Blue Devils deck Syracuse
By JOEDY McCREARY
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AP Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. — The rematch of one of college basketball’s best games of the season ended with Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim ejected after he charged onto the court to argue a block/charge call.
Rodney Hood scored 13 points and drew that game-changing charging call that helped No. 5 Duke beat No. 1 Syracuse 66-60 on Saturday night.
Freshman Jabari Parker had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils (22-6, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Jerami Grant had 17 points and C.J. Fair, the player who was called for the charge, finished with 13 for the Orange (25-2, 12-2).
The first meeting between these teams was an overtime game considered an instant classic. The rematch was just as close but it will be remembered more for Boeheim’s exit with 10 seconds to play.
Syracuse had the ball down 60-58 when Fair drove for an apparent tying layup.
But official Tony Greene whistled Fair for charging — and Boeheim shot onto the court to argue. Greene slapped him with two technical fouls and ejected him.
Quinn Cook iced it by hitting three free throws with 10.4 seconds left to make it 63-58.
That helped the Blue Devils bounce back from a loss to hated rival North Carolina less than 48 hours earlier. It meant they avoided their first regular-season losing streak since 2009 and it extended their winning streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium to 31 games.
Meanwhile, the Orange — whose 25-0 start was spoiled three nights earlier by an overtime loss at home to sub-.500 Boston College — are the first top-ranked team to lose twice in a week since Texas in 2010.
Star freshman Tyler Ennis finished with nine points on 2-of-13 shooting and he and fellow starting guard Trevor Cooney combined to miss all five of their 3-point attempts for the Orange.
Three times in the final 90 seconds, they had the ball down by three or fewer points — but all anyone will remember is that drive by Fair.
He blew past Tyler Thornton along the left baseline and flipped up a shot that banked in, but Greene blew his whistle and waved it off to call Fair for charging.
That brought Boeheim off the bench to argue, and when he was tossed, the game was effectively over.
Duke appeared to take control down the stretch, scoring on six consecutive trips — keyed by Cook’s 3-pointer that pushed its lead to 53-47 with just under 7 minutes left. Three possessions later, Parker soared to dunk the rebound of Hood’s missed 3 — which restored the Blue Devils’ six-point lead and sent the Cameron Crazies into earsplitting delirium.
But Ennis followed with a layup and Grant hit a jumper in transition, and things stayed tight until the technical fouls.
The game again matched the two winningest men’s coaches in Division I history in Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski and Boeheim — who, by the end of the night, combined for 1,924 victories.
Round 1 went to Boeheim earlier this month in a game for the ages, with the Orange claiming a 91-89 victory in overtime after Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon hit a buzzer-beating, tying 3 at the end of regulation before 35,446 fans at the Carrier Dome.
There were about one-quarter of that many at 9,314-seat Cameron — but the 74-year-old building rocked all night with a ferocity usually reserved for the annual visit from North Carolina.
No. 2 FLORIDA 75
MISSISSIPPI 71
OXFORD, Miss. — Scottie Wilbekin scored 18 points, Michael Frazier II added 17 and No. 2 Florida rallied to beat Mississippi 75-71..
The Gators (25-2, 14-0 Southeastern Conference) extended their school-record winning streak to 19 games. Ole Miss (16-11, 7-7) has lost four in a row.
Florida survived a hot start from the Rebels’ Marshall Henderson, who scored 22 points in the first half but was then held scoreless. Jarvis Summers added 20 points for Ole Miss.
The game was tied at 59 with 8 minutes left, but Florida scored the next six points to take control.
No. 11 LOUISVILLE 58
No. 7 CINCINNATI 57
CINCINNATI — Russ Smith’s 18-foot jumper with 2.2 seconds left gave Louisville its sixth straight win and 10th in 11 games.
Louisville (23-4, 12-2 American Athletic Conference) started the winning streak after a last-second 69-66 home loss to the Bearcats (24-4, 13-2) three weeks ago.
Cincinnati fought back from a 10-point second-half deficit to take a 55-52 lead with 90 seconds remaining. Freshman Troy Caupain made two free throws with 12 seconds left to give the Bearcats a 57-56 lead.
Terry Rozier passed the ball to Smith for the winning jumper. The Cardinals tipped the inbounds pass, giving Cincinnati no opportunity to get off a shot before the buzzer sounded.
