St. John’s men shock top-ranked Villanova
PHILADELPHIA — St. John’s took down another of the nation’s elite, and stunned No. 1 Villanova 79-75 on Wednesday night for its second win over a top-five team this week — and first over the topranked team in 33 years.
Shamorie Ponds scored 26 points to spark the Red Storm (12-13, 1-11 Big East) to its first conference win of the season and easily their best week since Chris
Mullin was in uniform, not the coach.
Mullin played for St. John’s when it beat No. 1 Georgetown 66-65 on Jan. 26, 1985. And he was on the sideline exhorting his players in the final minutes of this shocker.
St. John’s beat then-No. 4 Duke Blue Devils 81-77 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, snapping an 11-game losing streak. It was the first win for St. John’s since Dec. 20 against Saint Joseph’s.
The Wildcats (22-2, 9-2) ended a nine-game winning streak and will surely tumble from the top of the national rankings, where they’ve spent the last five weeks at No. 1.
Jalen Brunson, a leading candidate for national player of the year, scored 28 points and nearly rallied Villanova to victory down the stretch.
No. 2 VIRGINIA 59, FLORIDA STATE 55
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — Devon Hall scored 17 points, Ty Jerome added 15 and Virginia rallied in the second half to beat Florida State. Kyle Guy scored 10 of his 13 points in the final 20 minutes as the Cavaliers fought back from a 32-22 halftime deficit to remain unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
No. 25 MIAMI 87, WAKE FOREST 81
CORAL GABLES, FLA. — Lonnie Walker IV scored 19 points to lead Miami to a victory over Wake Forest.
Miami withstood a late Demon Deacons comeback attempt fueled by consecutive 3s from Bryant Crawford in the final minute. Crawford’s second long-range shot with 31 seconds left pulled Wake Forest to 82-79.
WOMEN No. 1 UCONN 55, UCF 37
ORLANDO, FLA. — Katie Lou Samuelson scored 19 points and Azura Stevens added 12 to help UConn beat UCF.
It was the lowest scoring effort of the season for the Huskies (23-0, 11-0 American), who came into the game averaging an NCAA best 93.1 points.
No. 4 LOUISVILLE 65, CLEMSON 46
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Asia Durr scored 15 points to lead Louisville, which survived a sluggish start, to a win over Clemson.
No. 19 DUKE 59, WAKE FOREST 51
DURHAM, N.C. — Lexie Brown scored 21 points, six coming in the last 2½ minutes, and Duke turned back Wake Forest in the first game since injured starter Haley Gorecki was lost for the season.