Nation
(7) GEORGETOWN 89, (8) DUKE 77
WASHINGTON - Put the commander in chief on the front row, andGeorgetown beats Duke with its best shooting game in 30 years.
With President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden munchingpopcorn in some of the best seats in the house, the No. 7 Hoyas puton a couldn't-miss performance against No. 8 Duke, shooting 71.7percent in Saturday's 89-77 victory.
'The crowd was pumped up, Obama was there, so it was exciting,'Georgetown guard Chris Wright said. 'I think we all came out with alittle bit more energy than usual. We were all over the place,defensively and offensively.'
It couldn't have been a much bigger day for Georgetown: thepresident attending his first Hoyas game, the first sellout of theseason in the 20,000-seat Verizon Center, a crowd mostly sporting'We Are Georgetown' T-shirts in a school-sponsored 'gray out,' the200th win for coach John Thompson III, the launch of an initiativefor Darfur schools, and, of course, the much-detested empire fromthe Atlantic Coast Conference in the building.
'It was good, everything about it - from who was there, to how weplayed against a terrific team, against a well-coached team, againsta team that's one of the best teams in the country,' said Thompson,who is 200-97 over six seasons with Georgetown and four atPrinceton. 'So the stars were aligned properly.'
Wright seemed pumped for it all, scoring 21 points on 8-for-9shooting and making two defensive plays that helped ignite an 18-3run that gave the Hoyas the lead for good in the first half. GregMonroe also finished with 21 points, and Austin Freeman added 20 forGeorgetown (16-4), which shot 77 percent in the first half.
'We could never match their emotion,' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewskisaid. 'The place was electric. Their team was electric, and theyplayed that way for 40 minutes.'
Nolan Smith scored 19 points, Kyle Singler had 18 before foulingout with 2:10 to play, and Jon Scheyer added 17 for the Blue Devils(17-4), who shot only 37 percent.
In other Top 25 games
(2) Kansas 81, (11) Kansas State 79 at Manhattan, Kan.: SherronCollins bounced back from a back injury to score on a hard drivewith nine seconds left in overtime, helping Kansas (20-1, 6-1 Big12) pull out a victory over Kansas State (17-4, 4-3).
Kansas dismantled and closed out the rivalry week sweep bywinning an epic back-and-forth battle with Kansas State.
Collins hit the floor with 2:44 left in overtime and went to thebench holding his back, then returned just in time to score on abaseline drive.
He missed the free throw, but Cole Aldrich grabbed the reboundand Brady Morningstar hit two free throws to close out the Jayhawks'26th win in their last 27 games in Manhattan.
Aldrich had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Collins finished with16 points.
(4) Syracuse 59, DePaul 57 at Rosemont, Ill.: Wes Johnson scored16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Syracuse (21-1, 8-1 Big East)rallied from 18 down to beat DePaul (8-13, 1-8) for its eighthstraight victory.
'We played two great minutes,' Orange coach Jim Boeheim said.'Not usually enough to win.'
(5) Michigan State 79, Northwestern 70 at East Lansing, Mich.:Durrell Summers started each half with an alley-oop dunk andfinished with a season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, leadingMichigan State over Northwestern (14-7, 3-6).
The Spartans (19-3) are off to their first 9-0 start in Big Tenplay.
(24) Baylor 80, (6) Texas 77 (OT) at Austin, Texas: Freshmanguard A.J. Walton, a 47 percent free-throw shooter, made three offour foul shots in the final 17 seconds of overtime as Baylor (16-4, 3-3 Big 12) beat Texas (18-3, 4-2).
Baylor got its first regular-season victory over Texas since1998. Tweety Carter led the Bears with 27 points.
'This is a little better feeling up here than normal,' Baylorcoach Scott Drew said. 'You saw the heart of our players today.'
Texas rallied from 14 points down early in the second half.Damion James had 20 points and 19 rebounds for the Longhorns, but hefouled out in the final minute of overtime.
(9) West Virginia 77, Louisville 74 at Morgantown, W.Va.: Da'SeanButler scored a season-high 27 points, including the go-ahead basketwith 16 seconds remaining, as West Virginia (17-3, 6-2 Big East)rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to beat Louisville (13-8, 4-4).
Samardo Samuels and Reginald Delk scored 16 points apiece forLouisville, which fell to 0-4 against ranked teams this season andfaces quite a climb the rest of the season to get back into the NCAATournament picture.
(15) Temple 64, LaSalle 52 at Philadelphia: Ramone Moore scored14 points, and Lavoy Allen had 12 points and 10 rebounds to leadTemple (18-4, 6-1 Atlantic 10) to a victory before a crowd thatincluded longtime Owls coach John Chaney.
'We've gotten some really good contributions off the bench and wehope that continues,' Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. 'I don't thinkwe can be successful without that. You need more than five guysready to go.'
Marquette 70, (19) Connecticut 68 at Hartford, Conn.: JimmyButler's driving shot with 2.4 seconds left gave Marquette (13-8, 4-5 Big East) a victory over UConn (13-8, 3-5).
Butler finished with 21 points and Lazar Hayward scored 20 forthe Golden Eagles, who won for the first time on the road thisseason. Jerome Dyson had 18 points for the Huskies (13-8, 3-5), whohave lost two straight after beating then-No. 1 Texas a week ago.
'It's been a case of that all year with this team,' Huskiesinterim coach George Blaney said. 'They seem to play in moments,they don't seem to play full possessions. It's the hardest thing tounderstand. It's something that we have not had an answer for.'
(22) Georgia Tech 98, Kentucky State 50 at Atlanta: Glen Rice Jr.scored 15 points and D'Andre Bell added 14 as Georgia Tech (16-5)breezed past Division 2 Kentucky State (4-13).
Despite losing by nearly 50, Thorobreds coach Clarence Moore, aformer Georgia Tech player, was unimpressed by the Yellow Jackets.
'I've seen a few games this season, and I don't see a leader outthere,' said Moore. 'To me, it looks like guys are trying to findthemselves.'
(23) New Mexico 73, TCU 57 at Fort Worth, Texas: Darington Hobsonscored 19 points with some key second-half baskets as New Mexico (20-3, 6-2 Mountain West) stretched its winning streak to six games witha victory over TCU (10-12, 2-5).
In a women's Top 25 game
(1) Connecticut 98, Pittsburgh 56 at Pittsburgh: Tina Charlesscored 24 points to become the sixth Connecticut player to reach2,000 points in her career as the Huskies (21-0, 8-0 Big East)coasted to their 60th consecutive victory, beating Pittsburgh (12-8, 1-6).
In area games
Trinity 65, Rhodes 49 at San Antonio: Reid Hamilton was the lonedouble-figure scorer for the Lynx (8-11, 3-8 SCAC), finishing with17.
Trinity women 92, Rhodes 86 at San Antonio: Becky Atnip andSharwil Bell each scored 22 points as the Lady Lynx fell to 11-9overall and 4-7 in SCAC play.
