COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Iowa Defeats No. 11 Illinois, 69-67

Les Jepsen scored 18 points, including the winning layup with two seconds to play, as Iowa defeated No. 11 Illinois, 69-67, Monday night at Iowa City, Iowa.

Iowa, which had lost seven of its past eight games, improved to 10-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten Conference. Illinois, which has dropped 21 of its past 24 games at Iowa City, fell to 15-4 and 5-4.

Marcus Liberty scored eight consecutive points as the Illini opened a 56-52 edge with 7:45 left. James Moses’ basket brought Iowa within 58-56, but a basket by Irvin Small and a three-point shot by Steve Bardo helped increase Illinois’ lead to 65-58 with 3:21 remaining.

Liberty scored the final Illinois basket with 1:44 left and Iowa chipped away at the lead. Four consecutive points by James Moses pulled the Hawkeyes within 67-64 with 1:32 left.

Wade Lookingbill made a three-point shot that tied the game with 35 seconds to go. Illinois missed three shots before Iowa grabbed a loose ball and called timeout to set up the winning play. Lookingbill sealed the victory by intercepting an inbounds pass with 1.5 seconds left.

Lookingbill, Matt Bullard and Acie Earl each finished with 11 points. Liberty led the Illini with 20 points.

No. 7 Syracuse 70, No. 18 St. John’s 65--Billy Owens and Stephen Thompson each scored 22 points to lead the Orangemen in a Big East Conference game at New York.

Syracuse (15-3, 6-3) never trailed in the game.

Jayson Williams scored on a drive with 1:26 left to get the Redmen (17-5, 6-3) within 67-63, but the Orangemen made three of seven free throws.

No. 10 Louisville 105, Southern Mississippi 88--Jerome Harmon scored 20 points and Tony Kimbro had a season-high 17 points to lead the 10th-ranked Cardinals in a Metro Conference game at Louisville, Ky.

Louisville (15-3, 5-1) shot 55% from the field and forced Southern Mississippi (11-7, 2-3) into a season-high 30 turnovers.

Maryland 89, Virginia Tech 80--Tony Massenburg scored 25 points and Teyon McCoy 21 to lead the Terrapins (13-7) in a nonconference game at College Park, Md.

DePaul 76, Miami 48--Stephen Howard scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Blue Demons (12-9) in a nonconference game at Rosemont, Ill.