Illini bounce back behind Cockburn
Kofi Cockburn posted his seventh straight double-double, Trent Frazier scored 16 points and Illinois rallied after squandering an early lead to beat Maryland 76-64 on Thursday night at State Farm Center in Champaign.
Cockburn scored 23 points and tied a career high with 18 rebounds after early foul trouble. He made 9 of 12 shots with many on thunderous dunks.
After Eric Ayala’s three-pointer gave the Terrapins a 47-42 lead with 14:31 left, the Illini (11-3, 4-0 Big Ten) went on a 12-0 run and led the rest of the way.
The Illini sprinted to a 21-7 lead with Cockburn scoring a third of those points. His last basket of the first half put Illinois up 14 with 10:50 left before the break, but 16 seconds later he picked up his second foul and went to the bench.
Maryland took advantage and erupted with a 23-7 burst and took its first lead at 30-28 on Donta Scott’s three with 2:30 left before the half. The Terrapins (8-6, 0-3) led 34-30 at halftime. Scott missed just one of seven shots and had 15 points at intermission.
Loyola 79, San Francisco 74
Ryan Schwieger scored 24 points on 9-for-10 shooting to lead the Ramblers past the Dons in an impromptu neutral-site matchup at Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, Utah.
Jacob Hutson added 13 points and Aher Uguak scored 10 for the Ramblers (10-2), who played for the first time since Dec. 10 after having six straight games canceled or postponed because of COVID-19 issues.
Yauhen Massalski scored 20 points and blocked four shots to lead the Dons (13-2).
Both teams played at a high level for the bulk of 40 minutes. Loyola and San Francisco each shot over 50% from the floor.
The Ramblers never trailed in the second half after Tom Welch scored a go-ahead layup and then dished to Schwieger for a threepointer to put Loyola up 54-49. The Ramblers eventually increased their lead to 75-66 after Welch and Marquise Kennedy punctuated a 10-2 run with back-to-back layups.
Wright State 90, UIC 72
Playing for the first time in 18 days, the short-handed Flames had no answer for the host Raiders.
Wright State led by 21 points in the second half. UIC trimmed the deficit to 10 at 80-70 with 4:25 to play but was unable to get any closer.
Kevin Johnson had 19 points to lead the Flames (4-8, 0-3 Horizon League). Trey Calvin had 19 points for the Raiders (7-7, 4-1), who won their fifth straight game.
Indiana 67, Ohio State 51
Trayce Jackson-Davis had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and the host Hoosiers (11-3, 2-2) went on a 13-0 second-half run while holding the No. 13 Buckeyes (9-3, 3-1) without a field goal for more than five minutes.