Pittsburgh Upsets Boston College

John DeGroat had eight points and six rebounds in 10 second-half minutes Monday night to help No. 24-ranked Pittsburgh end a three-game losing streak by beating No. 5 Boston College, 72-50, at Boston.

It was the Panthers’ sixth consecutive victory over the Eagles -- including three in the Big East Conference tournament -- and it kept Boston College from clinching a share of the conference regular-season title.

“They’ve got our number,” forward Jared Dudley said. “Pittsburgh’s done it to us the last couple of years. They like playing against us.”

Three consecutive losses -- the last two at home -- had knocked Pittsburgh, which had been ranked as high as No. 10, from 17th to 24th in the Associated Press poll. Pitt improved to 19-7 overall, 9-6 in the conference.

The Eagles (23-3, 12-3), who are headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season, could still win the Big East title outright or share it if they beat Rutgers on Saturday. No. 15 Connecticut, which is half a game behind Boston College, plays Georgetown on Wednesday and No. 13 Syracuse on Saturday.

“This game was extremely important to them. But it was important to us too. We had something to gain here,” Boston College Coach Al Skinner said. “The motivation for them was fine, but that’s no reason we should have allowed something like this to occur.”

Pittsburgh outrebounded Boston College, 49-27.

The Eagles won their first 20 games and attained their highest ranking ever -- No. 3 -- before losing two of their last three games.

Another sellout crowd came to say goodbye to the senior class. San Diego Charger quarterback Doug Flutie, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 while at Boston College, jammed with the band, playing the drums on “Johnny B. Good.”

Even with a chance to clinch the conference title, the Eagles didn’t come close.

Craig Smith scored 22 points but was the only Eagle in double figures.

No. 12 Gonzaga 87, Northern Colorado 60 -- Ronny Turiaf scored 22 points at Spokane, Wash., and the Bulldogs ended the regular season with their 10th win in a row.

Gonzaga (23-4) is 13-0 in the new McCarthey Athletic Center this season and has a 25-game home winning streak, second-longest in the nation to Oklahoma State’s 28 in a row. The Bulldogs are 37-0 at home when ranked.

Kirk Archibeque had 17 points for Northern Colorado (8-20), an NCAA Division I independent.

The Bulldogs led, 31-9, with seven minutes left in the first half.

Gonzaga Coach Mark Few said he scheduled this game after the West Coast Conference season to give his team some breathing room after a nonconference schedule that included Illinois, Oklahoma State, Washington and Georgia Tech.

No. 20 Oklahoma 74, Texas 58 -- Lawrence McKenzie scored 16 points to lead the Sooners (22-6, 11-4) in a Big 12 Conference game at Austin, Texas. Oklahoma’s fifth consecutive victory kept it within a game of first-place Kansas and clinched a bye in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.

Daniel Gibson scored 16 points for Texas (19-9, 8-7), which is only 5-6 since losing P.J. Tucker, its best player, for the season because of academic problems.

“It’s disappointing,” Texas Coach Rick Barnes said. “I think we all know we’re at the point in time we need eight guys to show up to play. We had half the guys do that.”