’Horns win on late three-pointer

TEXAS 72,

NO. 14 WEST VIRGINIA 70

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Three years to the day since Texas Coach Shaka Smart told his players that Andrew Jones had been diagnosed with leukemia, the junior guard put his latest stamp on what is turning into a special season for the Longhorns.

Jones hit a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to lift the fourth-ranked Longhorns to a 72-70 victory over No. 14 West Virginia on Saturday.

Courtney Ramey drove into the lane among four defenders before tossing the ball to Jones in the right corner for an uncontested shot after West Virginia’s Emmitt Matthews missed two free throws with 11 seconds left.

On Jan. 9, 2018, Smart told his players that Jones had been diagnosed with leukemia. Jones missed most of the next two seasons and completed his cancer treatments in September 2019.

On Saturday, Jones went over the 1,000-point mark for his career, joined Smart and his teammates in a postgame locker room dance, then got on Twitter to thank God “for even allowing me to be here and play the game that I love.”

He also thanked his teammates and supporters. “Let’s keep it going,” Jones wrote.

Smart said he still gets emotional watching Jones play.

“He’s come so far,” Smart said. “I don’t know a lot of guys that would be able to do what he did from the standpoint of scraping and clawing his way back. The one thing that is just so impressive about Andrew from the beginning is, after he was diagnosed, he kept saying: ‘I’m going to come back and play. I’m going to come back and play.’

“I think the rest of us were just like: ‘We’ll be happy if we can just get you back healthy. Forget playing right now.’ But I think that really helped him from a motivational standpoint.”

Ramey scored 19 points for Texas (10-1, 4-0 Big 12). Jones finished with 16 points, Matt Coleman had 13 and freshman Greg Brown had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Taz Sherman scored 17 points, Sean McNeil added 14 points and Derek Culver had 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Mountaineers (9-4, 2-3).

NO. 1 GONZAGA 116, PORTLAND 88

PORTLAND, Ore. — Joel Ayayi had 12 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds for Gonzaga and the Bulldogs routed Portland for their 16th consecutive win.

Drew Timme had 26 points for the Bulldogs (12-0, 3-0 West Coast), who were riding the nation’s longest active winning streak.

Ahmed Ali had 19 points for the Pilots (6-5, 0-2), who have lost 13 in a row against Gonzaga.

It was Gonzaga’s first “true” road trip of the season — the team played a number of early season neutral site games.

NO. 2 BAYLOR 67, TCU 49

FORT WORTH — 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.

MaCio Teague added 12 points and Davion Mitchell had 10 for the Bears (11-0, 4-0 Big 12).

Mike Miles had 15 of his 17 points by halftime for the Horned Frogs (9-4, 2-3).

RJ Nembhard had 14 points and Kevin Samuel had 11 rebounds for TCU.

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.

The Sooners (6-4, 2-3), playing without Brady Manek and Jalen Hill because of covid-19 protocols, took a 57-56 lead when Austin Reaves (Cedar Ridge High School) hit a jumper from the free-throw line with 21/2 minutes to go.

But McCormack scored over Oklahoma’s Kur Kuath to give Kansas the lead back, and Wilson’s three-pointer made it 61-57 with 1:26 to go.

NO. 7 CREIGHTON 97, ST. JOHN’S 79

OMAHA, Neb. — Denzel Mahoney scored a season-high 24 points as Creighton pulled away early in a victory over St. John’s.

The Bluejays (10-2, 6-1) won their sixth consecutive 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.

NO. 11 HOUSTON 71, TULANE 50

HOUSTON — Marcus Sasser scored 20 of his career-high 28 points in the first half to lead Houston past Tulane.

Sasser shot 7 of 9, including 6 of 7 on 3-pointers, in the first half as the Cougars (10-1, 5-1 American Athletic) built a 12-point halftime lead.

Jordan Walker scored 13 points and Jaylen Forbes had 11 for Tulane (6-3, 1-3). The Green Wave shot 29%, including 6 of 19 on 3-pointers.

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 consecutive loss.

NO. 18 TEXAS TECH 91, IOWA STATE 64

AMES, Iowa — Kyler Edwards scored 16 of his 19 points in the first half as Texas Tech built a huge lead and breezed past Iowa State.

The Red Raiders (10-3, 3-2 Big 12) used a pair of 12-0 runs to make it 5428 with just over a minute left before the break.

Solomon Young and Rasir Bolton led the Cyclones (2-7, 0-5) with 15 points each.

NO. 21 DUKE 79, WAKE FOREST 68

DURHAM, N.C. — Matthew Hurt scored a career-high 26 points to help Duke beat Wake Forest.

Freshman DJ Steward added 21 points for the Blue Devils (5-2, 3-0 ACC), who shot 51% and controlled the boards to extend their home-court dominance in the long-running in-state series.

NO. 22 VIRGINIA 61, BOSTON COLLEGE 49

BOSTON — Jay Huff matched his career-high with 18 points, adding eight rebounds to lead Virginia over Boston College.

Sam Hauser scored 17 with 10 boards to help the Cavaliers (6-2, 3-0 ACC) win their third in a row since a Dec. 26 loss to top-ranked Gonzaga.