No. 1 Florida wins 20th straight to claim SEC title

Published 12:58 am Wednesday, February 26, 2014

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Dorian Finney-Smith scored 19 points, and No. 1 Florida held off Vanderbilt 57-54 on Tuesday night to clinch at least a share of its second straight Southeastern Conference title and seventh overall.

Patric Young added 12 points for the Gators (26-2, 15-0 SEC), who continued the best season in school history by winning their 20th straight game, and now they will have a chance to claim their third SEC title in four years all to themselves with a win against LSU on Saturday.

The Commodores (15-12, 7-8) beat Florida 83-70 the last time the Gators came into Memorial Gym ranked No. 1, on Feb. 17, 2007. Coach Kevin Stallings only has seven healthy scholarship players right now, and they proved no match for Florida’s smothering defense.

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Kyle Fuller missed a tying 3 in the final seconds, and Dai-Jon Parker missed a putback attempt.

Rod Odom scored 12 points and Parker added 11 as Vanderbilt outshot Florida 48.8 percent (20 of 41) to 40.4 percent (21 of 52).

No. 6 DUKE 66, VIRGINIA TECH 48

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Rodney Hood scored 21 points to lead Duke.

Rasheed Sulaimon added 15 points for the Blue Devils (23-6, 12-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who jumped to a 24-4 lead midway through the first half and never trailed — though they struggled to land a game-finishing blow on the Hokies.

The last-place Hokies (9-18, 2-13) had a strong start to the second half and got within seven points, but never seriously threatened what would have been an improbable comeback in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils finished the game shooting 39 percent, including 10 for 33 from 3-point range — well below their ACC-leading 40.7 percent.

Hood was 9 of 17 from the field to lead the Blue Devils, while Sulaimon knocked down four 3-pointers. Freshman Jabari Parker added a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds to go with three blocks.

Freshman Trevor Thompson matched his season-high with 15 points to lead Virginia Tech.

No. 14 WISCONSIN 69, INDIANA 58

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Sam Dekker scored 16 points as Wisconsin shrugged off a slow start.

The Hoosiers (15-12, 5-9 Big Ten) held Wisconsin (23-5, 10-5) to its lowest point production in the first half this season, taking a 29-19 lead.

But Wisconsin outscored Indiana 9-2 over the first 3 minutes of the second half. The Badgers shot 26 percent in the first half and they hit 62 percent of their shots in the second. They went 6 of 11 from the 3-point line after making just 1 of 10 in the first half.

After Indiana’s Stanford Robinson converted a three-point play with more than 14 minutes to go, the Badgers went on a 22-5 run to put the game away.

Yogi Ferrell scored 21 points to lead Indiana, while freshman Noah Vonleh added 18.

Traevon Jackson scored 14 points for the Badgers, Ben Brust added 12, Josh Gasser 11 and Frank Kaminsky had 10 to go along with nine rebounds.

MINNESOTA 95, No. 20 IOWA 89

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Austin Hollins scored a career-high 27 points on 8-for-10 shooting and DeAndre Mathieu had 19 points and seven assists as Minnesota bounced back from a monthlong slump.

Hollins made all seven of his free throws for the Gophers (18-11, 7-9 Big Ten), who won for just the third time in their last nine games by making 13 of their last 14 free throws over the final 70 seconds. Charles Buggs added a career-high 13 points.

Roy Devyn Marble had only five of his 24 points in the second half for the Hawkeyes (19-8, 8-6), who have their first two-game losing streak of the season. Aaron White added 21 points, and Josh Oglesby scored 16 in his first start of the season.

After managing just 54, 49 and 46 points in each of their last three games, the Gophers posted their season-high score while shooting 30 for 49 from the field (61.2 percent).

The Gophers locked the game at the line despite not making a field goal over the final 8 minutes.

No. 25 NEW MEXICO 67, UTAH ST. 58

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Cullen Neal scored nine of his 12 points in a decisive run in the second half for New Mexico.

Cameron Bairstow had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Lobos (22-5, 13-3 Mountain West) while Alex Kirk added 13 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

Utah State led 47-39 with 11:29 left after Preston Medlin hit a 3-pointer and converted a three-point play.

But Neal started the long run with a 3-pointer and Kirk scored six straight points near the end the surge that left New Mexico holding a 62-52 lead.

The Lobos controlled the glass, holding a 46-30 edge, including 12-6 on the offensive end.

Medlin scored 19 points to lead the Aggies (15-13, 5-10).