Baylor slides past Sooners, ends skid
WACO, Texas — Johnathan Motley had 21 points with 16 rebounds and No. 9 Baylor ended a two-game slide with a 60-54 victory over Oklahoma on Tuesday night to remain in a tie for second place in the Big 12.
Baylor almost blew all of a 15-point lead in the second half, and held on even after not making a field goal in the last 6 minutes.
Oklahoma used a 21-8 run to get within 49-47 on Jamuni McNeace’s jumper with 9:21 left. But Manu Lecomte then hit consecutive three-pointers for the Bears, though those were more than two minutes apart and their last field goals.
The Bears (23-5, 10-5) stayed even with No. 12 West Virginia and Iowa State in the conference standings with three games left in the regular season.
Kameron McGusty had 13 points to lead the Sooners (9-18, 3-12).
No. 11 Kentucky 72 Missouri 62
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Bam Adebayo’s fourth double-double of the season helped Kentucky avoid a late-season upset, as the freshman scored 22 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.
Terrence Phillips led Missouri with a career-high 22 points, shooting 4 for 8 from three-point range while the rest of the Tigers shot a combined 0 for 14.
Neither team led by more than two possessions in a low-scoring first half. Missouri (7-20, 2-13 Southeastern Conference) took a 28-24 lead with 4:27 remaining in the half following a 7-0 run. John Calipari called a time out after a layup by Jordan Barnett capped the Tigers’ run, and the Wildcats held a 31-30 halftime lead despite shooting 1 for 8 from the field to close the half. Barnett finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Kentucky (23-5, 13-2) dominated the glass in the second half, outrebounding the Tigers 26-12 led by Adebayo, who had 10 second-half rebounds.
No. 13 Florida 81 South Carolina 66
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — North Little Rock sophomore KeVaughn Allen scored 26 points for Florida.
Devin Robinson added 14 points for Florida, which won its ninth consecutive game and locked up one of the top four seeds in the SEC tournament. Chris Chiozza and Kasey Hill chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
South Carolina (20-8, 10-5 SEC) dropped its third in a row and fourth in five games.
The Gators (23-5, 13-2) looked much more comfortable in their second game without center John Egbunu, who is out for the season with a torn ligament in his left knee. Sophomore Kevarrius Hayes finished with seven points, six rebounds and three steals.
Sindarius Thornwell led the Gamecocks with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Ole Miss 87 Mississippi State 82 OT
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Breein Tyree had 24 points and Sebastian Saiz added 23 points and 10 rebounds as Ole Miss outlasted Mississippi State in overtime.
Mississippi State’s I.J. Ready (Little Rock Parkview) scored with one second left in regulation to cap a furious Bulldog rally, tie it at 67-all and send it to OT. However, the Rebels scored the first ten points in overtime and held on from there. Tyree hit a three-pointer, converted a threepoint play and then hit two free throws before two foul shots by Justas Furmanavicius made it 7767 with 2:23 remaining. Mississippi State missed its first five shots after regulation and Ole Miss made 10 of 12 from the stripe in the final 1:01 to seal it.
Terence Davis has 12 points and 10 rebounds and Deandre
Burnett scored 10 for Ole Miss (17-11, 8-7 SEC), which has won five of its last seven games.
Ready led Mississippi State (14-13, 5-10) with a season-high 20 points and Mario Kegler had 15 points with eight rebounds. Quinndary Weatherspoon added 14 points and Xavian Stapleton scored 11.
Auburn 98, LSU 75
BATON ROUGE, La. — Ronnie Johnson scored 17 points and Auburn snapped a three-game skid.
LSU (9-18, 1-14 SEC) tied a school record with its 14th-straight loss. LSU allowed 90 points for the 10th time this season as coach Johnny Jones’ fifth season with the program continued to unravel — with athletic director Joe Alleva and two top assistants looking on together directly across from the LSU bench. LSU trailed by as many as 26 in what became its worst home loss to Auburn.
Danjel Purifoy and Bryce Brown each scored 15 for Auburn (17-11, 6-9), which swept a season series from LSU for the first time in seven years. Brown scored all of his points on 5-of-8 shooting from threepoint range.
Antonio Blakeney scored 29 points — two short of his season high — for LSU, but was the only LSU player to score in double figures.
T.J. Dunans scored 11 points and Mustapha Heron had 10 and nine rebounds for Auburn.
No. 14 Purdue 74 Penn State 70, OT
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Ryan Cline scored six of his 11 points in overtime to lift Purdue.
Cline hit consecutive three-pointers to secure his team’s sixth straight win in a game the Boilermakers led for just 9:16.
Vincent Edwards added 14 points, Isaac Haas chipped in 13 and Dakota Mathias scored 12 for the Boilermakers (23-5, 12-3 Big Ten).
Tony Carr scored 21 points, Lamar Stevens added 18 and Mike Watkins finished with 11 for Penn State (14-14, 6-9).