COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : No. 18 St. John’s Beats No. 5 Syracuse, 77-72

Malik Sealy had 23 points and 16 rebounds as No. 18 St. John’s upset fifth-ranked Syracuse, 77-72, Wednesday night in a Big East Conference game at New York.

The Redmen (18-6 overall, 9-6 in the conference) had to hold off a late three-point barrage by the Orangemen. St. John’s, which had lost four of its previous six games, kept its slim Big East title hopes alive with one conference game remaining, Monday night against Georgetown.

Syracuse (23-4, 9-4) had a winning streak stopped at six games.

Billy Owens, who scored 28 points for Syracuse, hit a long jumper with 14:13 left to bring the Orangemen within 42-38 before the Redmen then went on a 17-9 run for a 12-point lead with 5:52 remaining.

David Johnson, who scored 25 points, hit Syracuse’s fourth three-pointer of the final 2:20 to get the Orangemen within 74-70 with 38 seconds left.

St. John’s Jason Buchanan hit two free throws with 27 seconds left. He stole the inbounds pass and scored for a 77-70 lead with 24 seconds left.

St. John’s started the game with a 15-0 run, but Syracuse rallied and took a 28-26 lead on a basket by Michael Edwards with 1:29 left in the half.

No. 2 Ohio State 73, Illinois 64--The Buckeyes, coming off an emotional double-overtime victory over Indiana, made seven free throws in the final minute to hold off the Illini in a Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois (18-8, 8-5) trailed, 50-49, with 8:35 left, but the Buckeyes (23-1, 13-1) increased the lead to 66-60 on a basket by Treg Lee with 2:15 left and put the game away with its free throws.

Illinois played without starting center Deon Thomas, who sprained his ankle Saturday against Michigan State.

Lee scored 14 points for Ohio State, and Andy Kaufmann had 18 for Illinois.

No. 3 Arkansas 79, Southern Methodist 70--Oliver Miller and Todd Day rallied the Razorbacks from an eighth-point halftime deficit to a Southwest Conference victory over the Mustangs at Dallas.

Arkansas (26-2, 13-0) tied a school record for victories in one season, set in 1978.

SMU (11-14, 6-8) never trailed in the first half and built its lead to 45-37 on two free throws by Troy Valentino with 28 seconds left.

Miller, held to four points in the first half, led the Razorbacks’ rally in the second half. He finished with 21 points, including four consecutive baskets.

After Miller picked up his fourth foul with 14:26 left, Day took over. He scored 20 points, including two free throws with 13:55 that put Arkansas ahead for good.

Tim Wilson had 21 points for SMU.

No. 7 Duke 72, North Carolina State 65--Christian Laettner scored 11 of the Blue Devils’ first 19 points of the second half in an Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Wolfpack at Durham, N.C.

Duke (23-5, 9-3) took a half-game lead over North Carolina atop the ACC standings by holding the Wolfpack (15-8, 6-5) 26 points below its season scoring average.

North Carolina State, which trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, tied the score, 51-51, with 11:43 left on Bryant Feggins’ follow shot. But six points by Laettner over the next four minutes gave the Blue Devils a 60-56 lead.

Billy McCaffrey made a three-pointer after Brian Davis’ steal and Davis scored a layup off an inbounds pass to give Duke a 65-56 left with 6:06 left.

Rodney Monroe scored 18 points for the Wolfpack.

Colorado 79, No. 8 Kansas 71--Stevie Wise scored 32 points, including six three-point shots, and the Buffaloes upset the Jayhawks at Boulder, Colo.

The Buffaloes (15-9, 5-6) extended their winning streak to three games while ending the Jayhawks’ winning streak at 10. Kansas (19-5, 8-3) routed Colorado, 95-62, earlier this season.

Colorado forced nine turnovers and made 56% of its shots while building a 45-31 lead in the first half. Kansas tied the game three times in the second half, the last time at 62-62 with 6:39 remaining, but never took the lead.

Colorado broke the last tie with six consecutive points, four from Shaun Vandiver.

Cincinnati 86, No. 11 Southern Mississippi 72--Herbert Jones scored 27 points and the Bearcats rallied to knock off the Golden Eagles in a Metro Conference game at Cincinnati.

Southern Mississippi (20-4, 10-2) also lost to Cincinnati (16-8, 8-4) at home, 76-69, but the Golden Eagles still lead the second-place Bearcats by two games.

Cincinnati had a 37-35 lead at halftime, but Jones scored eight points as the Bearcats opened the second half with a 14-2 spurt to take a 51-37 lead by making seven of 13 shots.

Vanderbilt 98, No. 12 Kentucky 87--Bruce Elder and Kevin Anglin combined for 15 points during an 18-2 surge in the second half that carried the Commodores past the Wildcats in a Southeastern Conference game at Nashville, Tenn.

The victory was the fourth in the last four years for the Commodores (16-9, 10-5) over the Wildcats (19-5, 11-4) in Nashville.

The Commodores had a 60-59 lead with just over 10 minutes to play, when Anglin scored the first of his six points during the spurt on a free throw with 9:56 remaining.

Missouri 91, No. 14 Nebraska 71--Doug Smith scored 22 points and became Missouri’s leading career rebounder as the Tigers surprised the Cornhuskers at Columbia, Mo.

Smith, a 6-foot-10 senior and Big Eight player of the year last season, also became the second Missouri player to surpass 2,000 points. His five rebounds in the first half gave him 985, one more than Steve Stipanovich had in a four-year career.

Smith’s point total of 2,018 is second on the Missouri list to the 2,580 by Derrick Chievous.

Anthony Peeler scored 30 points for Missouri (14-9, 6-5). Rich King had 18 for Nebraska (22-5, 7-4).

No. 19 Louisiana State 89, Mississippi 78--Shaquille O’Neal scored 38 points and the Tigers won their fifth consecutive Southeastern Conference game by downing the Rebels at Oxford, Miss.

O’Neal, who had more than 33 points for the fourth time in five games, scored nine in a row during a 17-4 surge that pushed LSU (18-7, 11-4) from behind to a 62-51 lead with 12:32 left.

Joe Harvell scored 22 points Ole Miss (7-17, 1-14).

No. 21 Mississippi State 81, Florida 67--Greg Carter scored 21 points and Tony Watts added 18 as the Bulldogs downed the Gators at Starkville, Miss., to retain a share of the SEC lead at Starkville, Miss.

Winning for the eighth time in nine games, Mississippi State (18-6, 11-4) remained tied with LSU for the conference lead with three games remaining.

Dwayne Davis scored 15 points for Florida (11-13, 7-8).

No. 22 Pittsburgh 78, No. 25 Georgetown 65--Sean Miller scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and the Panthers took second place in the Big East by winning at Landover, Md.

The Panthers (19-8, 8-5), trail league-leading Syracuse by one game. Georgetown (15-9, 7-6) lost its third consecutive game.

Holy Cross 75, Fordham 72--Rick Mashburn’s basket with 13 seconds remaining at Worchester, Mass., allowed the Crusaders to end the Rams’ winning streak at 14 games. It was the nation’s second-longest major college winning streak to Nevada Las Vegas’ 34-game streak over two seasons. Holy Cross is 15-10 overall and 7-3 in the Patriot League. Fordham is 21-6 and 11-1.