UConn snaps Irish streak

Published 11:51 pm Saturday, January 24, 2009

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jerome Dyson scored 15 points and No. 3 Connecticut held 19th-ranked Notre Dame to a season-low 33 percent shooting in a 69-61 victory Saturday night, ending the nation’s longest home winning streak at 45 games.

The Huskies (18-1, 7-1 Big East) also prevented the Fighting Irish (12-6, 3-4) from breaking the conference record with their 21st straight league win at home.

UConn put the game away with a 13-1 run despite a big game from Luke Harangody, who had 24 points. The Huskies started the run with four straight baskets inside, highlighted by a slam from Hasheem Thabeet and a basket by Gavin Edwards on a 2-on-1 break.

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No. 2 Duke 85, Maryland 44

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Gerald Henderson scored 17 points and Jon Scheyer 12 for Duke.

The Blue Devils (18-1, 5-0 ACC) dominated from the opening tip and led 40-15 at halftime. From there, the lead grew to 60-20 less than 4 minutes into the second half.

Duke led by as many as 44 points, handing the Terrapins (13-6, 2-3) their worst loss under coach Gary Williams. It was the fourth-largest margin of defeat in school history.

Landon Milbourne had 19 points for the Terrapins, who were completely shut down early by Duke’s perimeter pressure. The Terps shot 28 percent, including 2-for-12 from 3-point range.

No. 6 Oklahoma 95, Baylor 76

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Blake Griffin had 20 points and 17 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the season, and the Sooners rolled to their seventh consecutive win.

Oklahoma (19-1, 5-0 Big 12) is 34-5 all-time against Baylor (15-4, 3-2) and extended its winning streak against the Bears to 29 games, going back to 1977. Baylor has never beaten Oklahoma since the Big 12 began play with the 1996-97 season.

Taylor Griffin scored 18 points and Willie Warren scored 17 for the Sooners, who shot a season-high 58 percent from the field and extended their home winning streak to 16 games.

No. 11 Marquette 79, DePaul 70

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jerel McNeal scored 21 points, Wesley Matthews had 20 and Lazar Hayward added 16 points and 17 rebounds as Marquette remained undefeated in the Big East.

It is the best start ever for Marquette (17-2, 6-0) in conference play, topping a 5-0 mark 16 years ago when the Golden Eagles were known as the Warriors and played in the Great Midwest. That team also started 17-2.

Washington 86, No. 13 UCLA 75

SEATTLE (AP) — Freshman Isaiah Thomas scored 24 points and Justin Dentmon returned from foul trouble to spark the decisive late ran that sent resurgent the Huskies into the Pac-10 lead.

Jon Brockman added 18 points for Washington (15-4, 6-1), which won for the 13th time in 14 games. The Huskies scored more points than anyone had this season against the Bruins.

The Huskies won for the fifth consecutive time over UCLA in Seattle and are 6-1 in the conference for the third time in 25 years.

Josh Shipp scored a career-high 25 points but went scoreless for more than 9 minutes of the second half for the Bruins (15-4, 5-2), who lost for the second time in three games.

No. 14 Texas 67, Texas A&M 58

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Damion James scored 28 points, including 11 in a two-minute stretch of the second half to lead the Longhorns.

Neither team had led by more than five before James started his run. His first basket put Texas up 44-37 and a couple of layups, short jumpers and a rim-rattling dunk pushed the Longhorns’ lead to 52-40 by the time he was done.

Texas (14-4, 3-1 Big 12) also got 15 points from Gary Johnson in winning its 19th straight at home. Donald Sloan scored 17 points for the Aggies (15-5, 1-4), who have lost four of their past five.

No. 15 Xavier 80, LSU 70

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Derrick Brown scored 22 points to help the Musketeers hand LSU its first home loss of the season.

Marcus Thornton scored 30 for LSU, his 3-pointer giving the Tigers (15-4) a 40-36 lead early in the second half. Brown responded with a pair of 3s to tie it at 44, and Xavier (17-2) gradually built a lead as large as 11 before holding on.

B.J. Raymond added 21 points for Xavier, driving past Thornton for a layup inside the last two minutes to put the Musketeers up 70-63. Kenny Frease also had 12 points.

No. 16 Butler 78,

Wisconsin-Milwaukee 48

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Reserve Shawn Vanzant scored a career-high 20 points and Butler won its 10th straight game.

The Bulldogs (18-1, 9-0 Horizon) have won 14 in a row at home and they can tie the conference record of 21 straight wins at home Friday against Valparaiso.

Tone Boyle scored 15 points for the Panthers (12-8, 7-3), who shot 24.1 percent from the field in their fifth consecutive loss to Butler.

No. 20 Villanova 70,

South Florida 61

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Dante Cunningham scored 14 points and Scottie Reynolds made four free throws over the final 1:07 for Villanova.

The Wildcats (15-4, 3-3 Big East) took control of the game with a 10-3 run during which USF (7-12, 2-5) missed the front end of two 1-and-1s and saw leading scorer Dominique Jones pick up his fourth and fifth fouls.