VILLANOVA DELIVERS CREIGHTON’S FIRST LOSS
omaha» It was New Year’s Eve, but it felt like March to Josh Hart and the rest of the top-ranked Wildcats.
The defending national champions overcame an early 10-point deficit, Hart’s slow start and a frenzied crowd to defeat No. 10 Creighton 80-70 on Saturday.
“It’s good to get in here, play Villanova basketball against a tough team and have something we can build on,” Hart said. “We know we can get better. In March we can say we played in a tough environment. We faced adversity and we overcame it.”
Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 27 points, including 11 in a row as the Wildcats wiped out their early deficit, and Villanova (14-0, 2-0 Big East) extended its schoolrecord winning streak to 20 games.
The game marked only the second time in Big East history that two unbeaten teams met in a conference game, and it lived up to the hype with nine lead changes and five ties before the Wildcats pulled away late.
Marcus Foster led the Bluejays (13-1, 1-1) with 22 points. Justin Patton had 18 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Davis and DJ Miles each had 17 points toe lead Northern Colorado past Portland State 73-59. … Luke Schroepfer’s 24point performance helped Colorado Mines avenge an earlier loss and beat 92-64. … Justin Bibbs scored 18 points to lead
to an 89-75 upset of Bibbs broke out of a season-long slump, hitting 6 of 9 from the field, including a season-high four 3-pointers for the Hokies, who won their eighth straight game. Virginia Tech snapped a nine-game losing streak to Duke, which played without preseason AllAmerican Grayson Allen, who was suspended indefinitely by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after tripping an Elon player on Dec. 21. … Josh Okogie scored 26 points, Ben Lammers had 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Georgia Tech pulled off a major upset with a 75-63 victory over No. 9 North Carolina. Justin Jackson finished with 16 points and Nate Britt scored 13 for the Tar Heels, who committed a season-high 20 turnovers. North Carolina (12-3, 0-1) never led after Okogie hit two free throws with 11:59 remaining. … Donovan Mitchell scored a career-high 25 points and Deng Adel had 17 as No. 6 Louisville pulled away from No. 16 Indiana 77-62. … Jordan Mathews scored 16 points and No. 7 Gonzaga beat Pacific 81-61. … Dwayne Bacon scored 26 of his 29 points after halftime and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4 seconds left, lifting No. 20 Florida State past No. 12 Virginia 60-58.
Women
fort collins» Brooke Pahukoa delivered 20 points as Boise State beat Colorado State 51-45, which snapped the Rams’ program-best 22 straight wins at home. Savannah Scott scored a game-high 20 points to lead Northern Colorado to a 91-62 victory over Portland State. … Kelsey Mitchell scored 31 points and Stephanie Mavunga grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and scored 14 points as No. 14 Ohio State beat Indiana 92-82. Results