College basketball: Gonzaga beats Saint Mary’s, 74-64; Kansas, Louisville avoid upsets

Przemek Karnowski scored 19 points and No. 1 Gonzaga survived its toughest remaining obstacle to an undefeated regular season by beating No. 20 Saint Mary’s, 74-64, on Saturday night in Moraga, Calif.

Johnathan Williams added 17 points and Nigel Williams-Goss had 14 to help the Bulldogs (26-0, 14-0) sweep the season series and win for the 11th time in the past 13 meetings against their fiercest conference rival.

The trip to Saint Mary’s (22-3, 12-2) was viewed as the last true test for Gonzaga before the postseason begins. The Bulldogs were seeded fourth overall in preliminary rankings for the NCAA tournament released earlier Saturday and can ill afford a slip-up if they want to be assured of being a top seed in a region next month.

Jock Landale scored 24 points despite being limited by foul trouble to lead the way for the Gaels, who couldn’t get enough perimeter help for their big man to stay with the Bulldogs. Saint Mary’s made just 4 of 15 three-point attempts.

No. 2 Villanova 73, No. 24 Xavier 57: Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo scored 17 points apiece and the Wildcats (24-2, 11-2) won a matchup of the Big East’s top two teams at the Cintas Center, where the Wildcats suffered one of their five losses last season on the way to a national championship.

It was a costly game for Xavier (18-7, 8-4), which already is missing point guard Edmond Sumner to a torn ACL. Trevon Bluiett, who is second to Villanova’s Josh Hart for the Big East lead in scoring, appeared to aggravate his sprained right ankle midway through the first half and had to be helped off the court. RaShid Gaston led the Musketeers with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

No. 3 Kansas 80, at Texas Tech 79: Josh Jackson had 31 points and 11 rebounds and made a free throw with 2.8 seconds left to lift the Jayhawks. After Kansas inbounded the ball with 5.4 seconds left, Jackson was fouled and missed the first free throw before making the game-winner. Landen Lucas scored 13 points and Frank Mason III had 12 for Kansas (22-3, 10-2 Big 12).

Keenan Evans finished with 25 points and Niem Stevenson had a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for Texas Tech (16-9, 4-8). Zach Smith finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. On Texas Tech’s inbound with one second left, the Red Raiders managed an off-balance shot from Evans that fell short.

at No. 4 Louisville 71, Miami 66: Quentin Snider returned from an injury to score 13 points, including a big three-pointer with 41 seconds left, and Deng Adel and Donovan Mitchell added 18 points each as the Cardinals had to fight back from a 14-point first-half deficit. Louisville (20-5, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) finally drew even on Mitchell’s three-pointer with 6:12 left, part of a 13-0 run for a 61-53 lead. Louisville’s surge included Adel’s four-point play.

Miami rallied to tie it at 61 with 1:56 left before Snider made two free throws and then the long three from the left side of the arc as he returned from a six-game absence because of a hip injury. Mitchell followed with three free throws before Jaylen Johnson made two with 5 seconds left to seal the hard-fought victory. Ja’Quan Newton had 15 points for the Hurricanes (16-8, 6-6), who had won four of five coming in.

Kansas guard Josh Jackson tries to score against Texas Tech’s Justin Gray (5) and Anthony Livingston during the first half Saturday.

(John Weast / Getty Images)

at No. 6 Baylor 70, Texas Christian 52: Johnathan Motley had 25 points on 12-of-15 shooting and the Bears (22-3, 9-3 Big 12) never trailed in winning their 11th consecutive game in the series since the former Southwest Conference rivals were reunited in the Big 12 when TCU moved into the power league four years ago.

Manu Lecomte added 17 points for the Bears, and King McClure scored all 13 of his before halftime. McClure had back-to-back three-pointers for Baylor to make it 15-6 during a first-half stretch when TCU (17-8, 6-6) went more than seven minutes without a field goal. The Bears led 32-17 at halftime.

at No. 13 West Virginia 85, Kansas State 66: Jevon Carter had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead Mountaineers West Virginia (20-5, 8-4 Big 12), who struggled at the start by making only two of eight shots from the field. West Virginia went on a 12-1 run to take the lead before the Wildcats rallied to tie the score at 34 by halftime.

