Arizona Goes the Rout in a Resounding Win

Fifth-ranked Arizona, led by freshmen guards Gilbert Arenas and Jason Gardner, routed Arizona State, 82-55, Wednesday night at Tempe, Ariz., one point short of its most one-sided road victory over the Sun Devils.

Arenas scored a career-high 24 points on 10 of 13 shooting and Gardner added 16 as the Wildcats (17-3 overall, 6-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) broke the game open in the final six minutes of the first half, then turned it into a blowout in the second.

The biggest win for Arizona in Tempe was 101-73 in 1988.

The Sun Devils (11-7, 3-4), who feature six freshmen in their regular rotation, lost their third in a row and shot only 33%, compared with Arizona’s 56%. Tanner Shell and Tommy Smith each scored 10 points for the Sun Devils.

Arizona State’s Eddie House, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, finished with eight points.

DePaul 71, No. 10 Florida 69--The Blue Demons (13-6), knocked out of the top 25 after losing three of four games, blew a 21-point second-half lead and then recovered to defeat the Gators (14-4) at Chicago.

Bobby Simmons scored DePaul’s final five points after Florida, behind its press and fastbreak, had taken its only lead at 67-66 on Brett Nelson’s two free throws with 2:55 left. The two fouls shots capped a 33-11 run by the Gators.

Quentin Richardson scored 17 points for DePaul. Mike Miller scored 22 points for Florida.

No. 15 Oklahoma State 71, Kansas State 56--Desmond Mason had 23 points and 10 rebounds as the Cowboys (15-2, 4-1) defeated the Wildcats (8-9, 1-5) at Manhattan, Kan., to move into a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 Conference.

Galen Morrison led the Wildcats with 21 points

No. 16 Kentucky 75, Georgia 69--Tayshaun Prince scored six of his 14 points in the stretch at Athens, Ga., and the Wildcats (14-5, 5-1) continued their domination of the Bulldogs (9-10, 2-5) with their 13th consecutive victory in the Southeastern Conference series.

Shon Coleman led Georgia with a career-high 26 points.

No. 20 Vanderbilt 61, South Carolina 60--Dan Langhi scored 21 points, including the tying and go-ahead free throw with 0.3 seconds left, to lift the Commodores (13-3, 4-2) to an SEC victory over the Gamecocks (9-10, 1-5) at Columbia, S.C.

The Commodores trailed by a point in the closing seconds. But Langhi took an inbounds pass and was fouled as he went up for a shot. Fans threw debris as the teams and referees left the court.