Terps knock off sliding Cornhuskers
Jalen Smith had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and he fueled a decisive surge in the first half as visiting Maryland downed fading Nebraska 60-45 in a Big Ten game in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Wednesday night.
Bruno Fernando had his sixth consecutive double-double, and 15th of the season, with 13 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for the 24thranked Terrapins (18-5, 9-4), who took control when the Cornhuskers had an eight-minute scoring drought before halftime.
Smith scored 11 straight points and Maryland closed the half on a 20-5 run, with Nebraska making just one field goal over the last 11:41 and trailing 28-20 at the break.
Isaiah Roby led the Cornhuskers (13-10, 3-9) with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Nebraska set season lows for points and field goal percentage (21 percent) while losing its sixth straight and dropping to 13th place in the conference.
CAPITAL 86, HEIDELBERG 80: Will Hanna scored 22 points to lead four players in double figures and Capital (18-4, 13-2) built a 16-point lead in the second half and held on to stay atop the Ohio Athletic Conference with a win over visiting Heidelberg (8-14, 6-9). Myron Prewitt had 19 points to pace the Student Princes, which cut a 72-56 deficit to 74-70 before fading down the stretch. OHIO NORTHERN 75, OTTERBEIN 70: Ryan Bruns hit 14 of 24 shots, scored 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Ohio Northern (4-17, 1-14) overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half for an OAC victory over visiting Otterbein (6-15, 3-12). Justin Carter had 22 points for the Cardinals, who led 60-51 with nine minutes left before falling behind for good at 64-63 at the five-minute mark. WOOSTER 73, DENISON 63: Reece Dupler scored 26 points and Wooster (19-3, 14-1), which trailed 34-29 at intermission, started the second half on a 19-2 run to overtake host Denison (6-15, 3-12) in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Danyon Hempy added 24 points for the Scots, who outscored the Big Red 44-29 after the break. Matt Doyle had 14 points to pace Denison.
WITTENBERG 91, OHIO WESLEYAN 58: Connor Seipel had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and host Wittenberg (17-5, 11-4) widened a 10-point halftime lead by outscoring Ohio Wesleyan (11-11, 6-9) 42-19 in the second half of an NCAC game. Ethan Stanislawski and Grant Gossard led the Battling Bishops with 10 points each. OWU shot just 34.9 percent from the field and hit only 8 of 26 from threepoint range.
NO. 14 VILLANOVA 66, CREIGHTON 59, OT: Freshman Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 17 points and Phil Booth had 14 and hit key baskets down the stretch for host Villanova (19-4, 10-0), which beat Creighton (13-10, 4-6) in overtime to win its first 10 games in Big East play for the first time. The back-and-forth game featured 10 ties and eight lead changes before the Wildcats sealed it on Booth’s three-pointer with 1:25 left in OT. Davion Mintz led Creighton with 19 points.
TEXAS 84, BAYLOR 72: Kerwin Roach II scored 21 points and host Texas (13-10, 5-5) handed Baylor (15-7, 6-3) a loss that knocked the Bears out of a tie for first place in the Big 12. Baylor had won six in a row to climb to the top of the league before running into a Longhorns team that shot 61 percent in the first half, led by 15 at halftime and was in control the entire way. Mark Vital led the Bears with 14 points. NO. 5 CONNECTICUT 118, EAST CAROLINA 55: Katie Lou Samuelson scored a season-high 31 points and host Connecticut (20-2, 9-0) raced to a 70-25 halftime lead in an American Athletic Conference rout of East Carolina (11-11, 2-7). Napheesa Collier hit all 10 of her shots and added 21 points for the Huskies.