Penn Mightier Than Indiana in Ohio State Win

Scoonie Penn scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, including Ohio State’s final eight points, to lead the 11th-ranked Buckeyes to a 69-67 victory over No. 19 Indiana on Wednesday night at Bloomington, Ind.

“It was one of those situations where the coach kind of looked at me again, like, ‘Go ahead and see what happens,’ I knew I had to step up my game a little bit,” said Penn, a junior guard who finished off the Buckeyes’ fifth consecutive victory, and fourth in a row on the road, by making three free throws in the final minute.

On Saturday, Penn tied his career high with 27 points, 24 in the second half, in a 73-69 comeback victory over No. 20 Iowa at Iowa City.

“The second half is where I feel I can step up my game a little bit,” he said. “The first half, other guys were involved. But when it gets close, when the game’s tight, I feel I can step my game up a little more, especially on the offensive end.”

The victory by Ohio State, 20-6 overall and 10-3 in the Big Ten, completed a two-game season sweep of the Hoosiers (19-9, 6-7) for the first time since 1991.

“Whenever you . . . win a game on the road in this league, you have to be exceptionally happy,” Buckeye Coach Jim O’Brien said. “For Ohio State to come in here and win a game, with the tradition and history involved, it’s almost monumental.

“This is the third time ever that Ohio State has won here [in Assembly Hall], so that doesn’t happen too often, and it’s a great credit to the kids on our team.”

No. 1 Duke 85, Florida State 59--Elton Brand had 23 points and 16 rebounds at Tallahassee, Fla., to lead the Blue Devils to their 21st consecutive victory as Duke clinched its sixth Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title in the 1990s.

Duke (26-1, 14-0) started the game with a 25-8 run and led, 50-31, at halftime. The Blue Devils were up, 61-33, five minutes into the second half as they extended their road winning streak to 11 games.

Brand had a double-double by halftime, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds despite sitting out five minutes.

Shane Battier added 16 points for Duke.

Florida State (12-13, 5-8) has lost six consecutive conference games dating to a 71-59 victory over North Carolina State on Jan. 23.

No. 3 Auburn 81, Vanderbilt 63--Chris Porter had 19 points and 11 rebounds and the Tigers (25-1, 13-1) clinched at least a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title at Auburn, Ala.

The Tigers, who hadn’t won the SEC championship since the 1959-60 season, need to win only one of their two remaining games to claim the title outright.

After the game, the sellout crowd--which included Auburn graduate Bo Jackson and Gov. Don Siegelman--stormed the court as the Tigers put on SEC Championship T-shirts. The players then cut down the nets.

“It was like a Hollywood gala affair, all the stars were out,” an emotional Coach Cliff Ellis said. “To have the governor in town, Bo Jackson in from Chicago . . . tonight will go down as perhaps the biggest night of basketball at Auburn.”

Vanderbilt (12-13, 3-10) opened the second half with a three-point basket by Dan Langhi to make the score 32-27, but the Commodores never got closer.

No. 6 Kentucky 92, Georgia 71--With a 49-24 rebounding edge and seven players scoring in double figures, the Wildcats (21-6, 10-3) romped over the Bulldogs (14-11, 5-8) in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

“March is when everything counts,” Kentucky forward Scott Padgett said. “We just learn to turn it up another level. If we focus on one task at a time, I think the sky’s the limit.”

No. 9 Cincinnati 82, North Carolina Charlotte 69-- Pete Mickeal scored 23 points as the Bearcats (22-4, 9-4) ended their three-game winning streak with a Conference USA victory over the 49ers (15-10, 7-6) at Cincinnati.

“That’s the Bearcats of the past,” said Mickeal, who also had 15 rebounds. “That’s Cincinnati defense--intimidating defense. That’s the way we used to play, like we did today. We gave a great effort.”

No. 14 North Carolina 62, North Carolina State 53-- Kris Lang scored 12 points in the second half to help the Tar Heels (20-7, 8-5) hold off the Wolfpack (15-11, 5-9) in an ACC game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Tar Heels extended their NCAA-record string of 20-victory seasons to 29 as freshmen Lang and Jason Capel scored 15 points each.

No. 21 Syracuse 71, Notre Dame 65--Etan Thomas had 22 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shots to lead the Orangemen (18-8, 9-7) over the Irish (12-14, 6-9) at Syracuse, N.Y.

Toledo 66, No. 25 Miami of Ohio 63--Justin Hall scored 17 points and the Rockets used a smothering defense to frustrate Wally Szczerbiak, the nation’s fifth-leading scorer, at Toledo, Ohio.

Hall scored 13 points in the first half for Toledo (18-6, 10-6), which never trailed after the first five minutes of the Mid American Conference victory over the Redhawks (19-5, 14-2), which climbed back into the poll this week after a two-week run in November, their first appearance in 21 years.