Cincinnati Does It All Except Win

Temple beat No. 1 Cincinnati in all the unconventional ways Sunday, stopping the nation’s longest winning streak and confusing Bearcat Coach Bob Huggins.

“We did everything you’re not supposed to be able to do against Temple,” Huggins said after the No. 15 Owls beat Cincinnati, 77-69, in a nonconference game at Cincinnati. “But they made the shots.”

Huggins looked at the statistics in amazement. Cincinnati had 24 points in the paint to 12 for Temple; the Bearcats had twice as many points off turnovers and second-chance points.

But Temple also did something nobody had done against Cincinnati in 63 games. The Owls shot 52% from the field. Nobody had shot 50% or better against the Bearcats since Alabama Birmingham did it March 7, 1998.

Cincinnati (24-2) had won 16 in a row--tops in Division I--and its home winning streak was at 42 before Temple took command. The Owls (20-4) have won 11 in a row, the most since the 1993-94 season.

“They’re good,” Huggins said. “They beat us today. But if we play them again, I don’t know if they beat us again.”

With Mark Karcher scoring 22 of his 28 points in the second half, Temple made the most of its usually tough defense and rallied after Cincinnati took a seven-point lead, its biggest of the game.

“He [Karcher] has a tendency to come off screens and just shoot it. But today he was a little more patient,” Temple Coach John Chaney said. “He can hit that mid-range jumper. We had to do that to keep it out of the middle and away from the big guy.”

The “big guy” being center Kenyon Martin, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

No. 24 Kansas 53, No. 20 Oklahoma 50--The Jayhawks beat the Sooners despite scoring only one point in the final 4:19 at Lawrence, Kan.

The Jayhawks, 19-7 overall and 8-4 in the Big 12, and Sooners (20-5, 8-4) spent the rest of the game trading turnovers and missing shots until Kirk Hinrich made a foul shot with 14 seconds left.

Until then, Kansas had missed four consecutive free throws, but Oklahoma, shooting only 33% for the game, failed to take advantage.

WOMEN

Angelina Wolvert’s short bank shot with 11.3 seconds left capped a 9-0 run in the final three minutes, lifting Oregon to a 70-69 victory over Washington at Seattle that enabled the Ducks to move into first place in the Pacific 10.

Oregon’s defense did not allow the Huskies to get off a good shot during their final possession. Julia Gray attempted a desperation 35-footer that missed badly as time expired.

Shaquala Williams scored 20 points and Wolvert added 13 for the Ducks (19-6, 10-3 Pac-10). UCLA and Stanford are tied for second at 9-3. Loree Payne scored 24 points Washington (7-18, 3-10).

Second-ranked Tennessee (23-3, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) took control with a 15-5 run to open the second half at Knoxville and beat No. 9 Louisiana State, 80-48. An excellent defensive effort by Tennessee limited LSU (20-5, 9-3) to 23 second-half points. . . . Twins Coco and Kelly Miller combined for 43 points as No. 3 Georgia (26-2, 11-1 SEC) beat Arkansas, 72-69, at Fayetteville, Ark. . . . Betty Lennox scored 26 points to lead No. 4 Louisiana Tech (22-2, 12-0) over Arkansas State, 82-69, in the Sun Belt Conference. . . . No. 6 Penn State (22-3, 13-1 Big Ten) routed Northwestern, 66-34, at Evanston, Ill. . . . No. 21 Virginia beat No. 7 North Carolina State for the second time this season, 60-51. The Cavaliers (21-6, 12-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won 13 consecutive home games and have a 1 1/2-game lead over the Wolfpack (20-6, 11-4).

No. 11 UC Santa Barbara (23-3, 11-0 Big West) extended its winning streak to 19 games with a 92-61 victory over Long Beach State (14-9, 8-3) at Santa Barbara. . . . Shana Askew and Tasha Hamilton each scored 16 points to help No. 13 Auburn (20-5, 8-4 SEC) beat Mississippi, 67-63, at Auburn. . . . Old Dominion Coach Wendy Larry got her 300th win as the Monarchs (20-4, 13-0 Colonial Athletic Assn.) defeated East Carolina, 74-58, at Norfolk, Va. . . . Cal Bouchard scored 20 points to lead No. 19 Boston College (21-6, 10-3 Big East) to a 66-52 victory at Pittsburgh (14-10, 5-8). . . . Nitra Perry scored 19 points and Jennifer Fambrough added 18 to lead No. 22 Mississippi State (19-6, 7-6 SEC) to a 66-57 victory over Florida (15-10, 5-7) at Starkville, Miss. . . . Abbie Willenborg and Lisa Oldenburg combined for 43 points and 26 rebounds as No. 23 Marquette (22-4, 14-1) clinched the Conference USA title by defeating St. Louis, 82-70, at Milwaukee. . . . No. 25 George Washington (21-4, 12-2 Atlantic 10) beat Xavier (21-4, 12-3), 70-68, at Washington.