Lottich’s Career Game Lifts Stanford

Matt Lottich scored a career-high 34 points with six three-point baskets and No. 9 Stanford remained unbeaten with an 87-80 victory over No. 13 Gonzaga in the Pete Newell Challenge at Oakland on Saturday night.

Justin Davis had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Rob Little had 14 points and seven rebounds for Stanford (7-0), which outhustled Gonzaga for loose balls and contained the Bulldogs with tight defense.

Blake Stepp and Adam Morrison had 20 points each to lead Gonzaga (7-2). The Bulldogs’ only other loss was to No. 11 St. Joseph’s in the opener at Madison Square Garden. Scoring leader Ronny Turiaf was held to 10 points and battled foul trouble.

Lottich, who also had seven assists, including an alley-oop on a dunk by Davis with 30 seconds left, shot 12 for 17, making all but one of his seven three-point tries. His previous career high was 23 points twice.

No. 11 St. Joseph’s 59, California 57 -- Jameer Nelson made a difficult jump shot with four seconds left to lift the Hawks (8-0) over the Golden Bears (3-4) in the Pete Newell Challenge.

No. 1 Connecticut 104, Iona 54 -- Ben Gordon, a junior guard, recorded his first triple-double with 16 rebounds and 11 assists, both career highs, and 17 points, to lead the Huskies (8-1) at Hartford, Conn.

It was the first game for the Huskies since they reclaimed their top-ranking last week.

It also marked the return of Emeka Okafor, who has been bothered by chronic back pain. He had 24 points and 10 rebounds against the Gaels (2-5), who were held to 29% shooting.

No. 3 Duke 89, No. 11 Texas 61 -- J.J. Redick had 20 points to lead six players in double figures before a pro-Duke sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Blue Devils (8-1) won their fifth in a row.

Texas (5-2) missed its first nine shots and shot only 25% (nine of 36) in falling behind, 48-29, at halftime.

No. 8 Oklahoma 68, Jackson State 46 -- Freshman Drew Lavender scored 23 points and had five assists to lead Oklahoma at Norman, Okla.

The 5-foot-7 point guard has led the Sooners (8-0) in scoring for three consecutive games. Lavender scored 14 points in the second half, helping the Sooners shake off the Tigers down the stretch.

Ishmael Joyce led Jackson State with 13 points.

No. 15 Florida 70, West Virginia 57 -- Matt Walsh scored 17 points, David Lee had 15, and Florida rebounded from consecutive losses in the Orange Bowl Classic at Miami.

The Gators (6-2) used a 20-1 run early in the second half to overcome a six-point halftime deficit.

Drew Schifino led the Mountaineers (5-3) with 15 points.

No. 16 Cincinnati 89, Middle Tennessee State 54 -- Tony Bobbitt made all six of his shots for 15 points, and host Cincinnati (6-0) used its trapping defense to beat Middle Tennessee State.

Middle Tennessee State (4-3) had trouble passing the ball with its usually steady three-guard offense. The Blue Raiders finished with a season-high 25 turnovers.

Mike Dean led Middle Tennessee State with 21 points, matching his career high.

No. 17 Purdue 80, Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne 69 -- Matt Kiefer scored a career-high 23 points in a reserve role to lead Purdue (8-1) in the first round of the Boilermaker Invitational at West Lafayette, Ind.

David Simon led the Mastodons (2-7) with 19 points.

No. 18 Pittsburgh 70, Murray State 49 -- Levon Kendall, barely used in Pittsburgh’s first nine games, led a first-half surge that carried the Panthers past previously unbeaten Murray State at Pittsburgh.

Carl Krauser scored 19 points, and Kendall, a redshirt freshman, had 11 points, three rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Pittsburgh (10-0) matched its best start since the 1929-30 season.

Murray State (8-1) was averaging 87.6 points and was No. 5 in the most recent NCAA scoring statistics.

No. 19 Syracuse 74, Siena 61 -- Hakim Warrick had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Craig Forth added a career-high 14 points to lead the Orangemen at Syracuse.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for Syracuse (5-1) and the fifth consecutive loss for the Saints (3-5).

Michael Haddix led Siena with 19 points and nine rebounds.

No. 20 Louisville 80, Austin Peay 63 -- Francisco Garcia scored 21 points and Luke Whitehead had 17 points and seven rebounds to lead the host Cardinals (5-1) to their fifth consecutive victory.

Adrian Henning had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Governors (3-5).

No. 22 Wisconsin 63, No. 23 Marquette 59 -- Alando Tucker scored 17 points, including a free throw with seven seconds remaining, to lead the Badgers (7-1) at Madison, Wis.

Travis Diener scored 19 points to lead the Golden Eagles (7-2).

No. 24 Dayton 78, Prairie View A&M; 65 -- Sean Finn scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Flyers (9-0) at Dayton.

Kevin Cooper scored 20 points for the Panthers (0-6).

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In games involving Pac-10 teams:

Kennedy Winston scored 27 points to lift Alabama (6-2) over Oregon (4-2), 87-86, in the Las Vegas Showdown.... Marcus Moore scored 22 points to lead Washington State (6-2) past Idaho (2-6), 62-55, at Pullman, Wash.... Boise State guard Ryan Defares scored 25 points, leading his team (8-1) to an 82-80 win over Oregon State (4-4) at Corvallis, Ore.... Andre Owens scored 22 points as Houston (3-3) beat Washington, 79-64. Brandon Roy led Washington (3-3) with 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.