BATON ROUGE, La. — Terrence Jones highlighted a 27-point performance with a 13-0 run on his own and No. 1 Kentucky pulled away in the second half for a 74-50 win over struggling LSU on Saturday.
Anthony Davis had 16 points and 10 rebounds despite briefly leaving the game when he hurt his right shoulder in a scramble for a loose ball.
Darius Miller added 13 points, including three 3-pointers for Kentucky (21-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference), which has won 13 straight.
Johnny O’Bryant III had 12 points and nine rebounds for LSU (12-9, 2-5), which has lost four of five.
Jones had the last four points of the first half, then helped Kentucky break the game open by scoring the first nine of the second half on two dunks, a fast-break layup and another basket inside as he was fouled. His last of 13 straight points in the game gave Kentucky a 44-26 lead.
NO. 3 SYRACUSE 63,
WEST VIRGINIA 61
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Brandon Triche had 18 points, including a pair of free throws that broke the final tie with 88 seconds left, and Syracuse beat West Virginia.
After Triche’s free throws, the Mountaineers missed four straight shots, including an airball 3 by Darryl “Truck” Bryant and a miss on the follow by Deniz Kilicli. But when Kris Joseph snared the rebound and tried to dribble away, he fell out of bounds with 6.2 seconds left, giving West Virginia one last chance. Kevin Jones missed a 3 from the left corner at the buzzer and Syracuse hung on.
Syracuse (22-1, 9-1 Big East) has won 13 of the past 14 games against West Virginia (15-7, 5-4). The win was the 878th for Orange coach Jim Boeheim, moving him within one victory of tying former North Carolina coach Dean Smith for third in Division I history.
Jones led West Virginia with 20 points and eight rebounds.
NO. 8 DUKE 83, ST. JOHN’S 76
DURHAM, N.C. — Mason Plumlee had 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds to help Duke hold off St. John’s.
Ryan Kelly scored 16 points and Andre Dawkins added 14 for the Blue Devils (18-3), who led by 22 with 17 minutes left but shot just 30 percent in the second half while the Red Storm rallied.
Moe Harkless had 30 points and 13 rebounds for St. John’s (9-12). He and D’Angelo Harrison each hit 3-pointers in the final minute to make things tense.
Austin Rivers finished with 12 points for Duke, claiming their 94th straight nonconference victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Harrison had 21 points for St. John’s, the last non-ACC team to win at Cameron, in 2000.
PITTSBURGH 72,
NO. 9 GEORGETOWN 60
PITTSBURGH — Nasir Robinson scored 23 points and made all nine of his field goal attempts to lead Pittsburgh past Georgetown.
Lamar Patterson added 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Panthers (13-9, 2-7 Big East), who never trailed while improving to 12-0 against Top 10 teams at the Petersen Events Center.
Otto Porter led the Hoyas (16-4, 6-3) with 14 points and Henry Sims added 10 but Georgetown couldn’t overcome a 17-point first-half deficit.
The Panthers won their second straight following an eight-game losing streak.
NO. 11 MURRAY STATE 73,
EASTERN ILLINOIS 58
MURRAY, Ky. — Donte Poole and Isaiah Canaan each scored 18 points, and Murray State remained the only unbeaten team in Division I with a victory over Eastern Illinois.
Poole also had six assists and four rebounds while Ed Daniel grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for the Racers (21-0, 9-0 Ohio Valley Conference). Murray State tied the OVC record for longest winning streak set by Western Kentucky with 21 consecutive victories in 1953-54 and 1966-67.
Racers coach Steve Prohm matched Columbia’s Lou Rossini (1950-51) for the third-best start to a season by a first-year coach.
Joey Miller had 17 points and four rebounds for the Panthers (9-11, 2-6).
COLORADO STATE 77,
NO. 13 SAN DIEGO STATE 60
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Wes Eikmeier scored 19 points and Colorado State made all 23 of its free throws, beating San Diego State for its first home win over a ranked team in more than eight years.
Will Bell added 17 points and the Rams (14-6, 3-2 Mountain West) frustrated the fatigued Aztecs (18-3, 4-1) all afternoon, limiting them to 3-of-21 shooting from 3-point range.
It was the first time Colorado State beat a Top 25 team at Moby Arena since knocking off Purdue 71-69 on Dec. 30, 2003. The Rams set a conference record by going 23 for 23 at the foul line.
Jamaal Franklin had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Aztecs, who had their 11-game winning streak snapped. Chase Tapley, the conference’s leading scorer, was held to 10 points.
NO. 14 FLORIDA 69,
NO. 18 MISSISSIPPI ST. 57
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Bradley Beal scored 19 points, Patric Young made several crowd-rousing plays and Florida beat Mississippi State, extending its home winning streak to 17 games.
The Gators (17-4, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) used an 11-0 run in the second half — sparked by Beal’s third 3-pointer and highlighted by Young’s two dunks — to turn a tight game into a double-digit affair.
Mississippi State (17-5, 4-3) trailed 62-47 after the spurt and never got the lead to single digits. The Gators made enough plays down the stretch to secure their second win in six games against the Bulldogs.
Young, still battling tendinitis in his right ankle, finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
Arnett Moultrie led Mississippi State with 12 points and 13 rebounds, his league-leading 13th double-double of the season. He fouled out with 2:04 remaining.
NO. 15 CREIGHTON 73, BRADLEY 59
OMAHA, Neb. — Doug McDermott scored 24 points and Creighton turned back two Bradley comeback attempts in the second half.
A school-record crowd of 18,436 watched as the Bluejays (20-2, 10-1 Missouri Valley Conference) won their 10th straight. Bradley (6-17, 1-10) has lost 13 of 14.
Josh Jones and Gregory Echenique each had 14 points for the Bluejays, who have won 14 straight against Bradley in Omaha since 1998. Echenique also had 10 rebounds.
Dyricus Simms-Edwards scored 19 points to lead the Braves, who twice cut Creighton’s lead to three in the second half.
NO. 17 MARQUETTE 82,
VILLANOVA 78
PHILADELPHIA — Darius Johnson-Odom scored 26 points to help Marquette storm back from an 18-point deficit and beat Villanova.
Jae Crowder had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Marquette (18-4, 7-2 Big East) and played just as big a role in the second half as Johnson-Odom in helping the Golden Eagles win their sixth straight game.
JayVaughn Pinkston led Villanova (10-12, 3-7) with 17 points. Maurice Sutton had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Villanova had the lead with 6:15 left when Maalik Wayns was whistled for a technical. Johnson-Odom hit two free throws and Crowder tied it on a driving layup. Johnson-Odum made it 71-69, putting Marquette ahead for good.
NO. 19 VIRGINIA 61, N.C. STATE 60
RALEIGH, N.C. — Mike Scott scored 18 points to help Virginia beat North Carolina State.
Joe Harris and Sammy Zeglinski each added 12 for the Cavaliers (17-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shot 60 percent in the first half to take the lead and then turned away a second-half rally.
Virginia led by 10 with about 6½ minutes left before the Wolfpack (15-7, 4-3) pushed back. Scott Wood hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 61-60 with 46.3 seconds to go, and N.C. State got the ball back with a chance to win.
But after a timeout with 7.8 seconds left, Lorenzo Brown managed a desperate 3-pointer that missed everything.
C.J. Leslie scored 17 points to lead the Wolfpack. Richard Howell had a career-high 18 rebounds before fouling out with 1:47 left.
