Louisville beats Wake Forest in ACC debut
Published 1:17 am Monday, January 5, 2015
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Chris Jones scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half and No. 5 Louisville won its Atlantic Coast Conference debut, beating Wake Forest 85-76 on Sunday night.
Jones added a career-high 10 assists and Montrezl Harrell had 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Cardinals (13-1, 1-0). They let a 13-point lead slip away before Jones took over late, scoring 14 points in the final 8 minutes and leading the decisive 16-3 run.
Devin Thomas had a career-high 31 points and 11 rebounds for Wake Forest (8-7, 0-2), which led 69-68 on Konstantinos Mitoglou’s layup with just under 6 minutes to play.
Jones put Louisville ahead to stay two possessions later with a contested jumper that started decisive run. He was 6 for 6 from the free-throw line in the final 5 minutes for Louisville, which scored on nine of its last 10 possessions.
NO. 8 ARIZONA 73, ARIZONA STATE 49
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Arizona routed Arizona State to open Pac-12 play.
Arizona (12-1) was sharp after an extended break, dominating Arizona State at both ends to quickly turn its rivalry game into a runaway. The Wildcats took control with a big early run while building a 20-point halftime lead and kept the pressure up to get their conference season off to a rousing start.
Gerry Blakes had nine points for the Sun Devils (8-6).
NO. 10 UTAH 71, UCLA 39
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Delon Wright had 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals in Utah’s victory over UCLA.
Jakob Poeltl had nine points and 10 rebounds for the Utes (12-2, 2-0 Pac-12), who beat the Bruins in Salt Lake City for the second straight season.
Tony Parker scored 12 points to lead UCLA, which lost its fifth straight. The Bruins (8-7, 0-2) trailed from start to finish.
The Bruins shot just 29 percent from the field and were 1 of 11 from 3-point range.
Utah’s speed and efficient shooting overwhelmed UCLA right from the start. Then the Utes’ defense finished off the Bruins, who had a long scoring drought in each half.
NO. 13 KANSAS 76, UNLV 61
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Frank Mason had 18 points and seven assists, Wayne Selden added 16 points and No. 13 Kansas pulled away late to beat UNLV in the Jayhawks’ nonconference finale.
Perry Ellis also had 16 points, Kelly Oubre had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Cliff Alexander scored 10 off the bench to help the Jayhawks (11-2) win their 15th straight at Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas led just 63-57 with less than 6 minutes to go, but Mason assisted on a pair of baskets as the Jayhawks scored nine straight points to help put the game away.
Christian Wood had 12 points and eight boards for UNLV (9-5). Cody Doolin also had 12 points.
NO. 16 WICHITA STATE 70, ILLINOIS STATE 62
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Ron Baker scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting and Wichita State held off Illinois State for its 20th straight victory over a Missouri Valley Conference foe..
Wichita State (12-2, 2-0) also has won 24 straight at Koch Arena, the fifth-longest active streak in the country. Daishon Knight had 24 points for the Redbirds (8-6, 0-2).
NO. 23 NORTHERN IOWA 67, LOYOLA (ILLINOIS) 58
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Jeremy Morgan scored a career-high 18 points and Northern Iowa beat Loyola of Illinois for its third win in four games.
Deon Mitchell added 13 points and the Panthers (12-2, 1-1 Missouri Valley) bounced back from a loss to Evansville by holding off the Ramblers (11-3, 1-1). Milton Doyle had 13 points for Loyola.