Tennessee, Slay Take It to Syracuse

Ron Slay made it look easy.

Slay, usually the first man off the Tennessee bench, scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Friday as the No. 4 Volunteers rebounded from their first loss of the season and defeated No. 12 Syracuse, 83-70, at Syracuse, N.Y..

“The offense was clicking. I had a lot of open shots and I made them,” said Slay, who was nine for 15 from the floor. “They started worrying about us shooting the ball and we found the soft spot in their zone.”

The Vols (10-1) quickly put Syracuse’s (9-1) trio of centers--Billy Celuck, Jeremy McNeil and Ethan Cole--in foul trouble. Celuck, McNeil and forward Damone Brown each had three, and Cole two in the first half.

Celuck, the 7-foot starter, fouled out with 9:40 to go and McNeil and Brown exited later.

“Their inside game was a little too much for our big guys,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “We got beat up pretty good inside on the boards. Our big guy [Celuck] got in foul trouble, got timid and allowed Slay to get inside to do what he wanted to do.”

That helped the Vols outrebound Syracuse 52-26 and win easily, despite 26 turnovers and 16 steals by the Orangemen.

DeShaun Williams had 20 points for Syracuse before also fouling out late in the game, while Brown had 13 and Preston Shumpert matched his season low with 14.

No. 8 Seton Hall 97, Wagner 82--Freshman Eddie Griffin matched his season-high with 26 points and added 17 rebounds, four blocks and four assists for the Pirates (7-2) at East Rutherford, N.J.

Samuel Dalembert added 16 points for Seton Hall. Darius Lane and Ty Shine each had 13.

Jermaine Hall had 24 for Wagner (4-5), which scored the first three points before Seton Hall went on an 18-point run.

No. 11 Connecticut 100, Fairfield 66--Albert Mouring scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half at Hartford to lead the Huskies (9-1) to their ninth consecutive victory.

Edmund Saunders and Caron Butler each scored 16 points. Butler also had 10 assists and seven rebounds for Connecticut. Nick Delfico scored 16 points for Fairfield (3-6).

No. 22 Cincinnati 77, No. 17 Alabama 74--Kenny Satterfield had 23 points and the Bearcats (8-2) scored the first eight points of overtime in the championship game of the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic at Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Cincinnati handed the Crimson Tide (9-1) its first loss of the season despite blowing a 13-point lead over the final four minutes of regulation.

Satterfield, the tournament MVP, had six points in overtime. Leonard Stokes scored 14 points and Steve Logan added 13 for Cincinnati. Sophomore Rod Gizzard scored 23 points for Alabama.

No. 23 Georgetown 75, Maryland Eastern Shore 51--Ruben Boumtje Boumtje had 18 points, seven rebounds and four blocks to lead the Hoyas at Washington.

Georgetown improved to 10-0, its best start since beginning the 1989-90 season 14-0.

Nataniel Burton added 14 points, and Lee Scruggs had six points in his first game of the season. Kevin Darby led Maryland-Eastern Shore (1-5) with 18 points.

ELSEWHERE

Kentucky 88, Indiana 74--Keith Bogans scored a career-high 26 points and Tayshaun Prince added 20 as the Wildcats (4-5) defeated the Hoosiers (7-5) at Louisville, Ky.

Bogans and Prince were a combined 18 of 24 from the field, including five of seven from three-point range, as the Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak and avenged last season’s 83-75 loss to the Hoosiers at the RCA Dome.

Kirk Haston scored 18 points and freshman Jared Jeffries added 16 for the Hoosiers, who lost their second in a row after five consecutive victories.

Nebraska 72, Southern Methodist 70--Cookie Belcher scored 26 points as the Cornhuskers rallied to win the San Juan Shootout championship at Carolina, Puerto Rico.

Trailing 57-49 with 7:39 remaining, Nebraska went on a 13-2 run, capped by a four-point play by Belcher, and took a 62-59 lead with 4:28 remaining.

Steffon Bradford scored 16 points and Kimani Ffriend, the tournament MVP, had 10 points and four blocked shots for Nebraska.

Washington 77, Clemson 76--Michael Johnson hit a 10-foot turnaround jumper as time expired in overtime to lead the Huskies (6-4) to victory in the third-place game of the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic at Bayamon.

Johnson finished with 12 points, but Will Perkins led the Huskies with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Will Solomon finished with 26 for Clemson (7-4), but the junior guard didn’t score in the overtime.

Arizona State 92, Belmont 44--Tommy Smith had a career-high 20 points to lead the Sun Devils (7-2) to an easy victory over the Bruins (6-6) at Tempe, Ariz.

Arizona State only led by seven midway through the first half, but went on a 28-6 run into the intermission. Belmont came no closer than 28 points in the second half.

The Sun Devils, who shot just 30% from the field in their last outing, hit 57 percent of their shots Friday. Belmont’s 17 points is the fewest ASU has given up in a half since holding Old Dominion to 12 points Jan. 7, 1995.

Minnesota 81, Dartmouth 62--J.B. Bickerstaff scored 14 points and was one of four players in double figures to lead the Gophers (10-1) at Minneapolis.

Mark Kissling led Dartmouth (2-7) with 18 points before fouling out with 1:21 to play. Greg Buth, Dartmouth’s leading scorer with a 20.3 average, was held to seven points, and only one in the second half.

Purdue 93, Florida International 48--Rodney Smith scored 19 points on perfect shooting, and Carson Cunningham had a career-high 13 assists to lead the Boilermakers (7-2) at West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue extended its winning streak to six and has been dominating during that stretch with an average margin of victory of 31. The Boilermakers have scored more than 90 points in each of their last two games.