After a three-pointer by Xavier Sneed early in the second half, Kansas State (16-9, 5-7) went on a cold snap that lasted more than six minutes. West Virginia capitalized and held a 13-point lead midway through the second half.

at Notre Dame 82, No. 14 Florida State 74: Bonzie Colson scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Irish avenge a January loss to the Seminoles and remain in the hunt for the top-four finish in the ACC and a double-bye in the league’s postseason tournament.

Matt Farrell added 15 points and nine assists for Notre Dame (19-7, 8-5 ACC) and Steve Vasturia chipped in with 15 points and seven boards. Coming off a dominant three-game winning streak during which they won by an average of 33 points, the Seminoles (21-5, 9-4) found themselves by down 11 points in the first half and had no answer in the second half for Colson, who scored 20 after the break.

No. 15 Kentucky 67, at Alabama 58: Isaiah Briscoe had 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to help the Wildcats (20-5, 10-2 Southeastern Conference), fresh from a shootout win over LSU, find a way to win at a much different tempo after dropping three of their last five games.

Malik Monk added 17 points against the Crimson Tide (14-10, 7-5), which was coming off a quadruple-overtime road upset of No. 19 South Carolina.

at No. 17 Florida 71, Texas A&M 62: Justin Leon scored 18 points, Canyon Barry added 12 and the Gators overcame a lackluster start to pull out the win. John Egbunu notched his first double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds for Florida (20-5, 10-2 Southeastern Conference), which won its sixth consecutive game.

The Aggies (13-11, 5-7) led 42-41 midway through the second half and looked like they might get their first win in five tries against a ranked team this season. But Florida used a 24-10 run to take the lead and pull away. It started and ended with three-pointers by Leon, who finished one point shy of tying his career high.

at No. 18 Duke 64, Clemson 62: Luke Kennard scored 25 points and the Blue Devils (20-5, 8-4 ACC), playing less than 48 hours after an emotion-draining victory over No. 8 North Carolina on Thursday night, tneeded a stop at the buzzer after blowing a 14-point lead to seal their fifth consecutive victory.

Shelton Mitchell had a career-high 23 points and Elijah Thomas finished with 15 for the Tigers (13-11, 3-9), who have lost three straight and haven’t won at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995.

No. 19 South Carolina 77, at Mississippi State 73: Sindarius Thornwell scored 28 points, Chris Silva added 15 and South Carolina made a late surge. The Gamecocks (20-5, 9-3 Southeastern Conference) bounced back from a 90-86 four-overtime loss to Alabama on Tuesday. This game was close and hard-fought, too: Mississippi State led 64-63 with 5:17 remaining, but the Gamecocks scored the next nine points to pull away for the road win. Tyson Carter had a career-high 22 points for Mississippi State (14-10, 5-7).

at No. 21 Maryland 86, Ohio State 77: Anthony Cowan scored 19 points and fellow freshman Kevin Huerter added 18 as the Terrapins ended their first losing streak of the season.

Jaylen Brantley scored 11 points for the Terrapins, who bolted to a 9-0 lead and never trailed in completing a season sweep of the Buckeyes. The victory enabled Maryland (21-4, 9-3 Big Ten) to avoid its first three-game skid since 2012. Marc Loving led the Buckeyes (15-11, 5-8) with 24 points and Jae-Sean Tate had 20.

at Providence 71, No. 22 Butler 65: Alpha Diallo scored 15 points and Kyron Cartwright had 14 for the Friars (15-11, 5-8 Big East), who trailed for most of the game before Cartwright scored six consecutive points midway through the second half.

Nate Fowler scored a career-high 19 points and Kamar Baldwin had 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who have lost three of their last four games. Fowler made his first seven shots to make up for poor shooting by the rest of the Bulldogs (19-6, 8-5).

No. 23 Creighton 93, at DePaul 58: Toby Hegner set a season high with 14 points and matched one with four three-pointers, Marcus Foster scored 13 points and the balanced Bluejays (21-4, 8-4 Big East) shot a season-high 60.7% and nailed 13 of 22 three-pointers against the last-place Blue Demons (8-17, 1-11).

Creighton took control late in the first half and outscored DePaul, 54-32, in the second to come away with the win after dropping three of five.