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Bucknell upsets Syracuse

Bucknell's Charles Lee finds an open lane against Syracuse during the first half in Syracuse, N.Y., on Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Bucknell's Charles Lee finds an open lane against Syracuse during the first half in Syracuse, N.Y., on Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

First Pitt. Then Kansas. Now Syracuse.

Beating the big teams is getting to be old hat for Bucknell, which used its slowdown offense to rally past the 17th-ranked Orange 74-69 on Tuesday night in Syracuse, N.Y.

“We never take the underdog role,” said Kevin Bettencourt, who led Bucknell with 20 points and keyed a late 13-2 run that decided the game. “We think we can win every game.”

And why not?

Last January, Bucknell handed 10th-ranked Pittsburgh its first loss of the season, also snapping the Panthers’ 48-game home winning streak against non-conference teams. Then in March they shocked the third-seeded Jayhawks 64-63 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

On this night, it was the Orange’s turn. Bucknell (2-0) won for the first time in nine meetings with Syracuse (3-2) and sent the Orange to their second straight loss.

“We thought if we did certain things well, we could hang around,” Bucknell coach Pat Flannery said. “We played with a lot of poise.”

And oh so deliberately. The Bison took only 17 shots in the second half, milking the clock on almost every possession, and missed just three times – an eye-opening 82.4 percent.

Charles Lee had 18 points and Chris McNaughton had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Bison.

Demetris Nichols led Syracuse with 19 points, Gerry McNamara had 18, and Terrence Roberts had 12 points and 11 rebounds, his second double-double of the season.

(2) Texas 68, (18) Iowa 59: At Kansas City, Mo., LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out and helped the Longhorns erase a 7-point halftime deficit to beat the Hawkeyes in the championship game of the Guardians Classic. Point guard Daniel Gibson added 16 points for the Longhorns. Adam Haluska had 15 points at halftime for Iowa and finished with 23, one shy of his career-high.

(3) Connecticut 79, (9) Arizona 70: At Lahaina, Hawaii, Denham Brown scored 17 points and the Huskies held the Wildcats without a field goal for a 5-minute stretch of the second half in a victory in the semifinals of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

(7) Kentucky 80, (13) West Virginia 66: At Kansas City, Mo., Patrick Sparks scored 25 points and led an early 20-0 run that carried the Wildcats past the Mountaineers in the Guardians Classic consolation game.

(10) Boston College 92, Buffalo 63: At Boston, Jared Dudley scored 20 points to help the Eagles survive an off-night by preseason All-America Craig Smith and beat the Bulls. Smith had 12 points and four rebounds, missing seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble and six minutes in the second with when he got a cut over his left eye.

(15) Illinois 93, Texas Southern 59: At Champaign, Ill., Dee Brown scored 14 points and James Augustine added 13 to lead the Illini to a rout of the Tigers. Sean Walker scored 20 points and Ike Count added 11 for Texas Southern.

(23) Maryland 98, Chaminade 69: At Lahaina, Hawaii, Chris McCray scored 17 points – nine in a 23-0 run in the second half – to lead the Terrapins over the Silverswords in the consolation round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Maryland will play Arkansas for fifth place today.

Women’s Top 25

Monique Currie had 21 points and 15 rebounds for her 20th double-double, helping top-ranked Duke beat Fairfield 110-44 in Durham, N.C.

Abby Waner made her first seven shots, including two 3-pointers, and scored all 16 of her points in the first half as Duke built a 65-23 advantage.

(3) LSU 107, Southern U. 39: At Baton Rouge, La., Erica White scored 14 points and national player of the year Seimone Augustus added 10 in her lowest scoring game in two seasons as the Tigers won their home opener.

(5) Baylor 92, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 64: At Waco, Texas, Sophia Young had 20 points and 10 rebounds to help the Bears extend its winning streak to 24 games.

(20) Vanderbilt 80, Alabama A&M 29: At Nashville, Tenn., Caroline Williams scored a career-high 19 points and the Commodores raced to an 18-0 lead in its win over the Bulldogs.

(21) Temple 72, Penn 53: At Philadelphia, Khadija Bowens scored 21 points and Candice Dupree added 17 to help the Owls to their 28th straight regular-season victory.

Pacific-10 non-conference

Malik Hairston scored 17 points and Maarty Leunen had 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead Oregon past Pacific 84-62 in the final game of the Hispanic College Fund Classic in Eugene, Ore.

Oregon State 88, Prairie View 71: At Corvallis, Ore., Sasa Cuic had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the Beaver to a win over Panthers.