‘Nova holds on, outlasts Louisville
Allan Ray matched his season high with 26 points and No. 4 Villanova equaled its best start in the Big East with a 79-73 victory over Louisville on Monday night in Philadelphia.
The Wildcats (16-2, 7-1) twice seemed to have control of the game with a double-digit lead, but the Cardinals (14-7, 2-6) pulled close twice before losing for the fifth time in six games.
As usual, Villanova relied on its four guards for almost all its offense. Mike Nardi had 20 points, Randy Foye added 19, all but two in the first half, and Kyle Lowry had eight. They came into the game accounting for 79 percent of the Wildcats’ points.
(20) Ohio St. 95, Florida A&M 53: At Columbus, Ohio, J.J. Sullinger matched his career high with 24 points – scoring 19 in the first half – to lead the Buckeyes (15-3) over the Rattlers (10-11).
Women
Seimone Augustus had 29 points to lead No. 3 LSU to an 88-57 win over No. 10 Baylor 88-57 in Baton Rouge, La., in a rematch of last year’s NCAA semifinal.
Augustus was 13 of 21 from the field as the Lady Tigers (18-1) scored their fourth highest point-total of the season. Sophia Young was the top scorer for Baylor (15-4) with 17 points.
(23) Boston College 75, (24) N.C. State 66: At Raleigh, N.C., Aja Parham scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Eagles (15-6, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) past the Wolfpack (13-7, 3-4).
NAU in BracketBusters
Northern Arizona, the hottest team in Division I men’s basketball, has earned one of the coveted 26 spots in BracketBusters presented by eBay.
The Lumberjacks, with a Division I best nine-game winning streak, travel to Bowling Green, Ky., to face Western Kentucky on Feb. 17 or 18 in a game to be featured on one of the ESPN networks.
Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington were also among the 100 teams in the bracket buster pool. Those three teams were not selected for a television game. Their opponent for a game that resulted as being a part of the pool will be announcded today, as will the particulars of the NAU game.