No. 15 Seton Hall Overcomes Adversity and Notre Dame

Seton Hall capped a rough 48 hours with its biggest victory of the season.

The No. 15 Pirates overcame the loss of suspended freshman star Eddie Griffin to defeat No. 25 Notre Dame, 78-76, Monday night at East Rutherford, N.J., ending a two-day stretch that included a loss to Georgetown and the locker room fight that cost them Griffin for one game.

“Certainly it’s been a trying few days for all of us and the program,” Seton Hall Coach Tommy Amaker said. “To get a victory is great for our kids who stepped up for us and gave us effort, played with emotion and played hard.”

Darius Lane bounced back from the worst game of his career to lead the Pirates, 11-3 overall and 2-1 in Big East Conference play, with 22 points, while freshman point guard Andre Barrett had a career-high 20 points.

Troy Murphy, who was coming off a career-high 37 points against Rutgers, had 25 points on nine-for-25 shooting and a career-high 20 rebounds for Notre Dame (9-4, 1-2).

Oklahoma State 88, No. 18 Iowa State 80--Maurice Baker and Fredrik Jonzen scored 26 points each to lead the Cowboys (9-3, 1-1 Big 12) to the upset in overtime over the Cyclones (13-2, 1-1) at Stillwater, Okla. Kantrail Horton scored 19 to lead Iowa State.

Jamaal Tinsley turned in his usual solid performance for Iowa State, and made a three-point shot to force overtime, but it was Baker--who had to leave twice with cramps but also had 10 rebounds and five assists--who shined brightest on the night the Cowboys officially reopened Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“He’s been playing like that every night,” Cowboy Coach Eddie Sutton said of Baker. “He’s ready to go out there and play anybody. He’s a tough cookie.

The loss ended a seven-game Iowa State winning streak and an eight-game winning streak in Big 12 play dating to last season.

“We got outtoughed and outdetermined,” Cyclone Coach Larry Eustachy said.

“We didn’t deserve to win. We got beat to every ball. There was a spurt where we scrapped back and got back in it, but you’ve got to give Oklahoma State credit.”

WOMEN

Alana Beard had 23 points and Iciss Tillis 19--and they combined for all but eight of their team’s second-half points--as No. 5 Duke (14-1, 2-1 ACC) defeated Florida State (10-3, 2-1) at Tallahassee, Fla., 73-60. . . . Juana Brown scored North Carolina’s last six points, including the game-winning basket with 19 seconds left as the Tar Heels (8-5, 2-2 ACC) upset No. 16 Clemson (11-4, 2-2) at Clemson, S.C., 71-70.