Johnnies knock off Utah Valley
Five St. John’s players finished in double figures for the second straight game, leading the Red Storm to a 96-78 victory over Utah Valley in the team’s non-conference finale on Saturday.
Freshman Posh Alexander scored a career-high 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Julian Champagnie finished with 19 points, three rebounds and a pair of blocks for St. John’s (9-7, 3-6 Big East.
Vince Cole added 15 and Isaih Moore had 13 for St. John’s.
NO. 2 BAYLOR 81, OKLAHOMA ST. 66
STILLWATER, Okla — Jared Butler scored 22 points and No. 2 Baylor overcame a halftime deficit to beat undermanned Oklahoma State 81-66 on Saturday.
Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham, the Big 12 Conference’s leading scorer, did not play because of COVID-19 protocols. Key reserve Rondel Walker also sat out, leaving the team with eight players available.
The Cowboys still pushed the Bears, leading in the early minutes of the second half before Baylor took control. The Bears shot 53% after the break.
NO. 8 HOUSTON 68, TEMPLE 51
PHILADELPHIA — Marcus Sasser and Quentin Grimes each scored 15 points and Houston rolled to its sixth straight victory, beating Temple.
The Cougars (13-1, 8-1 American Athletic Conference) also beat the Owls on Dec. 22. Grimes and Sasser hit consecutive early 3s to build a 19-point lead. Jake Forrester led the Owls (3-4, 2-4) with 15 points, and Khalif Battle had 14.
OKLAHOMA 75, NO. 9 KANSAS 68
NORMAN, Okla. — De’Vion Harmon scored 22 points and Oklahoma beat Kansas for its second victory of the month over a Top 10 opponent.
Oklahoma (9-4, 5-3 Big 12) has won three of its last four games against Kansas (10-5, 4-4) in Norman and is 8-1 at home this season — including a victory over then-No. 9 West Virginia on Jan. 2.
NO. 15 OHIO ST. 74, NO. 10 WISCONSIN 62
MADISON, Wis. — E.J. Liddell scored 20 points and Ohio State never trailed in a 74-62 victory over Wisconsin .
Ohio State (12-4, 6-4 Big Ten) has beaten Top 15 teams in each of its last three road games to underscore the conference’s lack of a true homecourt advantage this season with no spectators due to the pandemic.
NO. 11 CREIGHTON 74, NO. 23 UCONN 66
OMAHA, Neb. — Denzel Mahoney scored 20 points and Creighton broke open a close game in the last 10 minutes to beat Connecticut.
The Bluejays (11-4, 7-3 Big East) shot 58% in the second half to avoid their first three-game losing streak since February 2019. Mahoney made 8 of 14 shots from the field.
SYRACUSE 78, NO. 16 VIRGINIA TECH 60
SYRACUSE — Quincy Guerrier had 20 points, Marek Doelzaj added 18 and Alan Griffin had 15 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks to help Syracuse beat Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech closed to 47-44 on a lay-in by David N’Guessan with 13:45 to go, then Syracuse (9-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) outscored the Hokies 31-9 to build its biggest lead of the game at 78-53.