SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Jerian Grant had 23 points and 12 assists and No. 8 Notre Dame made two shots in the final 67 seconds as the shot clock ran out to beat No. 4 Duke 77-73 on Wednesday night.
Grant lost control of the ball, picked it up at the free-throw line and got a shot off just in time to give the Irish a 73-70 lead with 1:07 left. After Quinn Cook hit two free throws, Grant looked as though he was holding for a shot. But he fired a pass to Steve Vasturia in the corner for a three-pointer, giving the Irish a 76-72 lead. Grant then blocked a layup attempt to end the threat by Duke.
The victory kept Notre Dame (20-2, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which finished in 13th place in its first season in the league last year, in second place halfway through the conference season, a game behind Virginia. Duke (17-3, 4-3) is off to its worst start in league play since opening the 1995-1996 season 3-4 after losing its first four league games.
The game was a battle of two player-of-the-year candidates and Grant came up with the big plays at the end. Jahlil Okafor led Duke with 22 points and 17 rebouinds, but he was 2-of-7 from the free-throw line, including 1-of-5 in the final 4:30. Duke was 10-of-20 from the free-throw line while the Irish were 11-of-16.
The Blue Devils failed to make the most of their opportunities, finishing with 13 offensive rebounds but had just nine second-chance points.
Zach Auguste added 14 points and six rebounds for the Irish, Pat Connaughton added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Demetrius Jackson had 10 points. Quinn Cook had 15 points for Duke, Tyus Jones 14 and Justin Winslow 13.
After Auguste tied it at 51-51 with a jumper, Jones hit a jumper to start an 8-0 run. Duke opened a 58-51 lead when Winslow hit a three-pointer. The Irish switched to a five-guard lineup that had been successful in recent games and V.J. Beachem quickly scored on a slam dunk. The Irish had to go back to a traditional lineup when Connaughton banged his head hard on the court.
A three-pointer by Jones gave the Blue Devils a 63-53 lead. Moments later, though, a 12-0 run by Notre Dame closed the score to 65-63 on a fastbreak layup by Jackson and a basket inside by Auguste over Okafor and a layup by Grant.
Okafor finally ended a 5:30 scoreless drought by the Blue Devils to tie it at 67-67.
NO. 9 KANSAS 64, TCU 61
FORT WORTH — Frank Mason III scored 16 points with a couple of key shots in the go-ahead run and No. 9 Kansas held on for a victory at TCU after his missed free throws. The Big 12-leading Jayhawks (17-3, 6-1), who had as much as a 13-point lead early, found themselves down after TCU (14-6, 1-6) scored the first seven points after halftime. Mason’s driving layup with 13:26 left got the Jayhawks within 43-42 and started a 12-0 run that put them ahead to stay.
NO. 10 LOUISVILLE 81, BOSTON COLLEGE 72
BOSTON — Chris Jones scored 28 points, including two three-pointers after Boston College cut a 10-point deficit to one, and No. 10 Louisville held on to beat the Eagles. Jones scored 10 of the Cardinals’ next 12 points after BC cut the lead to 62-61 with just over five minutes left. Terry Rozier scored 23 for Louisville (17-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). Aaron Brown scored a career-high 28 for Boston College (9-10, 1-6).
NO. 12 WICHITA STATE 58,
LOYOLA 47
WICHITA, Kan. -- Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 27 points to lead No. 12 Wichita State to a victory over Loyola.
Ron Baker added 16 points as the Shockers (19-2, 9-0 Missouri Valley) shot 41 percent from the floor and 43 percent from the free-throw line. VanVleet and Baker were a combined 16 of 28 from the floor. The rest of the team was 6 of 26.
Devon Turk scored nine points for Loyola (13-8, 3-6), which was held to its lowest scoring output of the season.
Wichita State's shooting struggles started right away. The Shockers had 17 shots in the game's first eight minutes but made four of them, including a VanVleet three-pointer for a 10-6 lead.
The Ramblers stayed close with Wichita State unable to convert shots. Jeff White's baseline drive and layup gave Loyola a 16-15 lead with 6:03 remaining in the half.
NO. 18 NORTHERN IOWA 59,
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 52
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Paul Jesperson matched his season-high with 13 points and Seth Tuttle also had 13 to keep Northern Iowa in the hunt for the Missouri Valley Conference title with a victory over Southern Illinois.
The Panthers (19-2, 8-1) rallied from their fifth halftime deficit of the season to stay a game behind No. 12 Wichita State. Northern Iowa hosts Wichita State on Saturday at the McLeod Center.
Jesperson, who had scored 12 points in his previous eight games, made 5 of 6 from the field, including 3 of 4 from the three-point line. Tuttle made 4 of 7 from the field and 5 of 7 at the free-throw line to help the Panthers win their eighth consecutive game.
