No. 7 Creighton routs St. John’s
St. John’s forward Marcellus Earlington looks to pass against Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner in second half of Storm loss on Saturday in Omaha, Neb.
OMAHA, Neb. — Denzel Mahoney scored a season-high 24 points to lead six players in double figures with star Marcus Zegarowski out of the lineup, and seventh-ranked Creighton pulled away early in a 97-79 victory over St. John’s on Saturday.
The Bluejays (10-2, 6-1) won their sixth straight Big East game in the same season for the first time since joining the conference in 2013. The Red Storm (6-6, 1-5) dropped to 0-4 on the road.
Zegarowski, the Big East preseason player of the year and the Bluejays’ season scoring leader, was held out because of an undisclosed injury. Stadium reported the junior point guard tweaked his hamstring against Seton Hall on Wednesday.
NO. 4 TEXAS 72, NO. 14 WEST VIRGINIA 70
MORGANTOWN, W.Va — Andrew Jones hit a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to lift No. 4 Texas to a victory.
Jones took a pass from Courtney Ramey and hit an uncontested shot from the right corner after West Virginia’s Emmitt Matthews missed two free throws with 11 seconds left.
Ramey scored 19 points for Texas (10-1, 4-0 Big 12), which trailed for most of the game and had to come from nine points down in the second half. Jones finished with 16 points, Matt Coleman had 13 and freshman Greg Brown had 12 points and 14 rebounds.
NO. 2 BAYLOR 67, TCU 49
FORT WORTH, Texas — Jared Butler scored a season-high 28 points and Baylor stayed undefeated with another another double-digit win even after trailing at halftime for the first time this season.
NO. 6 KANSAS 63, OKLAHOMA 59
LAWRENCE, Kan. — David McCormack hit the clinching short hook shot with 12.8 seconds to go, giving the Kansas big man 17 points against short-handed Oklahoma.
Ochai Agbaji added 14 points and Jalen Wilson had nine points and 11 rebounds, helping Kansas (11-2, 4-1 Big 12) avoid back-to-back losses in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since the first season under Roy Williams in 1988-89.
NO. 9 TENNESSEE 68, TEXAS A&M 54
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Santiago Vescov scored a career-high 23 points, including six 3-pointers, and Tennessee beat Texas A&M.
Vescovi’s hot hand began early for the Vols (9-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) as he hit his first four shots from behind the arc. His barrage was a part of a 17-4 Tennessee run that pushed the Volunteers’ lead to 14 midway through the opening half.
OHIO STATE 79, NO. 15 RUTGERS 68
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Duane Washington Jr. scored 17 points and Ohio State closed the first half with a big run to beat Rutgers.
The Buckeyes (9-3, 3-3 Big Ten) used a 22-4 burst to take a 42-30 lead at halftime in sending Rutgers (7-4, 3-4) to its third straight loss.
Rutgers trailed by 22 before making a late rally. Paul Mulcahy stole the ball from Jimmy Sotos, leading to a fast-break dunk that capped a 14-2 surge that made it 67-57 with 3:50 to play.
The Scarlet Knights got no closer than eight points down the stretch.