COLLEGE BASKETBALL REGIONAL ROUNDUP : Villanova Upsets No. 12 Syracuse

Syracuse enjoys a huge home-court advantage in the Carrier Dome against all opponents except Villanova.

That fact was demonstrated again Saturday night when the Wildcats used a 16-2 run during the second half to pull away from No. 12 Syracuse for a 79-61 Big East Conference victory.

It was the fourth consecutive victory in the Carrier Dome for Villanova (5-2, 0-1)) and the Wildcats’ eighth in the last 12 meetings with Syracuse.

“I don’t know what it is about this building. I guess we like to play in front of a lot of people,” said Villanova senior Lance Miller, who had 10 points and eight assists and was one of five Wildcats in double figures.

Syracuse (8-2, 0-2) missed 23 of 33 shots during the second half.

EAST

Kent Culuko scored seven points during a 12-0 second-half run that led James Madison (7-3) to a 73-61 victory over Rutgers (5-5) at Piscataway, N.J. . . . Bill Curley scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds as Boston College (7-2) cruised to an 84-63 victory over Holy Cross (5-3) at Worcester, Mass.

Chris McNeal scored 18 of his 23 points during the second half as Pittsburgh (8-1) built a 17-point lead, then held off a late run by Providence (6-2) for a 91-85 Big East Conference victory at Pittsburgh.

MIDWEST

Wichita State (4-3) broke away in the final three minutes for a 73-69 victory over Indiana State (4-5) in a Missouri Valley Conference opener at Terre Haute, Ind. . . . Reserve Ryan Wolf made up for the absence of injured starters Arriel McDonald and Voshon Lenard by leading Minnesota (8-1) to a 74-59 victory over Alabama Birmingham (10-4) at Minneapolis.

Ashraf Amaya scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds as Southern Illinois (8-1) opened defense of its regular-season Missouri Valley title with an 85-64 victory over Creighton (1-6) at Carbondale, Ill. . . . Lawrence Funderburke of Ohio State (7-2) had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists during a 79-55 rout over Illinois-Chicago (4-6) at Columbus, Ohio. . . . Michael Finley scored 20 points for Wisconsin (7-2) during a 77-67 victory over Marquette (7-2) at Milwaukee.

SOUTH

Evers Burns made all eight of his shots and scored 21 points as Maryland (8-1), off to its best start since 1984, built a 23-point halftime lead en route to a 109-69 victory over Howard (2-7) at College Park, Md. . . . Winthrop (4-3) led, 36-33, at halftime before Virginia (7-0) went on a 19-2 run in the second half en route to a 92-68 victory at Charlottesville, Va.

Wake Forest (7-1) blew a 15-point lead, but came back at Winston-Salem, N.C., to hand Mount St. Mary’s (1-6) its 23rd consecutive road loss. . . . Gary Robb scored 18 points to lead Tennessee Chattanooga (7-4) to a 75-55 victory over Bradley at (3-4) Chattanooga.

James Brewer made a school-record eight three-point shots as Louisville (3-4) defeated Oral Roberts (3-6), 122-76, at Louisville, Ky. . . . Louisiana State (9-2) overcame a 12-point deficit for a 94-86 victory over Drake (4-2) at Baton Rouge, La.

North Carolina State (3-4) made 10 of 26 three-point shots during an 88-66 victory over Iona (5-4) at Raleigh, N.C.

WEST

Lester Neal made a short jump shot with nine seconds to play as Arizona State (6-1) held off Alaska Anchorage (8-5) for an 80-79 victory at Tempe, Ariz. . . . Oregon State (4-5) set a school record for largest margin of victory in a 97-39 victory over Division III UC San Diego (5-6) at Corvallis, Ore.

Patrick Teagues tipped in a missed shot just before the buzzer to give Fresno State (6-4) a 68-66 victory over Wyoming (6-3) in a Western Athletic Conference opener at Fresno. . . . Utah (8-2) took a 20-3 first-half lead en route to a 78-45 victory over New Mexico (7-2) in a WAC opener at Salt Lake City.

Ray Kelly’s 10-foot jump shot with two seconds left lifted UC Santa Barbara (7-1, 1-0) to a 67-66 Big West Conference victory at Pacific (4-5, 0-1). . . . Utah State (4-4, 1-0) defeated Nevada (5-3, 0-1), 84-61, handing the Wolf Pack only its second loss at Reno in two years, in a Big West game.

San Diego (4-6) went on a 19-5 run to open the second half and defeated visiting St. Peter’s (5-4), 65-57. . . . Stanford (5-6) held visiting Santa Clara (5-6) to only nine baskets in a 65-35 nonconference victory. . . . Mike VandeGarde scored 17 points and was one of four Illinois State (3-5) players to score more than 10 points during a 64-44 nonconference victory over St. Mary’s (3-6) at Moraga. . . . San Francisco (8-4) led by as many as 17 in a 70-62 victory over visiting Texas Christian (2-7).