Southern Illinois (9-13, 2-7) got a season-high 10 points from backup center Ibby Djimde but went more than six minutes without a field goal in the second half.
PURDUE 83, NO. 22 INDIANA 67
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Rapheal Davis scored 19 points and Purdue’s stifling defense shut down No. 22 Indiana.
The Boilermakers (13-8, 5-3 Big Ten) have won three of their last four including back-to-back victories over ranked opponents. Purdue already has matched last season’s conference victory total, too.
Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell led the Hoosiers (15-6, 5-3) with 21 points while James Blackmon Jr. scored 13 — not nearly enough for the Hoosiers to avoid their first two-game skid of the season.
GEORGIA TECH 70,
NO. 23 MIAMI 50
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Marcus Georges-Hunt scored 24 points and Georgia Tech earned its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season by upsetting No. 23 Miami.
The Yellow Jackets shot a season-high 57 percent, well above their season average of 41 percent, in part because they repeatedly drove inside for easy baskets. They scored 34 points in the paint.
Georgia Tech (10-10, 1-7 ACC) was off to its worst start in the league since 2002, and won for the first time since Dec. 30. Miami (14-6, 4-3) lost at home while ranked for the third time this season, with each defeat coming against an unranked team.
NO. 24 OKLAHOMA 81,
TEXAS TECH 36
NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma allowed the fewest points ever by a Big 12 team in a conference game, and the 24th-ranked Sooners defeated Texas Tech.
The Sooners eclipsed the league record of 37 points set by Texas against Oklahoma in 2004 and matched by Oklahoma against Texas A&M in 2008.
Ryan Spangler scored a season-high 20 points, Buddy Hield scored 15 points and Isaiah Cousins added 13 for the Sooners (13-7, 4-4), who had lost 4 of 5, with three of the losses against ranked opponents.
Texas Tech upset Oklahoma 68-60 in Norman last year, but the Sooners had the game in hand quickly and held Tech to 21 percent shooting.
It was the worst margin of defeat in Texas Tech Coach Tubby Smith's career. Tech (11-10, 1-7) was coming off a victory over No. 9 Iowa State last Saturday that snapped a six-game losing skid.
Texas Tech had seven points nearly 14 minutes into the game. Oklahoma's Frank Booker drained a three-pointer that put the Sooners up 22-11 with about five minutes left in the first half.
Hield, bottled up for most of the first half, made a three-pointer with three seconds left to give the Sooners a 37-16 lead at the break. Spangler had 12 points and three blocks in the first 20 minutes.
SEC
LSU 64, SOUTH CAROLINA 58
BATON ROUGE — LSU held South Carolina to one basket over the final four minutes and rallied for a victory Wednesday night. Five consecutive points by Michael Carrera put South Carolina ahead 56-52 with 4:33 remaining. Josh Gray came back with five consecutive points to give LSU a 57-56 lead at the two-minute mark. Tyrone Johnson made a layup to give the lead back to the Gamecocks at 58-57 with 1:39 to play. A dunk by Jarell Mickey off a pass from Tim Quarterman put the Tigers in the lead for good at 59-58 with 1:10 remaining. Quarterman led LSU (16-4, 5-2) with 16 points. Hornsby added 15 points, while Mickey had 14 points and six blocked shots. Martin, who also blocked six shots, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Duane Notice led the Gamecocks (10-9, 1-6) with 12 points..
MISSISSIPPI 79, MISSISSIPPI STATE 73
OXFORD, Miss. — Jarvis Summers scored 22 points — all in the second half — to lead Mississippi past Mississippi State. Ole Miss (13-7, 4-3) won despite trailing for most of the game, including 45-32 early in the second half. Stefan Moody scored 14 points and LaDarius White added 12 for Ole Miss. Mississippi State (9-11, 2-5) lost despite shooting 55.6 percent (30 of 54) from the field. Craig Sword scored a season-high 27 points. Gavin Ware added 12 points and I.J. Ready (Little Rock Parkview) had 10.
SOUTHLAND WOMEN
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 63, NW (LA.) STATE 46
Sophomore guard Maggie Proffitt scored 20 of her 28 points in the second half to help Central Arkansas (11-9, 4-4 Southland Conference) beat Northwestern (La.) State (12-8, 7-2) at the Farris Center in Conway. Proffitt was 6 of 13 from three-point range. UCA shot 52.2 percent from the floor. Brianna Mullins had 10 points and 5 assists, while Kendara Watts added 9 points for UCA. The Lady Demons were led by Janelle Perez, who had 19 points.
Sports on 01/29/2015