College Basketball Roundup : Georgetown Stifles Syracuse, 61-54

Charles Smith knows what it takes to please his coach.

Smith scored 16 points, but it was his defense on Syracuse’s Sherman Douglas that led fourth-ranked Georgetown to a 61-54 victory over the sixth-ranked Orangemen Monday night in a Big East Conference game at Landover, Md.

“I thought the key was that Smitty did a great job on Douglas,” Coach John Thompson said. “Smitty got his scholarship on defense. He knows how he got here.”

Smith scored five points in a 13-3 run to start the second half and give the Hoyas the lead for good.

Douglas, the Big East career assist leader, didn’t have one in the second half after dishing out six in the opening 20 minutes. Douglas, averaging 18.4 points per game, scored only 13 before fouling out.

“You can come to the game without a jump shot,” Smith said, “but you can’t show up without defense.”

Syracuse had a 30-28 halftime lead, but Smith helped Georgetown take a 41-33 lead with 13:36 left.

Syracuse, which made only two baskets in the first 9 minutes of the second half, cut the lead to 53-49 on a layup by Douglas, but Smith made a 17-foot jumper and added a breakaway layup to make it 58-50 with 1:21 left.

Georgetown improved to 19-3 overall and 9-2 in the Big East. Syracuse is 21-5, 7-5.

Iowa 83, Ohio State 75--Roy Marble scored 24 points and B.J. Armstrong added 20 points, including six straight free throws in the closing seconds, to help the No. 15 Hawkeyes hold off the No. 16 Buckeyes in a Big Ten game at Iowa City, Iowa.

Ohio State was within 55-53 when Iowa went on an 8-2 run to make it 63-55 with 9:43 left.

The Buckeyes came within 76-73 on Jerry Francis’ layup with 47 seconds left before Armstrong sank his free throws.

Jay Burson scored 25 points for Ohio State, which fell to 17-7, 6-5. Iowa is 18-6, 6-5.

West Virginia 80, St. Bonaventure 72--Darryl Prue scored 21 points as the No. 14 Mountaineers got past the Bonnies at Olean, N.Y., extending the nation’s longest college winning streak to 19 games.

The Bonnies were trailing, 56-43, but scored 10 consecutive points to get back into the game. The Mountaineers regained control with a 16-7 burst as they raised their record to 20-2 overall and 13-0 in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies fell to 13-10, 7-7.

La Salle 101, Holy Cross 82--Lionel Simmons had 27 points and 16 rebounds as the Explorers defeated the Crusaders in a Metro Atlantic Conference game at Philadelphia.

Jack Hurd added 24 points for La Salle (21-4, 12-1). Grant Evans had 21 points for Holy Cross (11-13, 5-7).