KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2010 / SPORTS
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Syracuse's Wesley Johnson celebrates after his team gained possession on a loose ball during the game against Connecticut Wednesday. Syracuse won the game, 72-67.
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Syracuse hangs on to win after giving up huge lead
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Wes Johnson and Kris Joseph combined to make six straight free throws in the final 33 seconds, and No. 2 Syracuse held off Connecticut 72-67 on Wednesday night after squandering a 16-point lead in the second half.
Jerome Dyson's 3 pointer for the Huskies tied it at 65 with 2:33 left, but Johnson put the Orange back in front by hitting two foul shots with 30.4 seconds to go.
It was the 11th straight victory for Syracuse (24-1, 12-1) and it snapped a six-game skid against the Huskies in the regular season.
Syracuse opened the season with 13 wins before losing to Pittsburgh. It's the first time in school history the Orange have had two 10-game winning streaks in one season.
Connecticut (14-10, 4-7) dropped to 0-6 on the road this season and 1-5 against ranked teams. That lone victory was over Texas when the Longhorns were No. 1, and the Huskies are still looking for another signature win.
George Blaney fell to 3-4 in place of coach Jim Calhoun, who took a medical leave of absence last month.
Rick Jackson led Syracuse with 15 points. Joseph had 14 and Johnson 13.
Dyson paced Connecticut with 19 points and Stanley Robinson had 16, but only two in the second half. Kemba Walker added 14 and Gavin Edwards 12.
The Orange seemed in command after Jackson's shot over Edwards gave Syracuse a 50-34 lead with 13:50 left.
But the struggling Huskies roared back with a 14-2 run. Dyson scored six points, drawing a key charge on Andy Rautins to set up a dunk by Edwards, then converted a follow on the third try to move Connecticut within 52-48 with 8:36 to go.
Syracuse held the lead, but never by more than six, and Dyson's 3
from the top of the key had the Huskies within 61-60 with 4:06 remaining.
Boeheim called a timeout with 36.6 seconds left and 32 on the shot clock.
Johnson's soaring dunk along the baseline over Ater Majok put the Orange back up 65-62, but Dyson followed with another 3 from the left wing to tie it at 65 with 2:33 left.
Johnson was fouled by Robinson as soon as play resumed and sank both free throws to give Syracuse a 67-65 lead with 30.4 seconds left
Walker then missed a 3, Dyson snared the long rebound from Joseph and missed a runner as the shot clock was about to expire.
After a timeout, Rautins missed a 3 off the inbounds pass, Jackson rebounded and Orange coach Jim
Joseph followed with two more free throws with 11.5 seconds to go. Walker hit a layup to cut the lead back to a basket, but Joseph sealed it with two more free throws after he was intentionally fouled by Majok on a breakaway with 5.8 seconds left.
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North Carolina's Larry Drew III is illued as he drives past Duke's Kyle Singler, and Jon Scheyer during the first half of the Duke-North Carolina game Wednesday. The Blue Devils won 64-54.
Duke pulls away late to defeat UNC
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Jon Scheyer scored 24 points and eighth-ranked Duke pulled away in the final minutes to beat North Carolina 64-54 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Singler added 19 points for the Blue Devils (20-4, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shot poorly all night and couldn't make much of anything in close. But boasting a bigger and tougher front line than in years past, Duke dominated the boards and got plenty of extra looks to make up for all those misses.
The rivalry game might have lost some luster this time around due to North Carolina's struggles and Duke looking like a good, but hardly great, team. Both schools had been ranked in the top 10 in the past four meetings, but North Carolina — which started the season at No. 6 and as co-ACC favorite with Duke — fell out of the poll two weeks ago.
the league standings.
The loss only added to the defending national champions' misery in a season that is slipping away. North Carolina (13-11, 2-7) has lost eight of 10 since the start of 2010, including four in a row overall to fall near the bottom of
Duke hit nine 3-pointers, but shot 32 percent overall and went 13 for 51 (25 percent) from inside the arc.
Will Graves scored 13 points to lead the Tar Heels.
Still, this one ended up fitting right in with college basketball's fierce rivalry when it came to intensity and fight. Neither team led by more than six points in the first 30 minutes and they were tied with about 8 minutes left before the Blue Devils finally took control.
It was a satisfying win for the Blue Devils, who had lost six of seven meetings during a stretch that seemed to signal a shift in power between the programs back to the light blue in Chapel Hill. North Carolina has won two national championships, including last year in Detroit, since Duke last went to a Final Four in 2004.
Duke finished with a 51-42 rebounding advantage and converted 23 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points, baskets that repeatedly drained the momentum building when the Tar
Heels appeared on the verge of a defensive stop.
In addition, Duke's win came on a night when the Tar Heels retired the No. 50 jersey of four-year star Tyler Hansbrough, who graduated as the storied program's leading scorer and rebounded, as well as the top scorer in ACC history.
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Despite starters' off games, Mizzou defeats Iowa State
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Laurence Bowers added 10 points and a career-best 12 rebounds, and Justin Safford had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers (18-6, 6-3 Big 12), who are three games above .500 in conference play for the first time this season.
Missouri survived 4-for-20 shooting from 3-point range in its first time back in the Mizzou Arena since its 32-game home-court winning streak was ended by Texas A&M a week earlier.
Tiller broke his nose Saturday at Colorado and scored just four points. He had been held below double figures nine of the previous 10 games.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — J.T. Tiller scored a season-high 17 points after discarding a face mask for a broken nose in the opening minute, helping Missouri beat Iowa State 65-56 on Wednesday night.
Craig Brackins had 12 points and 14 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season for Iowa State (13-11, 2-7).
Missouri overcame off games from starters Kim English, held
Brackins' dunk cut the deficit to 54-53 with 4:40 to go and the Cyclones didn't score again until Gilstrap hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds to go. Missouri pulled away with 11 straight points, five from English.
Iowa State missed its first seven shots, shot only 31 percent in the first half but trailed 28-23 because Missouri had its own issues.
English, who has a team-leading 15-point average, picked up two quick fouls in the opening two minutes and watched the rest of the half from the bench. Missouri leaned on its reserves, outsourcing Iowa State 20-0.
Iowa State was just 2 for 14 from 3-point range and shot 33 percent overall.
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Marquis Gilstrap had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Cyclones, who cut the gap to one point five times in the second half before fading to their sixth loss in seven games.
Miami barely defeats Georgia Tech , 64-62
to nine points, and senior Zaire Taylor, who went scoreless in consecutive games for the first time in his career. The Tigers also committed as many turnovers (14) as they forced.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — After missing a chance to seal the win James Dews made a 15-footer at the buzzer Wednesday night to give Miami a 64-62 victory over No. 20 Georgia Tech.
Dews missed the front end of a one-and-one with 19 seconds left, and Iman Shumpert sank a layup for Tech to tie the game with 10 seconds to go. That capped a comeback by the Yellow Jackets, who trailed by 14 early in the second half.
Hurricanes moved the length of the court and Durand Scott fed Dews, who faked out a defender before swishing his shot. Dews then leaped into a mob of jubilant teammates.
The Hurricanes (17-7,3-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) won for only the second time in the past eight games.
The crowd numbered less than 500, pep band included, when the Hurricanes took the court a few minutes before tip-off. Miami improved to 11-1 at home this season.
Following a timeout, the
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