TOP 25: No. 3 Duke 79, No. 5 Miami 76
Ryan Kelly scored a career-high 36 points in his return from a foot injury that had sidelined him since January, helping host Duke rally to beat Miami in an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown.
Kelly knocked down 10-of-14 shots — including 7-of-9 3-pointers- for the Blue Devils (25-4, 12-4), who avenged a blowout road loss in January by grinding out a tough win in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Quinn Cook added 15 points as Duke built a 10-point lead with about 2 minutes left then held off a frantic rally by Miami.
Shane Larkin scored 25 points to lead the Hurricanes (23-5, 14-2), who missed two 3s in the final seconds to tie it. Larkin came up short on the first over Kelly. Durand Scott ran down the rebound and fired a pass to the left corner to Rion Brown, whose final 3 clanged off the rim as the horn sounded.
No. 2 Gonzaga 81, Portland 52
Elias Harris scored 20 points and Kelly Olynyk added 15 points and 11 rebounds for host Gonzaga (29-2, 16-0 West Coast), which had already clinched the West Coast Conference regular-season title and the top seed in next weekend’s tournament. Gary Bell Jr. added 14 points.
Gonzaga led 46-27 at halftime, after shooting 61 percent and taking a huge 26-4 advantage on points in the paint. Harris had 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Portland (11-20, 4-12) shot 30 percent in the first half.
No. 6 Kansas 91, West Virginia 65
Ben McLemore scored a Kansas freshman-record 36 points, and Jeff Withey came within one block of a triple-double as the host Jayhawks beat West Virginia.
McLemore, a 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman, went to the bench with a little more than 5 minutes left after hitting 12-of-15 shots from the field, including 5-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arc. He had seven rebounds and four assists.
Withey’s nine blocks ran his Big 12 and Kansas career record to 281. He had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Jayhawks (25-4, 13-3 Big 12).
Terry Henderson had 20 points for the Mountaineers (13-16, 6-10).
No. 8 Florida 64, Alabama 52
Casey Prather had 10 points and nine rebounds, most of them in the second half, and host Florida rallied from an eight-point deficit. The Gators used a 15-0 run late in the second half — fueled by Prather — to pull away from the Crimson Tide and remain unbeaten at home.
Erik Murphy led Florida (23-5, 13-3 Southeastern Conference) with 15 points. Kenny Boynton added 13, and Scottie Wilbekin chipped in 11.
With Prather leading the way, Florida outscored Alabama 23-5 over the final 10 minutes of the game.
Trevor Releford led the Tide (19-10, 11-5) with 12 points. Trevor Lacey and Nick Jacobs added 11 points apiece.
No. 10 Louisville 58, No. 12 Syracuse 53
Luke Hancock hit a 3-pointer from the corner to break a tie with 50 seconds left for Louisville, which lost to host Syracuse earlier this season. It was the third consecutive loss for Syracuse (22-7, 10-6 Big East).
Louisville (24-5, 12-4) snapped a three-game losing streak against Syracuse before a stunned crowd of 31,173. Russ Smith led Louisville with 18 points.
No. 13 Kansas State 64, Baylor 61
Rodney McGruder hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and visiting Kansas State pulled out a win after a failed desperation inbound pass gave the Wildcats one more chance.
Instead of settling for overtime after K-State’s Shane Southwell missed badly with 1 second left, the Bears (17-12, 8-8 Big 12) brought seldom-used Jacob Neubert off the bench to try a length-of-the-court inbound pass.
But the ball went out of bounds without being touched, so the Wildcats got it under their own basket with the second still on the clock.
After a timeout, Angel Rodriguez inbounded to McGruder on the right wing.
McGruder had 18 points to lead Kansas State (24-5, 13-3), which won its fifth in a row to maintain a share of the Big 12 lead with Kansas with two regular-season games left.
No. 14 New Mexico 53, Wyoming 42
Alex Kirk had 15 points and nine rebounds and host New Mexico clinched the Mountain West Conference regular-season title. The Lobos (25-4, 12-2 MWC) went 21-for-27 from the free-throw line.
Riley Grabau scored 14 points for the Cowboys (18-11, 4-11).
New Mexico closed the first half on a 13-6 run for a 25-19 lead.
No. 15 Oklahoma St. 78, Texas 65
Markel Brown scored 18 points, Le’Bryan Nash added 16 and host Oklahoma State corralled Texas star Myck Kabongo to beat the Longhorns(13-16, 5-11 Big 12).
A showcase of two of the Big 12’s marquee point guards ended up being a sloppy one, with Kabongo committing a career-high seven turnovers while the Cowboys’ Marcus Smart had five.
Oklahoma State (22-6, 12-4 Big 12) took advantage of two of Kabongo’s turnovers to score the final eight points of the first half and start an 18-2 run that carried beyond halftime. By the time it was over, the Cowboys were firmly in front at 47-33 after Nash drove through traffic for a right-handed slam.
No. 18 Saint Louis 66, George Washington 58
Dwayne Evans scored 22 points and Kwamain Mitchell added 18 and visiting Saint Louis won its 11th game in a row.
With two games remaining in the regular season, Saint Louis (23-5, 12-2 Atlantic 10) holds a one-game lead over Virginia Commonwealth (23-6, 11-3).
Kevin Larsen led George Washington with 14 points. The Colonials (12-15, 6-8) have lost three in a row. The Colonials led by three with just over 7 minutes left when the Billikens put together a 10-0 run.
