Pittsburgh Loses to Georgia, 79-67

Pittsburgh Coach Ben Howland would be more upset at the Panthers missing an opportunity to become No. 1 if Tuesday’s loss to Georgia had come in April instead of December.

The Panthers wasted a chance to reach the top spot for the first time, losing to the Bulldogs, 79-67, at Athens, Ga.

Second-ranked Pittsburgh (9-1) has never been No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. The 1987-88 team also reached No. 2, the only other time the Panthers have been ranked that high.

No. 1 Alabama lost at Utah on Monday night, opening the way for Pittsburgh to move up.

“I don’t think it was a big deal,” Howland said. “The good thing about college basketball is that there’s going to be a national champion that’s decided in the NCAA tournament. It’s not like football.”

Ezra Williams scored 20 points for the Bulldogs (8-3), who won their seventh in a row.

No. 19 Xavier 75, No. 15 Creighton 73 -- David West made a tiebreaking bank shot with four seconds left at Cincinnati to help the Musketeers end the Bluejays’ best run in 60 years.

West led all scorers with 28 points and reserve Keith Jackson scored 17 points and made the inbound pass to West for the shot that put Xavier (9-2) ahead.

Tyler McKinney’s off-balance three-point shot went high off the backboard at the buzzer as Creighton (10-1) lost for the first time.

The Bluejays had won 10 in a row for only the fifth time in school history and the first time since the 1942-43 season.

No. 17 Indiana 76, Ball State 62 -- Freshman Bracey Wright helped make John Treloar’s coaching debut with Indiana a success.

Wright scored 13 points during a four-minute stretch and finished with 31 points to lead the Hoosiers (9-2) at Muncie, Ind.

With Coach Mike Davis serving a one-game suspension for his outburst against Kentucky on Dec. 21, Treloar took over the Hoosiers and said few words to the officials during the game in front of a sellout crowd of 11,500.

The Cardinals (5-5) were led by Cameron Echols’ 24 points.

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WOMEN

Jacqueline Batteast had 23 points and 11 rebounds as No. 13 Notre Dame defeated Marquette, 75-68, at Milwaukee.

LeTania Severe added 21 points for the Fighting Irish (8-2), who rallied from a 39-31 deficit early in the second half.

Marquette (6-3), which had its five-game winning streak end, was led by Katie Alsdurf with 18 points.

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In other games:

No. 11 North Carolina (10-1) closed the first half with a 24-2 run and defeated American, 80-42, at Chapel Hill, N.C. ... Chantelle Anderson scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half to lead No. 12 Vanderbilt (8-2) to a 66-43 victory over Charlotte at Nashville.... Petra Ujhelyi scored 18 points and tied a career-best with 15 rebounds as No. 16 South Carolina (11-1) won its 14th consecutive home game, beating South Carolina State, 85-42, at Columbia, S.C. ... No. 25 Colorado (9-1) rallied from a six-point deficit in the final 90 seconds of regulation then beat Syracuse, 78-75, in overtime at Syracuse.