Kentucky outlasts Louisville in OT
Cal St Fullerton upset UCLA 77-74; Wisconsin trounce Tennessee for 1st road win of year
LEXINGTON, Kentucky, Dec 29, (AP): Nick Richards did whatever heavy lifting No. 19 Kentucky needed against rival Louisville, intensity that put him on the brink of fouling out.
He eventually harnessed his energy into clutch contributions on both ends of the floor and celebrated big stops in the Wildcats’ much-needed victory by punching the air.
Richards had 13 points, including seven in a row in overtime, and Kentucky scored the final eight points for a 78-70 victory over No. 3 Louisville on Saturday in a thrilling Bluegrass rivalry showdown.
Louisville led 68-65 on Jordan Nwora’s 3-pointer with 2:20 left before Richards converted a 3-point play and added a layup to make it 70-68 with 1:23 remaning. The junior forward added two more foul shots for a 72-70 lead before Immanuel Quickley and Tyrese Maxey provided a six-point cushion from the line. Ashton Hagans’ dunk with 4.9 seconds left sealed the tense win for the Wildcats (9-3) before 20,437 at Rupp Arena.
Idaho St 62, Idaho 60 Austin Smellie had a career-high 21 points as Idaho State edged past Idaho 62-60 on Saturday night.
Tarik Cool had 18 points for Idaho State (4-6, 1-0 Big Sky Conference). Chidi Udengwu added six points and 10 rebounds. Jared Stutzman had seven rebounds for the hosts.
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Chier Maker, the Bengals’ second leading scorer coming into the matchup at 13 points per game, was 0-for-11 shooting and held scoreless for the first time this season.
Trevon Allen had 18 points and six rebounds for the Vandals (4-8, 0-1). Scott Blakney added 12 points. Quinton Forrest had seven rebounds.
Idaho State matches up against Eastern Washington at home on Monday. Idaho matches up against Weber State on the road on Monday.
Morgan St 74 Loyola Marymount 71
Troy Baxter Jr had 27 points as Morgan State narrowly beat Loyola Marymount 74-71 on Saturday night.
Stanley Davis Jr had 12 points and six rebounds for Morgan State (6-8).
Erik Johansson had 17 points for the Lions (6-8). Ivan Alipiev added 15 points. Jonathan Dos Anjos had 11 points.
Morgan State plays Cal State Northridge on the road on Tuesday. Loyola Marymount matches up against San Diego at home on Thursday.
UC Irvine 69, Pacific 56
Collin Welp came off the bench to score 17 points to lift UC Irvine to a 6956 win over Pacific on Saturday night.
Tommy Rutherford had 10 points for UC Irvine (8-7). Eyassu Worku added nine points, seven rebounds, five assist and three steals and Brad Greene grabbed nine rebounds.
Jahlil Tripp had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Tigers (12-4), whose seven-game win streak was snapped. Gary Chivichyan added 14 points.
UC Irvine matches up against Harvard on the road on Jan 4. Pacific plays Pepperdine on the road on Thursday.
Cal St Fullerton 77, UCLA 74
Wayne Arnold had 19 points off the bench for Cal State Fullerton and Jackson Rowe added 17 as the Titans upset
UCLA 77-74 on Saturday. The Titans made 14 3-pointers. Tyger Campbell scored 18 points for UCLA.
This was the first time Cal State Fullerton (4-10) beat a Power Five school since December 2011.
Austen Awosika made a floater in the lane with 22 seconds left to extend the Titans lead to 77-74. Jake Kyman missed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left. California Baptist 92, Ottawa (AZ) 75
Glenn Morison had 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench to lead California Baptist to a 92-75 win over Ottawa (AZ) on Saturday night.
Milan Acquaah had 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Cal Baptist (9-4), which won its sixth straight game. Ferron Flavors Jr added 13 points and six rebounds. De’jon Davis had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the home team. Cal Baptist posted a season-high 26 assists.
Dimetres Moore had 27 points and seven rebounds for the Spirit. Elijah Simmons added 15 points and seven rebounds. Shazier Lawson had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Cal Baptist plays UT Rio Grande Valley at home on Thursday.
Wisconsin 68, Tennessee 48 Wisconsin finally ended its road woes and helped Tennessee realize how much it misses injured guard Lamonte’ Turner.
D’Mitrik Trice scored 21 points and Brevin Pritzl added 17 as Wisconsin trounced Tennessee 68-48 on Saturday to win away from home for the first time this season.
“This is how we’ve been playing at home,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “It’s good to see that it wasn’t just the curse of the red (road) jersey.”
Wisconsin (7-5) entered the day 0-5 away from Madison, a mark that included an 0-2 record in true road games and an 0-3 mark in the Legends Classic at Brooklyn, New York. The Badgers were scoring 80 points per game and shooting 40.1% from 3-point range at home,
where they’re unbeaten. They were averaging just 56.8 points and shooting 22.9% on 3-point attempts away from Madison. Montana 79, N. Arizona 72 Sayeed Pridgett had 27 points and 10 rebounds as Montana beat Northern Arizona 79-72 on Saturday night. Kendal Manuel had 16 points for Montana (5-7, 1-0 Big Sky Conference), which earned its fourth consecutive home victory. Derrick Carter-Hollinger added seven rebounds. Kyle Owens had seven rebounds for the home team. After falling behind 34-28 at the half, Montana outscored Northern Arizona 51-38 in the second half to earn the victory.
San Jose St 83, Pepperdine 68 Brae Ivey had a career-high 23 points as San Jose State ended its eight-game losing streak, defeating Pepperdine 8368 on Saturday night.
Omari Moore had 12 points for San Jose State (4-10). Seneca Knight added 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Christian Anigwe had three blocks for the hosts.
