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It’s a Close Call for Saint Joseph’s

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From Associated Press

The perfect record might suggest that Saint Joseph’s has had an easy season, but Rhode Island made it tough on the Hawks.

Second-ranked Saint Joseph’s needed Delonte West’s three-point basket in the final minute to beat the Rams, 57-55, Saturday at South Kingstown, R.I., to improve to 26-0 and 15-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Jameer Nelson scored 21 points and West had 19 for Saint Joseph’s, which has only a home game against last-place St. Bonaventure and the conference tournament standing in the way of a perfect regular season.

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No team has entered the NCAA tournament unbeaten since Nevada Las Vegas in 1991. Top-ranked Stanford remained the other unbeaten Division I team by defeating Oregon, 76-55.

The Hawks and Rhode Island were within three points of each other for the final 9:29, and for the last 5:42 the lead was two points or fewer with three lead changes and three ties. The Rams led by two before West made the three-pointer with 57 seconds left to make it 56-55.

Rhode Island (17-12, 6-9) couldn’t convert two chances on its next possession, and after West’s free throw made it a two-point game with 19 seconds left, the Rams called a timeout.

Dawan Robinson got the ball in a crowd in the lane and missed, then Steve Mello grabbed the rebound and tried a three-pointer that bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Saint Joseph’s hasn’t had a game this close since Dec. 20, when it beat California, 59-57, on Nelson’s game-winning shot with five seconds left. The Hawks have won their last six games and 12 of the previous 14 by at least 10 points.

“We’ve had a lot of challenges during the regular season,” West said. “We played a physical game against California. Rhode Island had a game plan to play us physical. Everything so far has been a learning experience.”

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No. 4 Gonzaga 80, Santa Clara 64 -- The Bulldogs (25-2, 14-0), who extended their winning streak to 18 games by beating the Broncos (14-15, 6-8) at Spokane, Wash., completed the first undefeated West Coast Conference season in school history and first since Pepperdine’s in 1992.

No. 6 Oklahoma State 72, Baylor 65 -- The Cowboys (22-3, 12-2), coming off a double-overtime loss at Missouri, led by 12 points with 4:11 left at Waco, Texas, and seemed ready to cruise into Monday night’s game in Stillwater, Okla., against No. 10 Texas to decide first place in the Big 12.

Then the Bears (8-19, 3-11) went on a 12-2 run to make it 67-65 with a minute left. However, they missed three three-point shots on their last possession.

No. 7 Mississippi State 72, Vanderbilt 69 -- The Bulldogs (23-2, 12-2 Southeastern Conference) improved to 11-0 on the road and stayed a game ahead of Kentucky, which plays at LSU today, in the race for the league’s regular-season title. They made five free throws in the final 40.6 seconds to hold off the Commodores (18-7, 7-7).

No. 8 Connecticut 75, Villanova 74 -- Emeka Okafor blocked a shot at the end of regulation and again at the end of overtime to help the Huskies (23-5, 11-3 Big East) get past the Wildcats (14-13, 6-8) at Philadelphia.

Josh Boone scored with 5.5 seconds left in overtime to give the Huskies a 75-74 lead. Okafor sealed the victory with his block on a driving layup by Randy Foye just before the final buzzer.

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No. 10 Texas 74, No. 25 Texas Tech 71 -- Brandon Mouton and P.J. Tucker combined to make four free throws over the final 28 seconds, enabling the Longhorns (21-4, 12-2 Big 12) to hold off the Red Raiders (19-9, 7-7) at Austin, Texas.

The Red Raiders have lost seven of 10. Andre Emmett missed two three-point attempts in the final seconds that would have forced overtime.

No. 11 Wake Forest 91, Maryland 83 -- The Demon Deacons (19-6, 9-5) held on after a 16-point lead was reduced to two midway through the second half at College Park, Md. They won their sixth in a row to clinch at least a tie for third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Terrapins (14-11, 5-9) fell into a tie for seventh place in the nine-team conference.

No. 15 Cincinnati 75, Charlotte 67 -- Forward Jason Maxiell and center Kareem Johnson combined for 32 points at Charlotte, N.C., to help the Bearcats (20-5, 11-3) avenge an earlier loss to the 49ers (18-7, 10-4) and move into a first-place tie in Conference USA with Memphis. The 49ers beat the then-No. 8 Bearcats, 86-83, in Cincinnati on Jan. 31, and had won seven of their last eight games.

No. 16 Southern Illinois 72, Bradley 71 -- Sylvester Willis’ layup with 0.5 seconds left gave the Salukis (24-2, 17-0) the victory at Carbondale, Ill.

They are one win away from becoming the third team in Missouri Valley Conference history to finish a season undefeated in league play. The others were Indiana State -- led by Larry Bird -- in 1978-79, and Bradley in 1985-86.

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No. 18 Georgia Tech 79, Clemson 60 -- B.J. Elder, the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer, managed only a free throw in the first half at Clemson, S.C. Then he scored 16 points in the second half to help the Yellow Jackets (20-8, 7-7 ACC) reach 20 victories for the first time in eight seasons. The Tigers (10-16, 3-12) fell to last place.

No. 21 Louisville 66, No. 19 Memphis 60 -- The Tigers (20-5, 11-3) committed a season-high 21 turnovers and shot only 56% from the free-throw line (14 for 25) at Louisville, Ky. -- their worst performance in a Conference USA game this season -- and had their 11-game winning streak stopped.

The Cardinals (18-7, 8-6) ended a four-game losing streak.

No. 23 Illinois 66, Northwestern 56 -- The Fighting Illini (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) pulled away from the Wildcats (12-13, 7-7) at Champaign, Ill., to extend their winning streak to eight games.

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