LeDee leads San Diego State to win vs. No. 17 Utah State
Jaedon LeDee had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead San Diego State to an 81-67 win against Great Osobor and No. 17 Utah State on Saturday to pull the defending Mountain West champion Aztecs within one game of the first-place Aggies.
LeDee scored nine points in the second half of the showdown between the conference's top two scorers and rebounders. Osobor had 17 points and seven rebounds for the surprise conference leaders, who were picked ninth in the preseason media poll.
The Aztecs (17-5, 6-3 Mountain West) beat the Aggies (19-3, 7-2) for the fifth straight time. That streak includes a win in the conference tournament championship game, and the Aztecs went on to reach their first Final Four, where they lost to UConn in the national championship game.
Jay Pal scored 16 for the Aztecs while Micah Parrish added 14 and Marin City's Darrion Trammell had 12.
SDSU, which lost three of its previous five games, including at Colorado State on Tuesday night, once again benefited from its loud home crowd at Viejas Arena. SDSU has won 33 straight games when a loss is followed by a home game.
“This crowd is incredible,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “You just play at a higher level at home than you do on the road. This was a critical game. If we'd have lost we would
have been three back in the standings and we'd be going on the road for two. Then we'd be sitting there going, `Man, we cannot lose three or four in a row.'
“That's this conference though. It's hard to win on the road in this conference. So you have to protect home court at all costs. … We have to enjoy this like crazy tonight, but tomorrow morning we've got to get up and we've got to go to work again.”
SAN DIEGO 70, SANTA CLARA 59 >> Deuce Turner's 23 points off of the bench led San Diego to a victory against Santa Clara.
NO. 8 KANSAS 78, NO. 4 HOUSTON 65 >> Hunter Dickinson scored 20 points to lead four Kansas players in double figures as the No. 8 Jayhawks beat No. 4 Houston.
NO. 1 UCONN 77, ST. JOHN'S 64 >> Cam Spencer scored 23 points, freshman Stephon Castle had a season-best 21 and UConn pulled away from St. John's at Madison
Square Garden.
NO. 3 NORTH CAROLINA 93, NO. 7 DUKE 84 >> Armando Bacot had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Harrison Ingram added 21 points, 13 rebounds and four steals as North Carolina beat rival Duke.
NO. 9 MARQUETTE 91, GEORGETOWN 57 >> Kam Jones scored a career-high 31 points, Tyler Kolek had 17 points and eight assists and Marquette won its sixth straight game.
CINCINNATI 75, NO. 15 TEXAS TECH 72 >> Simas Lukosius scored 16 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 21 seconds left, and Cincinnati dealt Texas Tech its first home loss this season.
NO. 16 AUBURN 91, MISSISSIPPI 77 >> Jaylin Williams scored 16 points and Auburn erased a 13-point deficit in the first half with a dominating second half to defeat Mississippi.
NO. 20 FLORIDA ATLANTIC 102, TULSA 70 >> Johnell Davis scored 24 points, Alijah
Martin and Vladislav Goldin each scored 18 and Florida Atlantic won its seventh consecutive game.
NO. 22 BYU 86, WEST VIRGINIA 73 >> Fousseyni Traore had a season-high 24 points and nine rebounds to lead BYU past West Virginia.
UCF 74, NO. 23 OKLAHOMA 63 >> Jaylin Sellers shot 13 for 14 from the line and scored 20 points, Antwann Jones hit three early 3-pointers and finished with 15 points and UCF coach Johnny Dawkins earned his 300th coaching victory.
NO. 24 ALABAMA 99, MISSISSIPPI STATE 67 >> Mark Sears scored 21 points and Alabama maintained its spot atop the Southeastern Conference standings.
TEXAS 77, NO. 25 TCU 66 >> Max Abmas scored 19 of his 21 points after halftime, including the last 13 for Texas in a win over TCU.
Women
NO. 3 IOWA 93, MARYLAND 85 >>
Caitlin Clark had 38 points and 12 assists, and No. 3 Iowa withstood a gritty effort by Maryland, outlasting the Terrapins. NO. 19 GONZAGA 104, PACIFIC 39 >> Yvonne Ejim scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Gonzaga drilled a school-record 19 3-pointers while rolling over Pacific. NO. 23 WEST VIRGINIA 76, BYU 69 >> Lauren Fields scored 22 points, Ja'Naiya Quinerly added 19 and West Virginia beat BYU.
NO. 25 PRINCETON 76, BROWN 63 >>
Chet Nweke and Madison St. Rose each scored 18 points and Princeton never trailed in defeating Brown.