George Washington got no closer than five points the rest of the way.
No. 19 Memphis 76, Central Florida 67
Joe Jackson and Chris Crawford both scored 19 points and visiting Memphis claimed its eighth Conference USA championship.
Adonis Thomas added 12 points for the Tigers (25-4, 14-0), who gave coach Josh Pastner his 100th career win, all at Memphis.
Keith Clanton had 29 points and six rebounds for UCF (19-10, 8-6). Kasey Wilson added 11 points and Isaiah Sykes had 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
VCU 84, No. 20 Butler 52
Troy Daniels scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half and host Virginia Commonwealth’s full-court pressure overwhelmed Butler from the outset. The Rams (23-6, 11-3 Atlantic 10) forced 14 turnovers in the first half, one more than Butler’s average for a game, and converted them into 24 points on their way to a 45-21 lead.
Butler (22-7, 9-5) scored the first seven points after halftime to close within 17, but Briante Weber and Treveon Graham both scored five points in a 10-4 run and it was pretty much over, allowing the Rams to clinch one of the top four seeds in the conference tournament later this month.
Roosevelt Jones scored 14 points and Khyle Marshall had 13 for Butler.
No. 22 Marquette 72, No. 21 Notre Dame 64
Jamil Wilson tied his career high with 19 points and Chris Otule added a season-high 16 on 8-of-8 shooting as Marquette won its 25th consecutive home game. Wilson scored 17 points in the second half, including seven down the stretch, for the Golden Eagles (21-7, 12-4 Big East). His two free throws were the final points in the game.
Jerian Grant scored 21 points and Eric Atkins added 16 for Notre Dame (22-7, 10-6). Jack Cooley, Notre Dame’s leading scorer, had his minutes limited due to illness.
No. 25 Louisiana Tech 88, San Jose State 61
Host Louisiana Tech took a 13-4 lead 5½ minutes into the game and went on to beat San Jose State (9-18, 3-13) to remain unbeaten in the Western Athletic Conference. Raheem Appleby led balanced Louisiana Tech (26-3, 16-0) with 16 points.
BIG TEN: Minnesota 73, Penn State 44
Trevor Mbakwe had 13 points and 13 rebounds and host Minnesota held Penn State scoreless for the first 11 minutes of the game to cruise to a victory.
Julian Welch had 10 points and seven assists and Rodney Williams had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Golden Gophers (20-9, 8-8), who didn’t let the Nittany Lions spoil their Senior Day and capped a big week in which they also toppled No. 1 Indiana at home.
D.J. Newbill scored 15 points for Penn State (9-19, 1-15) but made just 2-of-16 field-goal attempts, and the Lions weren’t able to sneak up on Minnesota like they did No. 4 Michigan earlier this week. They trailed 16-0 before getting their first basket of the game with 8:42 to go in the half.
Illinois 72, Nebraska 65
Host Illinois used double-figure scoring from five players to hold off stubborn Nebraska. The Huskers led 57-55 with just over 6 minutes to play. But the Illini (21-9, 8-8) went on a 7-0 run started by a 3-pointer from D.J. Richardson to go up 62-57. They never trailed again.
Tracy Abrams led Illinois with 16 points. Nebraska (13-16, 4-12) was led by 23 points from Ray Gallegos.
No. 1 Indiana 73, Iowa 60
Cody Zeller overcame a sluggish start to score 22 points and Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell added a career-high 19 as host Indiana got past Iowa. The Hoosiers (25-4, 13-3) rebounded from this week’s loss to Minnesota. But it was no typical night for Indiana’s shooters, who were 38.9 percent from the field and didn’t hit a 3-pointer until the final minute.
But Indiana played defense and took care of the ball. Indiana used an early 10-2 spurt and a 6-0 run to close the half to take a 26-14 halftime lead.
Iowa (18-11, 7-9) committed 14 of its 19 turnovers in the first half and shot just 38.2 percent from the field.
Mid-American: Eastern Michigan 50, Western Michigan 49
Glenn Bryant scored 15 points, including a jumper with 2:09 left in overtime that turned out to be the game-winner, for host Eastern Michigan. Bryant’s score put the Eagles (14-15, 7-7) ahead 48-47, and J.R. Sims added two free throws with 29 seconds left. Nate Hutcheson then made a jumper with 20 seconds left to pull Western Michigan (18-10, 9-5) back within one, but neither team scored again.
Ball State 86, Toledo 72
Jauwan Scaife scored 28 points, making 5-of-10 from behind the arc, as Ball State defeated host Toledo. Jesse Berry added 22 points to help Ball State (13-14, 6-8) split its season matchup with Toledo (13-13, 8-6) and win its third consecutive game. Dominique Buckley’s 3-pointer brought Toledo, which trailed 67-60 with 7:22 remaining, within 71-69 with 5:02 to play. Scaife answered with a 3-pointer, as Ball State scored the next eight points to go up 79-69 with just under three minutes left.
Ohio 78, Bowling Green 65
Reggie Keely scored 21 points and visiting Ohio clinched a top-two seed in the MAC Tournament by defeating Bowling Green. The Bobcats (21-8, 12-2) led by 13 in the first half, but the Falcons (12-17, 6-8) surged ahead 40-39 with 17:13 left. Ohio pulled away with a 10-2 run.
