Top 25 Men: Villanova, Kansas take big wins
No. 4 'Nova downs No. 5 West Virginia, 82-75
The Associated PressOriginally published: February 09. 2010 3:01AM
Last modified: February 08. 2010 11:41PM
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Scottie Reynolds scored 19 of his 21 points in the final 13 minutes and No. 4 Villanova held off No. 5 West Virginia 82-75 on Monday night.
The Wildcats (21-2, 10-1) rebounded from a blowout loss at No. 7 Georgetown on Saturday to pull into a first-place tie with No. 2 Syracuse in the Big East.
West Virginia (19-4, 8-3) led only in the game's opening minutes, couldn't overcome an 11-point halftime deficit and saw its six-game winning streak snapped.
Corey Fisher added 17 points for Villanova in the season's first matchup of teamed ranked in the top five.
Darryl Bryant led five Mountaineers in double figures with 15 points.
Villanova shot 57 percent (29 of 51) from the field and outrebounded the Mountaineers 38-30. West Virginia didn't help its cause at the free-throw line, finishing 18 of 32.
This was West Virginia's first home game since fans threw objects onto the court last Wednesday. Students behaved themselves this time, even scrapping a derogatory chant typically done during opponent introductions.
No. 1 Kansas 80, No. 14 Texas 68.
Kansas center Cole Aldrich (45) rejects a shot attempt by Texas center Clint Champman (53) Monday in Austin, Texas.
AUSTIN, Texas — Marcus Morris scored 18 points to lead No. 1 Kansas to an 80-68 victory over No. 14 Texas on Monday night and the Jayhawks easily handled an opponent that a few weeks ago was supposed to challenge them for the Big 12 title.
Kansas (23-1, 9-0) outmuscled and outhustled the Longhorns (19-5, 5-4) in just about every way, holding the top-scoring team in the Big 12 to 37 percent shooting and scoring 27 points off 17 turnovers.
And when Texas finally staged a late rally, Kansas slammed the door behind senior point guard Sherron Collins.
Freshman J'Covan Brown scored 28 points for the Longhorns, who have lost five of their last seven games after earning the first No. 1 ranking in school history a month ago.
No. 18 Butler 62, Loyola, Chicago 47
INDIANAPOLIS — Matt Howard scored 20 points to lead Butler to its 13th straight win and at least a share of its fourth straight Horizon League regular season title.
Willie Veasley added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs (21-4, 14-0), who matched the second-longest winning streak in school history.
Walt Gibler and Geoff McCammon both scored nine points for the Ramblers (13-11, 4-10), who have lost six of their past seven games against Butler.
Butler shot 36 percent from the field one game after shooting nearly 68 percent in a victory over Wright State.
No. 25 Pittsburgh 77, Robert Morris 53
PITTSBURGH — Ashton Gibbs and Jermaine Dixon led a mid-game surge as Pittsburgh broke out of a tie late in the first half by scoring 27 of the next 32 points and improved to 28-0 all-time against its city rival.
Gibbs scored 20 points and Dixon had 18 points and six rebounds while holding Colonials leading scorer Karon Abraham to two points over the final 24 1/2 minutes.
Pitt (18-6) won its second game in three days after losing four of five and ended a nine-game winning streak by Robert Morris (16-9). The Panthers broke from a 32-all tie with 2:38 left in the first half and led 59-37 with 12:18 remaining.
Abraham scored 16 points, but didn't have a basket after hitting a 3-pointer with 5:34 left in the first half.
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