Rutgers Hangs On to Defeat St. John’s

Cappie Pondexter scored 24 points and No. 9-ranked Rutgers held off No. 25 St. John’s, 61-51, Wednesday night after nearly squandering all of a 27-point lead in a Big East Conference game at Piscataway, N.J.

Rutgers (16-3, 8-0) built a 33-6 lead with 5 minutes 4 seconds to play in the first half, but St. John’s outscored the Scarlet Knights, 17-2, to close the half and then scored the first eight points after halftime to cut the deficit to 35-31.

St. John’s (17-4, 7-3), which moved into the top 25 this week for the first time in 22 years, was within four points with 3:52 to play.

But the Scarlet Knights controlled the clock down the stretch and extended their margin as St. John’s committed four turnovers in the last few minutes.

No. 6 Maryland 88, Miami 77 -- Shay Doron scored 26 points and capped a late run that enabled the Terrapins (20-2, 7-1) to pull away in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md., for their sixth consecutive victory.

Renee Taylor scored 21 points for the Hurricanes (14-7, 4-4) on eight-for-27 shooting.