Times wires
Monday, February 21, 2011
PHILADELPHIA — For one night, free-throw shooting in the Big East turned upside down.
No. 17 Syracuse, last in the 16-team league in that stat at 65.5 percent, made the free throws that counted Monday night in a 69-64 victory over No. 15 Villanova, the conference's best team at 76.8 percent.
Scoop Jardine and Rick Jackson — a couple of Philly kids — combined for 38 points, and freshman Dion Waiters, another Philadelphia product, and Jackson made the final free throws that sealed the win.
"We've been pretty good at the end of games," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "We've been pretty good when we need them, and (Monday night) we needed them."
Jardine had 20 points and six assists and Jackson had 18 points, five rebounds and four blocks for the Orange (23-6, 10-6), which beat a ranked team for the sixth time this season. That ties No. 5 Texas for the most in the nation.
The teams swapped road wins, with Villanova winning 83-72 at Syracuse on Jan. 22.
"After they beat us like that with all those 3s (11), we got them off their spots and our guards did a great job of staying in front of them," Jackson said.
Corey Stokes returned after missing three games with a turf toe injury to lead the Wildcats (21-7, 9-6) with 24 points, including matching his season high with five 3-pointers.
"I felt great," Stokes said. "It's always good to be back on the floor with your teammates. We just have to work on our defense and get better."
It was at the free-throw line where the teams traded places.
Villanova was 17-of-27. Stokes, third in the nation at 93.5 percent, went 5-of-8.
Syracuse went 13-of-17, a performance topped by Waiters' two with 14.1 seconds left for a 67-64 lead, and Jackson making two — the second a bank shot — with 4.6 seconds to go for the final margin.
UCF 74, UTEP 68: Keith Clanton had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Knights (17-9, 4-9 C-USA), who snapped the Miners' 15-game home win streak.
AP POLL: Duke jumped from No. 5 to No. 1 for the first time in just more than a month. No. 23 St. John's entered for the first time in more than a decade, replacing Utah State. Florida came in at 13th.
Women
NO. 4 TENN. 77, NO. 22 UGA 44: The host Volunteers (26-2, 14-0) blasted the second-place Bulldogs (20-7, 10-4) to clinch their 16th SEC regular-season title.
NO. 12 MIAMI 74, WAKE 46: Shenise Johnson had 19 points as the host Hurricanes (24-3, 10-2) stayed in contention for the ACC regular-season title.
N.C. STATE 88, NO. 13 UNC 72: Amber White had 23 points for the host Wolfpack, which handed the Tar Heels (22-5, 8-4 ACC) their second straight loss.
NO. 21 MARIST 79, ST. PETER'S 38: Erica Allenspach had 13 points and a career-high seven steals for the visiting Red Foxes (25-2, 16-0), who clinched the MAAC tournament's top seed for the seventh straight year.
AP POLL: Connecticut returned to No. 1 for the first time since falling to second Jan. 3. Miami climbed from 13th to 12th and FSU from 15th to 14th.