Kameron Edwards had 19 points for the Waves (7-7), whose four-game winning streak ended with the loss. Colbey Ross added 14 points and 11 assists.
UC Riverside 60, Fresno St 57 Arinze Chidom had a double-double, Dikymbe Martin scored all his 10 points in the final five minutes, and UC Riveside rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat Fresno State 60-57 on Saturday night. Chidom finished with career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Nate Grimes capped an 8-0 spurt with a dunk to give the Bulldogs a 55-35 lead with 9:42 left. UC Riverside (9-5) answered with a 15-0 run before Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson made the second of two free throws to break a scoreless streak of seven-plus minutes.
BYU 79, Oral Roberts 73 Yoeli Childs had 23 points as Brigham Young topped Oral Roberts 79-73 on Saturday night. Jake Toolson added 22 points for the Cougars.
TJ Haws had 14 points for Brigham Young (11-4), which earned its fifth consecutive victory.
Emmanuel Nzekwesi had 23 points and 17 rebounds for the Golden Eagles (7-6), whose four-game win streak was broken. Kevin Obanor added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Brigham Young takes on Loyola Marymount at home next Saturday. Oral Roberts plays South Dakota State on the road on Thursday.
Syracuse 71, Niagara 57 Elijah Hughes scored 19 points and matched his career high with nine assists,
Buddy Boeheim added 15 points, and Syracuse beat Niagara 71-57 on Saturday night. Syracuse (8-5) ended its nonconference slate on a three-game winning streak.
Niagara (2-9) has lost four straight under rookie coach Greg Paulus, a former Duke point guard.
Freshman guard Nick MacDonald had a season-high 11 points to lead Niagara, while Greg Kuakumensah had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Murray St 81, Cumberland University
46 Tevin Brown had 24 points as Murray State rolled past NAIA Cumberland University 81-46 on Saturday night.
Brown hit 9 of 12 shots, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range. He added eight rebounds.
Demond Robinson had 16 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for Murray State (7-5), which earned its sixth straight home victory. Anthony Smith added 15 points and seven rebounds.
Belmont 79, W. Kentucky 62 Tyler Scanlon scored 18 points and Nick Muszynski and Grayson Murphy each recorded a double-double and Belmont beat Western Kentucky 79-62 on Saturday.
Nick Muszynski scored 12 with a career-high 12 rebounds, Murphy scored 11 with 11 rebounds, Michael Benkert scored 15 and Nick Hopkins 11.
The Bruins led 36-24 at halftime before the Hilltoppers used a 13-6 run and reduced the deficit to five points on a pair of Josh Anderson foul shots with 16:38 left. But the Bruins responded with an 8-0 run and led by double digits the rest of the way. North Texas 102, Texas Wesleyan 64 Umoja Gibson had 19 points to lead five North Texas players in double figures as the Mean Green easily beat Texas Wesleyan of the NAIA 102-64 on Saturday.
Thomas Bell added 16 points for the Mean Green (6-7). James Reese chipped in 13 points, Zachary Simmons scored 12 points with seven rebounds and Deng Geu had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Delaware 82, UNC Wilmington 68 Nate Darling sank five 3-pointers and scored 21 points, Justyn Mutts added 17 points and nine rebounds and Delaware rolled to an 82-68 victory over UNC Wilmington on Saturday night.
Darling had five assists for the Blue Hens (11-3). Kevin Anderson scored 11 points, while Ryan Allen and reserve Dylan Painter added 10 points apiece.
Marten Linssen topped the Seahawks (5-9) with 15 points.
Montana State 66, Sacramento St 51
Harald Frey scored 18 points, made seven assists and grabbed five rebounds and Montana State beat Sacramento State 66-51 in Saturday’s Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.
Jubrile Belo scored a season-high 18 points for the Bobcats (7-5, 1-0), who held the Hornets to 34% shooting and outscored them 36-18 in the paint. Borja Fernandez had six rebounds. Wyoming 82, Nebraska Wesleyan 68
Jake Hendricks had a season-high 21 points as Wyoming defeated Nebraska Wesleyan 82-68 on Saturday.
Hunter Maldonado had 19 points and seven assists for Wyoming (5-9), which snapped its four-game home losing streak. A.J. Banks added 12 points. Kenny Foster had 11 points and eight rebounds for the home team. Boise St 103, Cal St Northridge 72 Abu Kigab scored a career-high 33 points with a career-high 11 rebounds and Boise State beat Cal State Northridge 103-72 on Saturday.
Kigab set his previous career-high point total of 17 last Sunday in a 74-60 loss against Georgia Tech on the opening day of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. Kigab topped that in the first half with 22 points on Saturday.
Boise State used a 14-3 run for a 2313 lead. The Matadors responded with a 12-2 outburst to tie it at 25-all. The Broncos then outscored Cal State Northridge 22-8 and went to halftime with a 50-34 advantage. UNC Greensboro 106, William
Peace 34 Isaiah Miller scored 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and added five steals as UNC Greensboro overwhelmed Division III-member William Peace 106-34 on Saturday.
Miller’s effort helped the Spartans (11-3) shoot 57% from the floor. Michael Hueitt Jr had 14 points, while James Dickey pitched in with 12 points and nine rebounds. Reserves Bas Leyte and Keyshaun Langley scored 12 and 10, respectively. Utah Valley 80, Antelope Valley 65 Brandon Averette scored 19 points as Utah Valley defeated Antelope Valley 80-65 on Saturday.
TJ Washington added 16 points for the Wolverines (6-9) while Isaiah White chipped in 15 points and also had nine rebounds. Casdon Jardine had 14 points.
Ronnie Rousseau III had 18 points for the Pioneers. Kamal Holden added 10 points. Allex Austin had 11 rebounds.
Utah Valley plays Chicago State on the road on Thursday.