No. 7 Xavier Can’t Live Up to Status, 80-72

For the final 42 seconds, Wally Szczerbiak had to stand and watch. When the buzzer sounded, he was back in the middle of things, just as he’d been all night.

Szczerbiak scored 29 points and Miami of Ohio withstood a late rally by seventh-ranked Xavier, holding on for an 80-72 victory Tuesday night at Oxford, Ohio. It was Miami’s first victory over a top-10 team in 24 years.

“I wanted this one so bad,” said Szczerbiak, who fouled out with 42 seconds left and Miami clinging to a six-point lead. “So did everybody on our team. It was tough being on the sidelines for the last 42 seconds.”

It was a wrenching loss for Xavier (5-1), which came into the game ranked No. 7 for only the second time in school history and had received a first-place vote for the first time.

Miami (5-1) came out and took control behind Szczerbiak, who missed only two of nine shots in the first half as the RedHawks pulled ahead by 16 points.

Northern Iowa 84, No. 10 Iowa 78--Chris Burdine scored 17 points and Northern Iowa used a pesky man-to-man defense to upset Iowa (6-1) at Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Darian DeVries finished with 13 points and TyJuan Finley 11 for Northern Iowa (4-1), which had lost seven in a row and nine of 11 to Iowa.

Ryan Bowen scored 17 points, Ricky Davis 16 and Darryl Moore 12 for Iowa, which had been averaging 95 points a game.

No. 14 New Mexico 62, New Mexico State 59--Royce Olney’s four-point play broke the final tie of the game and his two free throws with 13 seconds left secured the victory for New Mexico (6-1) at Las Cruces, N.M.

Olney’s scored all nine of his points in the final 3:18. He made consecutive three-point shots, and was fouled on the second one with 61 seconds remaining. The ensuing free throw gave the Lobos a 60-56 lead.

Denmark Reid of New Mexico State (3-3) then missed a three-point attempt and New Mexico ran the clock down to 13 seconds before Reid could foul Olney, whose two free throws made the score 62-56.

No. 15 Arkansas 100, Louisville 83--Kareem Reid made a three-point basket and scored two baskets off midcourt steals during an early run that sparked Arkansas (7-0) at Louisville, Ky.

Arkansas (7-0) is off to its best start since the school’s 1994 national champions opened with 10 consecutive victories. Louisville (2-4) lost its fourth in a row.

Reid finished with a career-high 25 points and nine assists while Pat Bradley made six three-point baskets in scoring 20 points.

No. 20 Temple 76, No. 18 Fresno State 61--Temple opened its new arena at Philadelphia in a game in which the outcome was known within a few minutes of the pregame ceremonies.

A 30-7 run by Temple (5-1) had the lead to 45-18 with 1:43 left in the first half and Fresno State (3-2) never recovered.

No. 22 Princeton 64, Bucknell 52--Brian Earl scored 19 points as Princeton rallied in the second half at Lewisburg, Pa.

Bucknell (3-6) led by seven points in the opening minutes of the second half before Princeton (7-0) used a 22-7 run to pull away.

No. 23 Georgia 84, Colorado 73--G.G. Smith made two layups to trigger a Georgia (6-2) rally in the final two minutes at Boulder, Colo.

Smith had 17 of his 20 points in the second half, including six as the Bulldogs scored the final 13 points of the game. That flurry erased a 73-71 Colorado (4-3) lead.

OTHER GAMES

Cuttino Mobley scored 16 points and forward Antonio Reynolds-Dean pulled down 11 rebounds as Rhode Island (4-1) pulled away from Providence (2-3) late in the second half to post a 69-58 victory at Providence. . . . Deon Luton scored 18 points to lead Washington (5-1) to an 83-68 victory over Brigham Young (1-6) at Provo, Utah. . . . Freshman guard Treva Crosby made two free throws with 10 seconds left to lift Houston (7-0) to a 54-51 victory over California (0-4) at Houston. . . . Sean Mason scored 19 points and Hennessy Auriantal 16 to lead Wisconsin (4-4) to a 73-68 overtime victory over Toledo (3-3) at Madison, Wis. . . . Andre Patterson came off the bench to score 16 points and lead a balanced attack that had four players in double figures as Indiana (4-3) picked up an 85-73 victory over Evansville (5-3) at Bloomington, Ind. . . . C.J. Black scored 15 points as Tennessee (8-0) used a late run for a 74-54 victory over St. Joseph’s (2-2) at Knoxville, Tenn.