top 25 roundup Thursday’s other games

January 16, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

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No. 4 Connecticut 67, St. John’s 55

NEW YORK — Freshman guard Kemba Walker scored 21 points and senior forward Jeff Adrien added 17 points and 11 rebounds. The win was the fourth straight for the Huskies (15-1, 4-1 Big East) since they lost their conference opener at home to Georgetown. Sophomore guard Paris Horne had a career-high 24 points for the Red Storm (10-6, 1-3), who lost for the fifth time in six games with the lone win over then-No. 7 Notre Dame. This was St. John’s third game against a top 10 team in the last 13 days. It lost 90-67 at No. 1 Pittsburgh on Sunday.

No. 15 Xavier 67, Rhode Island 65

KINGSTON, R.I. — Derrick Brown had 12 points and eight rebounds to help Xavier hold off Rhode Island. C.J. Anderson had seven rebounds, and scored nine of his 11 points in the first 3:55 of the second half for the Musketeers (14-2, 3-0 At1antic 10). Rhode Island (11-6, 0-2) got 19 points from Jimmy Baron in the loss. It was the Rams’ first home loss this season. Baron’s jumper with 3:51 to go gave the Rams their final lead of the night at 61-59, and Dante Jackson’s 3-pointer with 1:45 remaining put Xavier in front the rest of the way.

No. 19 Purdue 63, Northwestern 61

EVANSTON, Ill. — JaJuan Johnson hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds left Purdue capped a wild comeback from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Northwestern. Robbie Hummel scored 15 points for the Boilermakers (13-4, 2-2), who trailed by 11 with 7:45 to go. Johnson added 13 points and for Purdue and had seven of the Boilermakers’ 14 blocks that helped them overcome 22 turnovers. Craig Moore and Kevin Coble scored 16 points each for Northwestern (8-6, 0-4), which lost its fourth straight in the Big Ten.

WOMEN

No. 12 Maryland 65, Clemson 56

CLEMSON, S.C. — Marissa Coleman had 19 points, Lynetta Kizer 15 and Maryland held off a late rally to win its eighth straight. The Terps (13-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost a tight one at Duke, 68-65, on Monday night and were in danger of dropping two of their first three league games for the first time since coach Brenda Frase’s debut season in 2002-03. Lele Hardy led the Tigers (10-7, 1-3) with 22 points. But Clemson shot less than 31 percent for the game (20-of-65) and were 6-of-25 from 3-point range.

No. 13 Tennessee 63, Mississippi State 56

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Shekinna Stricklen scored 15 points to lead Tennessee. Tennessee (13-3) made seven of 13 3-pointers and improved to 29-0 against Mississippi State (13-4). The Lady Vols led 32-30 at the half, but Mississippi State used a 9-1 run midway through the second half to take the lead. Alyssa Brewer made a layup with 3:29 left to tie it 54-all. Stricklen’s 3-pointer with 1:30 left gave the Volunteer’s the lead. Angie Bjorklund added 14 points for the Lady Vols and Brewer chipped in 10 points and six rebounds. Alexis Rack and Chanel Mokango had 15 points each to lead MSU. Mokango also had seven blocked shots. Robin Porter added 12 points and nine rebounds.

No. 19 Florida 77, South Carolina 63

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sha Brooks scored 25 points and Marshae Dotson made all eight shots from the field for 19 points, to lead Florida. The Gators (16-2, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) are off to their best start since 2000-01 and bounced back after having their school-record 15-game winning streak snapped by sixth-ranked Auburn.

Associated Press