COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : No. 6 Syracuse Wins Big East Title, 77-63

Billy Owens scored 24 points and sixth-ranked Syracuse clinched its first outright Big East Conference title by downing Villanova, 77-63, Tuesday night at Philadelphia.

Syracuse (25-4 overall and 11-4 in the conference) has shared the Big East title on four occasions. The Orangemen pulled away with a 10-1 surge at the end of the half for a 36-22 lead.

Owens had 13 points in the first half, making six of seven shots.

Villanova scored the first seven points of the second half to get to within 36-29, but Syracuse boosted the lead to 43-31 on a basket by Adrian Autry and a three-point shot and another basket by Michael Edwards.

Autry scored 15 points, Edwards had 14 and Dave Johnson scored 13 for Syracuse.

Arron Bain had 15 points for Villanova (14-12, 7-8).

No. 3 Arkansas 106, Baylor 74--Ron Huery and Todd Day had 19 points each as the Razorbacks routed the Bears at Fayetteville, Ark., to tie a Southwest Conference record with their third consecutive title.

The Razorbacks (28-2, 15-0), moving next season to the Southeastern Conference, tied the record for three SWC in a row set by Southern Methodist in 1955-57.

David Wesley scored 19 points for Baylor (12-13, 4-11).

No. 10 Kansas 88, Iowa State 57--Mark Randall scored 26 points and the Jayhawks routed the Cyclones at Lawrence, Kan., to move into the Big Eight Conference lead by one-half game over idle Oklahoma State.

The Jayhawks (21-5, 10-3) close out the regular season Sunday at Nebraska. Oklahoma State (20-5, 9-3) is at home tonight against Nebraska and finishes Saturday at Iowa State (11-18, 5-8), which lost its ninth consecutive game at Kansas.

Randall had a tiebreaking three-point play to ignite a 13-3 run that carried Kansas, 15-0 at home this season, to a 35-23 halftime lead.

No. 13 Kentucky 79, No. 24 Alabama 73--Richie Farmer scored 16 points and the Wildcats got past the Crimson Tide in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky joined North Carolina as the only two colleges teams with 1,500 victories.

Alabama (17-9, 11-6), which has lost three of four games, rallied to within 75-71 at 1:14 on consecutive baskets by Marcus Webb and James Robinson.

But Kentucky (21-6, 13-4) was on the way to its 20th consecutive victory in Rupp Arena when Farmer made a free throw and John Pelphrey added a layup with 24 seconds left.

Florida State 85, No. 14 Southern Mississippi 83--Michael Polite had 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Seminoles wiped out a 16-point deficit to upset the Eagles at Tallahassee, Fla.

Florida State (16-10, 8-5) built an 84-77 lead with 53 seconds left on two free throws by Douglas Edwards, but Southern Mississippi (20-5, 10-3) pulled to within 84-83 when Russell Johnson hit three-point shots 19 seconds apart.

Polite made a free throw with 15 seconds left and Johnson missed a three-pointer as time expired.

No. 21 Princeton 63, Penn 56--Kit Mueller had 16 points and Sean Jackson made three three-point shots to spark a 14-4 surge at the start of the second half that powered the Ivy League champion Tigers at Princeton, N.J., for their 13th consecutive victory.

The victory was the 26th in a row at Jadwin Gymnasium for Princeton (21-2, 12-0), which had a 29-23 lead at halftime before Jackson hit consecutive three-pointers to start the second half.

Paul McMahon scored 20 points for Penn (7-17, 4-8).

No. 22 Pittsburgh 88, Boston College 76--Sean Miller scored 21 points and Jason Matthews added 18, combining for nine three-pointers, as the Panthers defeated the Eagles in a Big East game at Newton, Mass.

Miller made two of his five three-pointers during a 23-11 second-half surge by the Panthers (20-9, 9-6). Matthews scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half.

Bill Curley scored 24 points for Boston College (11-17, 1-14).