Providence Gets Gift From Purdue

The Purdue basketball team learned Sunday that the spirit of giving is a costly one on the court.

The ninth-ranked Boilermakers committed a season-high 27 turnovers and paid the price with their second loss of the season, an 87-82 setback to unranked Providence College at Providence, R.I.

The loss snapped an eight-game Purdue win streak and dropped the Boilermakers to 12-2.

“The keys to the game were [Providence’s] quickness, toughness and getting after loose balls,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said. “They had 94 possessions. We had 76. You can’t win doing that, even though we did out-rebound them.”

For all its trouble holding on to the ball, Purdue still had a chance to tie the game or win it in the final minute after trailing by eight points with 5:30 to go.

With Purdue down, 85-82, Jaraan Cornell had three chances to tie the score in the final 22 seconds, but the junior guard missed three three-point shots.

Senior forward Jamel Thomas led Providence (7-4) with 22 points. McQuay, a junior center, led Purdue with a season-high 23 points, including nine for 11 from the field.

No. 4 Cincinnati 53, Dayton 51--Kenyon Martin forced an altered shot and blocked another in the final four seconds as the Bearcats held off the Flyers in the second game of the Rock-n-Roll Shootout at Cleveland.

Martin forced Tony Stanley to shoot long with four seconds remaining and then rejected Stanley in the final second as the Bearcats (11-0) defeated the Flyers (4-5) for the ninth time in a row.

Martin had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Bearcats, who are off to the fourth best start in school history.

No. 5 Maryland 104, South Carolina State 70--Laron Profit scored 25 points and Maryland extended the nation’s longest nonconference home winning streak to 64 games at College Park, Md.

Steve Francis had 21 points and five assists for the Terrapins, who began the season 13-1 for the fourth time in school history.

No. 10 Indiana 102, Drake 46--The Hoosiers set a school record for largest victory margin, routing the Bulldogs in the first round of the Hoosier Classic at Indianapolis.

The Hoosiers (12-2), led by Luke Recker’s 21 points, broke the previous high of 53, last accomplished in 1976.

No. 20 Wisconsin 87, Fresno State 65--Sean Mason scored 22 points as the Badgers stretched their winning streak to 10 games with a victory over the Bulldogs at Madison, Wis.

The Badgers (12-1) are off to their best start in 69 years, matching the 12-1 start they had in 1929-30. Their 10-game winning streak is their longest since the 1993-94 team won 11 straight.

No. 22 Syracuse 71, St. Bonaventure 55--After a 15-day layoff, the Orangemen overcame their offensive rustiness with hounding defense and accurate free-throw shooting to wear down the Bonnies at Syracuse, N.Y.

The Bonnies (4-6) misfired on 34 of 54 shots against the Orangemen, who combined for 14 steals and seven blocked shots despite shooting only 42 percent themselves.

WOMEN

No. 1 Connecticut 117, Quinnipiac 20--The Huskies celebrated their fifth week as the nation’s No. 1 women’s basketball team by setting a school record with a 97-point victory at Storrs, Conn.

The 20 points scored by Quinnipiac, in its first year as a Division I program, was also a Connecticut record. The previous mark for fewest points scored against the Huskies (9-0) was 22 in a 74-22 victory over Loyola of Maryland on Jan. 6, 1995.

No. 9 Colorado State 80, Arizona 70--Katie Cronin scored 24 points and Becky Hammon added 23 as the Rams overcame a 12-point deficit to defeat the Wildcats at Fort Collins, Colo.