. 14, a mark held in the firstpoll of the 1958-59 season. A few much more wins may possibly allow the Gaels to top rated thatmark—even if they have to sweat out yet another victory.
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No. 10 Murray State rallies, now 22-0
February 3, 2012
MURRAY, Ky. (AP)—Even though the initially half wasn’t fairly, Murray Stateended the night with its 22nd consecutive victory.
Isaiah Canaan scored 24 of his 32 points in the second half and the No. 10Racers remained unbeaten with an 81-73 win over Southeast Missouri State onThursday night.
Jewuan Long added 13 points for Murray State (22-, ten-), which is off tothe greatest start out by an Ohio Valley Conference team since Western Kentucky opened21- in 1953-54.
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“Isaiah Canaan is a particular player,” mentioned Southeast Missouri coach DickeyNutt. “Special players step up in unique games and that’s what he did . He hitbig shots when the game was on the line, specially contested and also from verydeep range, so I have to give him credit for that.”
Marcus Brister had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Redhawks (12-ten,7-three).
The lead altered hands 3 instances in the very first half and Murray Statetrailed the Redhawks 39-33 at the break. Murray State took the lead for goodless than ten minutes into the second half.
Southeast Missouri forced 14 turnovers, but Murray State outrebounded theRedhawks 43-34.
With the Redhawks top 46-40 and 15:38 to go, Lengthy took an elbow to thechin from SE Missouri’s Marland Smith. A minute later, right after two missed layupsand a jumper, Ivan Aska ran down the court, shared a look with Canaan and said,“Let’s go bro.” Ten seconds later, Canaan connected with his second 3 in arow.
“I knew (Canaan) had a slow commence in the initially half and we was down alittle bit in the very first half and the second half but I knew he was going to comealong soon so I wasn’t worried at all,” Extended mentioned. “We’ve seen it too manytimes and I had faith he was going to come by means of.”
After three Donte Poole no cost throws, Canaan sank yet another 3-pointer with 13minutes to go.
“They (teammates) stay on me all the time for scenarios like these so whenthey come down to games like these and you see all the excellent numbers, I try togive them all the credit due to the fact they ready me for situations like this to goout and do points like this,” Canaan mentioned. “Ivan and the rest of the teammateswere just saying, `let’s go’ and it went on from there and I began knockingdown a handful of shots and we started obtaining aggressive in the defense like we shouldhave been in the very first half and issues turned out for the greatest.”
Aska added ten points and 11 rebounds for the Racers, and his dunk with 1:58to go gave Murray State a 12-point lead—its biggest of the game.
Murray State trailed by as several as 11 in the very first half, but coach SteveProhm in no way known as a timeout.
“I get a $200 bonus for every timeout I leave up there,” Prohm joked.“I’ve got a lot of confidence in these guys because they’ve got good characterand they’ve got wonderful toughness. I’m not a yeller and a screamer, I learned fromcoach (Billy) Kennedy to be even-keeled because they’re going to respond how Irespond and that’s what I think in my gut and my heart and we haven’t lost ourcomposure.”
The two teams meet again in Cape Girardeau on Feb. 15.
Prohm and organization stay unfazed.
“We’re just going to preserve carrying out the very same factor we’re undertaking,” the coachsaid. “Preach to these guys everyday about being humble and handling themselveswith excellent humility and they’ve completed that at the highest level. I couldn’t bemore proud of them.”
No. 12 Florida earns sixth straight win
February 3, 2012
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP)—Florida was relieved to win with such a poorshooting efficiency.
Kenny Boynton scored 24 points, Bradley Beal had his fourth double-doubleand the No. 12 Gators beat South Carolina 74-66 Thursday night for their sixthconsecutive victory.
Florida (18-4, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) swept the Gamecocks (9-12, 1-6)for the initial time given that 2008 and extended its home-winning streak to 18 games.
The most up-to-date one particular was a grind.
Florida coach Billy Donovan sh&hellip AP – Feb three, 12:14 am EST South Carolina coach Darrin Ho&hellip AP – Feb 3, 12:10 am EST
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“I’m sort of happy it happened due to the fact we won the game and it was a woefulshooting night,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “We almost got caught.”
The Gators led by 17 points midway via the 1st half, but missed enoughshots to permit South Carolina to slowly whittle it down to five with 2:51remaining. Brenton Williams had a opportunity to make it a 5-point game with 1:13remaining, but he missed the initially of two free throws. Williams also had acostly turnover on the previous possession. He was 2-of-9 shooting.
Florida created 11 of 12 cost-free throws in the final 1:09 to close it out.
“We need to have these kinds of wins,” Boynton stated. “In the past we let somehome wins slip away. I assume we learned from those.”
The Gators shot 37.three percent from the floor, their second-lowest total ofthe season. The most significant dilemma came from 3-point range. Boynton was 4 of 8 frombehind the arc, but his teammates combined to go three for 20.