Montrezl Harrell, who was just 5 of 12 from the free throw line, led the Cardinals with 21 points, Rozier had 11 and Smith finished with 10 on 3-of-10 shooting.
Sean Kilpatrick had 28 points for the Bearcats, who had won 19 straight at home.
No. 9 VILLANOVA 57
ST. JOHN’S 54
PHILADELPHIA — Darrun Hilliard scored 18 points and Ryan Arcidiacono had 12 for Villanova.
It was the second straight win for Villanova (24-3, 12-2 Big East) since its second loss of the season to No. 11 Creighton.
D’Angelo Harrison had 15 points for St. John’s (18-10, 8-7), Rysheed Jordan scored 13 and JaKarr Sampson had 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Red Storm’s six-game winning streak ended.
Arcidiacono hit a 3-pointer from the top of the circle to give Villanova a 53-50 lead with 3:43 left.
Harrison made a driving layup to cut it to 54-53. Daniel Ochefu made one of two free throws to give Villanova a 2-point lead with 34 seconds left. With a chance to tie or give the Red Storm a lead, Phil Greene IV was called for traveling with 14 seconds to go. Arcidiacono’s free throw made it 56-53. But the Red Storm couldn’t get a 3-point shot off and Harrison was fouled going for a layup with 1.5 seconds left. He made the first free throw and purposely missed the second, but a lane violation gave the ball to Villanova.
Josh Hart made one free throw and the Red Storm missed a desperation 3-point shot at the buzzer.
No. 14 VIRGINIA 70
NOTRE DAME 49
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Akil Mitchell and Anthony Gill both scored 15 points and Virginia used a 30-2 second-half run to blow open a close game and go on to its 11th consecutive victory.
Justin Anderson helped fuel the run by blocking a dunk attempt by Notre Dame’s Zach Auguste, bringing a sellout crowd at John Paul Jones Arena to its feet. The victory gave Virginia (23-5, 14-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) 14 conference wins for the first time.
Pat Connaughton led the Fighting Irish (14-14, 5-10) with 11 points.
No. 16 WISCONSIN 79
No. 15 IOWA 74
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Frank Kaminsky had 21 points and a crucial late steal as Wisconsin won for its fifth straight.
Sam Dekker added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Badgers (22-5, 9-5 Big Ten), who swept the season series and moved a half-game ahead of the Hawkeyes (19-7, 8-5) in the Big Ten standings.
Josh Oglesby’s jumper with 1:01 left put Iowa up 72-71, but Kaminsky answered with a bank shot that gave Wisconsin a one-point lead. Kaminsky then stripped Iowa’s Roy Devyn Marble under the basket and hit two free throws as the Badgers went up 75-72 with 24.5 seconds left.
Marble had 21 points and 11 assists to lead the Hawkeyes, who lost their third home game in four tries.
No. 17 IOWA ST. 71
TCU 60
FORT WORTH, Texas — DeAndre Kane scored 20 points and Georges Niang had 19 points and eight rebounds as Iowa State kept TCU winless in the Big 12.
Niang had two three-point plays in the last 5 minutes to help the Cyclones (21-5, 9-5 Big 12) build a cushion.
Kane gave the Cyclones their first double-digit lead when he knocked the ball away from Kyan Anderson for a steal and caught a long pass from Melvin Ejim for a layup.
Ejim, the Big 12 leader at 19.1 points per game coming in, scored 14 after setting a Big 12 record with 48 in Iowa State’s 84-69 win over at TCU at home.
No. 18 KENTUCKY 77
LSU 76, OT
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Julius Randle scored in the lane with 3.9 seconds remaining in overtime to give Kentucky the hard-earned win.
After Andre Stringer’s jumper with 12 seconds left gave LSU a 76-75 lead, James Young’s shot on the other end was blocked. Randle was able to grab the loose ball and hit the game-winning short jumper, sparking a delirious celebration with his Wildcats teammates piling on top of him.
Randle finished with eight points and 15 rebounds for Kentucky (21-6, 11-3 Southeastern Conference), which got 21 points from Aaron Harrison and 20 from Young.
Johnny O’Bryant III and Anthony Hickey both had 20 points for LSU (16-10, 7-7).