COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Technical Helps Inspire Louisville to Victory

Louisville Coach Denny Crum wasn’t happy after being whistled for a technical foul late in the first half of a tight Metro Conference game against Florida State, but he was all smiles afterward.

The technical woke up both his team and the 19,355 fans in Louisville’s Freedom Hall and sparked a 14-2 run that carried the 15th-ranked Cardinals to a 69-50 victory Tuesday night.

“It certainly wasn’t intentional,” Crum said of the call. “As it turned out, I’m glad I got it.”

Sophomore forward Cornelius Holden, who scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, said: “I think it did pump everybody up.”

The score was tied 23-23 with 5:01 left in the first half when Crum was assessed a technical for arguing an official’s call. But Florida State made only one of four free throws and turned the ball over on its next possession.

Louisville (17-4, 7-1) scored five of the next six points to take a 28-25 halftime lead and nine of the first 10 points in the second half to go up 37-26.

Florida State (13-11, 4-5) went 11:44 without a field goal, missing nine shots, and turned the ball over six times.

No. 8 Connecticut 74, Fairfield 39--The Huskies pulled away after a close first half at Storrs, Conn., and breezed to their 10th consecutive victory.

Connecticut (20-3) led only 28-23 at halftime, but held the Stags (7-12) to 16 second-half points, five of them in the first 11 minutes. Connecticut outscored Fairfield 26-4 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

No. 21 Xavier (Ohio) 70, Loyola (Ill.) 53--With leading scorer Tyrone Hill suddenly taken ill, Jamal Walker scored a career-high 28 points as the Musketeers beat the Ramblers at Rosemont, Ill.

Hill, who also is Xavier’s top rebounder, became ill before the game and did not play. He returned after being examined and dressed for the second half, but Coach Pete Gillen kept him out.

The victory kept Xavier (18-2, 7-1) on top of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. Loyola is 5-15, 2-7.

No. 24 St. John’s 89, Rutgers 77--Malik Sealy scored 25 points and the Redmen used a 17-2 second-half run to overtake the Scarlet Knights in a nonconference game at New York.

St. John’s snapped a three-game losing streak. The three losses were in Big East Conference games to ranked teams--Connecticut, Syracuse and Georgetown.

The Redmen (18-6) were playing their first game since starting forward Jayson Williams, the second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, broke a bone in his right foot.

The loss was the first in the past four games for Rutgers (11-11) of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Villanova 66, Boston College 65--Chris Walker’s 16-foot jump shot broke a 63-63 tie with 56 seconds remaining and lifted the Wildcats to a Big East victory at Newton, Mass.

Georgia 70, Florida 65--Rod Cole scored seven of his 10 points in the final 3:30 as the Bulldogs (14-6, 7-4) overcame a seven-point deficit and handed the Gators (6-12, 2-9) their seventh loss in a row in this Southeastern Conference game at Athens, Ga.