“It’s not going to be pretty each night,” Florida’s Erving Walker mentioned.“South Carolina did a good job of scrambling and switching defenses.”
Bruce Ellington led South Carolina with 15 points. Damontre Harris and MalikCooke added 12 each.
The Gamecocks squandered a number of odds in the final couple of minutes. Possibly thetoughest to swallow was when Walker came up with a loose ball—the Gatorsseemingly got all of them—and found Beal slicing through the lane. Beal dunkedit, got fouled and completed the 3-point play to put the Gators up 59-50.
Beal completed with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Walker had 14 points, sevenassists and 4 rebounds.
“The challenge is when you’re playing a team of Florida’s caliber andyou’ve dug your self in a hole,” South Carolina coach Darrin Horn mentioned.
The Gators built their massive lead with a huge rebounding benefit and bymaking four of their very first seven three-point attempts. But they went cold from longrange in the second half.
South Carolina couldn’t take benefit.
“We just couldn’t get over that hump just about every time we cut the lead down,”Harris said. “We were usually in that very same spot, so it was hard for us to getover that hump.”
Florida dominated the opening 10 minutes.
The Gators created three-pointers, got nearly just about every loose ball and took advantageof a 14-1 rebounding margin to develop a 27-ten lead.
Nothing went wrong for Florida early. The press took South Carolina out ofrhythm, and the Gators seemed to discover wide-open shooters all more than the floor. Andeven when they did miss, they got just about every rebound. Florida ended thefirst half with 14 offensive boards—more than Donovan’s team had in itsprevious three games combined.
“The major thing that seriously hurt us the most was rebounding,” Harris said.“That is what killed us the most.”
The Gamecocks ultimately settled down and started slicing into the lead.
Brian Richardson hit a three-pointer and a jumper, and then Cooke found hisstroke. Cooke sank a mid-range shot, and then converted a 3-point play onthe subsequent possession. Cooke flipped in a shot more than his head, got fouled andknocked down the cost-free throw.
RJ Slawson continued South Carolina’s late surge with a layup in the finalminute. The Gamecocks ended the half on a 9-1 run and suddenly trailed 37-28after searching like they would get blown out.
Florida contributed to its difficulties late in the very first half with poor shotselection and missed cost-free throws. Beal missed three from the charity stripe inthe final 5:48, and Walker missed each of his in the final minute.
Cooke created it a six-point game, 37-31, with a three-point play to open thesecond half.
The Gators responded, though.
Walker produced consecutive floaters in the lane, and Beal tipped in a miss. Thegame went back and forth the rest of the way. The largest distinct was Floridastarted making cost-free throws and completed 23 for 32 from the stripe.
“We let up,” Boynton mentioned. “In the initial half we were hitting shots andeverybody was into it. In the second half, we stopped hitting them and haddefensive letdowns. … But we identified a way to win, and that’s all thatmatters.”
Washington’s late rally stuns UCLA 71-69
February 3, 2012
SEATTLE (AP)—Terrence Ross scored 10 of Washington’s final 12 points tofinish with 22, and the Huskies overcame a 10-point deficit with seven minutesremaining to stun UCLA 71-69 on Thursday night.
Ross’ three-pointer from the wing with 1:20 remaining turned out to be thegame-winner, but the Huskies (15-7, 8-two Pac-12) had to watch Norman Powell’sbaseline jumper with three seconds left hang on the rim and fall off beforecelebrating their fourth straight win more than the Bruins.
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Ross scored 18 points in the second half and made 9 of 12 shots overall.Tony Wroten added 13 points and Darnell Gant had 12 for the Huskies, whoretained at least a share of the conference lead.
Josh Smith scored a career-high 24 points for UCLA (12-10, five-five), but hadjust 3 points in the final 12 minutes.
Oral Roberts has 13-game win streak end
February 3, 2012
BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP)—Nate Wolters scored 24 points and Jordan Dykstraadded 22 as South Dakota State snapped Oral Roberts’ 13-game winning streak witha 75-60 win Thursday night.
South Dakota State (18-6, 10-two Summit League) asserted itself as thefront-runner with a 15-two lead inside the game’s first seven minutes,precipitated by three turnovers and 1 of 7 shooting by Oral Roberts (20-5,12-1). South Dakota State led 34-23 at halftime.
Oral Roberts had been undefeated in conference play coming into the game,having won 19 consecutive Summit League games dating to last season, but wasundone by three of 13 3-point shooting and 15 turnovers.
In the second half, the Golden Eagles would get no closer than 11 in thesecond half and trailed by as several as 20.
Roderick Pearson and Warren Niles led Oral Roberts with 14 points apiece.Michael Craion and Stever Roundtree added 12 points each and every.
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