Associated Press Associated Press ADVERTISING NEW YORK — When Cody Zeller bounced back, he brought his whole team with him. A night after an ineffective game, Zeller had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 1 Indiana to an
Associated Press
NEW YORK — When Cody Zeller bounced back, he brought his whole team with him.
A night after an ineffective game, Zeller had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 1 Indiana to an 82-72 overtime win against Georgetown in the title game of the Legends Classic tournament on Tuesday night.
“Our guys just went out and played a high-level team in a high-level way,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “It’s a program win for us. A program championship for us.”
Jordan Hulls had 17 points for Indiana (5-0) and Yogi Ferrell had 14, including seven in overtime.
His last points came on a 3-pointer he released just before the shot clock ran out, giving Indiana a 10-point lead with about a minute to go and, finally, clinching a game Indiana almost had wrapped up in regulation.
Victor Oladipo scored 12 points for Indiana and Christian Watford added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Hoosiers, who took 36 free throws to Georgetown’s 10.
“To be in a close game like tonight, you have to play to your strengths,” Zeller said.
Markel Starks scored 20 points for the Hoyas (3-1), and Otto Porter, who fouled out in overtime, made a layup with 4.6 seconds to play in regulation that tied the game at 64.
I just saw a little opening and took it,” Porter said. “It’s just a learning process this early in the year. Most of our guys never had that much experience.”
Porter finished with 15 points. He was one of three Georgetown players to foul out — all in overtime.
“We came here to win and we had our chances,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “So we’re extremely disappointed with how things turned out.”
He mostly shrugged off the disparity in fouls, saying: “They do a good job of that. They do a good job of drawing fouls. I’m not sure what we could have done differently.”
At the end of regulation, Hulls pushed the ball up the floor and passed to Zeller crashing the lane, but Zeller’s lay-in was late and missed, anyway. Had it gone in, it would have put an exclamation point on a game that Crean called an “epic battle.”
Referring to both teams, Crean said “everyone that played in that absolutely left it out there.”
Late in regulation, Indiana rebounded a miss, drained the shot clock and Hulls made a layup with two minutes left that made it 61-54.
After Greg Whittington’s layup, Zeller was fouled in the lane and made both free throws with 1:18 left that appeared to put the game away before Georgetown made two quick 3s.
With about eight minutes to go, the 7-foot preseason All-America passed to Ferrell for a layup attempt on which he was fouled and made both throws. Then with 5:42 left, he passed out of a double team in the paint to find Will Sheehey for a dunk that electrified the crowd and gave Indiana a six-point lead.
But Georgetown ground away and Starks and Porter made the 3-pointers that helped the Hoyas close Indiana’s lead from seven points to one.
Indiana finished 11 of 17 on 3-pointers and Georgetown made 11 of 26.
The first half was a wild, back-and-forth affair during which both teams combined to shoot 14 for 24 on 3-pointers. Remy Abell made a 3-pointer with 4:22 remaining before halftime to give the Hoosiers a seven-point lead, but the Hoyas answered with a 3 by Whittington, and Indiana led 36-32 at the break.
Zeller surpassed his scoring and rebounding totals from the night before by halftime.
Hoosiers fans made Brooklyn into Big Ten territory days after the conference welcomed Maryland and Rutgers, in a move seen to appeal to East Coast television markets, including the nation’s largest in New York.
Crimson-and-cream-clad revelers began arriving during UCLA’s dull win over Georgia in the consolation game, and by the 10 p.m. tipoff, were roaring. Georgetown fans were outnumbered, but still managed to hoot and shout to make themselves heard over the din.
The game ended well after midnight, but plenty of fans remained for the brief trophy presentation and lingered while Crean shook hands with those he could reach from the tunnel.
No. 7 FLORIDA 58, SAVANNAH STATE 40
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Mike Rosario scored 13 points, Patric Young added a double-double and the Gators overwhelmed Savannah State.
Young finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high six blocks. It was his second double-double in four games, Erik Murphy chipped in 10 points for the Gators (4-0), who played the final 13-plus minutes without leading scorer Kenny Boynton.
Boynton sprained his left ankle when the landed on an opponent’s foot while driving to the basket. He went to the locker room, returned to the bench a few minutes later and then left for good with 7:47 remaining. The Gators next play Friday against UCF.
Rashad Hassan and Cedric Smith led Savannah State with 11 points apiece. Arnold Louis added nine points and 11 boards for the Tigers (3-3).
No. 11 UCLA 60, GEORGIA 56
NEW YORK — Shabazz Muhammad scored 21 points and the Bruins made enough free throws late to hold off the Bulldogs in the consolation game of the Legends Classic tournament.
In the final minutes of a mostly dreary game, UCLA (4-1) took the lead with Muhammad on the bench, on baskets by Travis Wear and Jordan Adams, but the hyped freshman re-entered with 1:58 left to play.
He made two free throws with 1:15 left, then scooped up a loose ball on the other end with a minute remaining and fed Norman Powell, who was fouled attempting a layup.
Wear finished with 10 points and eight rebounds for UCLA, and Kyle Anderson had nine rebounds and nine points.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led the Bulldogs (1-4) with 16 points and had eight rebounds.
No. 12 KANSAS 73, SAINT LOUIS 59
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jeff Withey matched a career high with 25 points, Travis Releford added 23 and the Jayhawks held off Saint Louis to win the CBE Classic.
Releford had 21 points in the first half, and Withey had 15 in the second, the inside-outside duo carrying the Jayhawks (4-1) despite every effort by the Billikens (2-2) and senior forward Cody Ellis to get back into the game in the waning minutes of the second half.
The Jayhawks improved to 16-4 all-time at the Sprint Center, the site of this season’s Big 12 tournament, and where they’ll play Oregon State in a nonconference game next week.
Ellis finished with 19 points for the Billikens. Mike McCall Jr. added 13 points, Cory Remekun had 10 points and Dwayne Evans pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
No. 14 CREIGHTON 105, LONGWOOD 57
OMAHA, Neb. — Doug McDermott and Gregory Echenique scored 17 points apiece to lead four Creighton players in double figures, and the 14th-ranked Bluejays defeated Longwood.
Ethan Wragge and Will Artino each added 13 points for the Bluejays (4-0), who have won all their games this season by at least 20 points.
Jeylani Dublin had 19 points and Tristan Carey 14 for Longwood (0-4).
No. 15 MICHIGAN STATE 74, BOISE STATE 70
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Keith Appling scored 22 points while Branden Dawson and Denzel Valentine made key contributions to help slow-starting Michigan State rally twice to beat the Broncos.
Appling was 8-for-14 from the field and delivered the critical three-point play in the final minute. Valentine had 12 points in his first career start, while Dawson added 10 points, five rebounds and three steals for the No. 15 Spartans (3-1), who suffered a major blow for at least one night when high-scoring freshman Gary Harris suffered a shoulder injury in the opening minute.
Derrick Marks scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half before fouling out with 2:37 left for Leon Rice’s Broncos (3-1).
No. 22 CINCINNATI 91, CAMPBELL 72
CINCINNATI — Cashmere Wright scored a career-high 28 points and the Bearcats remained undefeated with a win over Campbell in the Global Sports Invitational.
Jaquon Parker set a season high with 21 points, and Sean Kilpatrick added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Bearcats (4-0), who never trailed and led by as many as 25.
Cincinnati is scheduled to play its first road game Friday against Iowa State as the GSI continues in Las Vegas.
Darren White, who came in leading the Big South Conference with 25.5 points per game, bounced back from scoring just three in the first half to finish with 22 for Campbell (2-3).
