CINCINNATI — Kellen Dunham’s long-range touch and Roosevelt Jones’ up-close shot rallied Butler to its best victory yet.
Dunham scored 24 points while leading a second-half comeback, and Jones hit a bank shot with a tenth of a second left, rallying the Bulldogs to a 78-76 victory over No. 17 Cincinnati on Wednesday night.
“Now that is a Butler win right there,” coach Chris Holtmann said. “I say that with the highest compliment because our guys played with some real grit right there. I think that needs to be what we are about.”
The Bulldogs (5-1) trailed for most of the second half — down by as many as eight points — before Dunham hit consecutive 3s that set up a back-and-forth ending. His two free throws with 17.2 seconds left made it 76-73.
“He did what good seniors do,” Holtmann said. “They go on the road and perform great like he did. Look across the country — guys like him step up and make those kinds of plays.”
Cincinnati (7-1) had a chance when Octavius Ellis made a three-point play with 4.7 seconds left. Jones picked up a loose ball off a full-court inbound pass and drove through a crowd of three defenders for the winning basket.
The Bearcats stood on the floor with stunned expressions as the Bulldogs celebrated under the basket. Butler won the first game between the schools since the 1997 NCAA Tournament.
“The basketball gods, I guess,” Cincinnati guard Troy Caupain said. “One-on-three and he made the layup. It just hurts to lose like that.”
Ellis had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Cincinnati, which blocked a season-high 10 shots and shot 50 percent from the field but couldn’t finish it off. The 78 points were the most they’ve allowed this season.
Akron 77, Coppin State 71
AKRON — Pat Forsythe matched his career high with 20 points and Akron defeated Coppin State 77-71 on Wednesday night. Elida graduate Reggie McAdams had nine points for the Zips.
Bowling Green 72, UMBC 64
BOWLING GREEN — Spencer Parker scored 20 points and had six rebounds to help lead Bowling Green to a 72-64 win over UMBC.
Toledo 76, Cleveland State 65
TOLEDO — Nathan Boothe and Jonathan Williams scored 17 points apiece to lead Toledo to a win over Cleveland State.
No. 3 Michigan State 71,
No. 24 Louisville 67
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Denzel Valentine had 25 points and Bryn Forbes scored a season-high 20 to help No. 3 Michigan State (8-0) come back to beat No. 24 Louisville (5-1) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Wisconsin 66,
No. 14 Syracuse 58, OT
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Nigel Hayes had 15 points and 12 rebounds, converting a three-point play to break a tie in overtime, and Wisconsin (5-3) beat Syracuse (6-1) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
No. 16 Vanderbilt 102,
Detroit 52
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Wade Baldwin IV led seven Commodores in double figures with 20 points, and Vanderbilt (6-1) routed Detroit (2-3).
Anton Wilson led Detroit with 14 points.
No. 18 Texas A&M 75,
Florida Gulf Coast 65
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Jalen Jones scored 22 points to help Texas A&M (7-1) beat Florida Gulf Coast (4-4).
No. 22 SMU 75, TCU 70
FORT WORTH, Texas — Former Van Wert resident Nic Moore scored 26 points and Sterling Brown made a tiebreaking scoop shot with 1:37 left to lift SMU (5-0) over TCU (3-3).
No. 23 Providence 89,
Hartford 66
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Kris Dunn had 16 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for the second triple-double of his career, leading Providence (7-1) past Hartford (3-5).
Women’s roundup
No. 3 Notre Dame,
No. 10 Ohio State 72
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Madison Cable hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 56 seconds left then made a pair of free throws with 7 seconds remaining to clinch the win as third-ranked Notre Dame held on to beat No. 10 Ohio State despite missing two starters.
Cable led Notre Dame (7-0) with 25 points and 11 rebounds and Lindsay Allen added 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. The Irish played with four guards most of the game because starting forwards Brianna Turner and Taya Reimer are injured.
Kelsey Mitchell led the Buckeyes (4-3) with 27 points.
No. 1 UConn 86,
No. 23 DePaul 70
CHICAGO — Breanna Stewart had 29 points and 12 rebounds and Morgan Tuck added 16 points as No. 1 Connecticut (5-0) won its 42nd straight game by defeating DePaul (5-2).
No. 4 Baylor 89, Rice 38
WACO, Texas — Khadijiah Cave had 19 points with 10 rebounds and Baylor (7-0) opened both halves with big runs for a victory over Rice (0-6).
No. 5 Maryland 82,
No. 20 Syracuse 64
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 19 points and eight assists, leading Maryland (7-0) over Syracuse (4-2) in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
No. 6 Texas 53,
No. 9 Mississippi state 47
AUSTIN, Texas — Amani Boyette scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Texas (6-0) beat Mississippi State (5-1).
No. 8 Tennessee 85,
East Tennessee State 49
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Diamond DeShields moved into Tennessee’s starting lineup and had 31 points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven steals as the Lady Volunteers (6-1) beat ETSU (3-5).
No. 11 Kentucky 84,
Northern Kentucky 65
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Janee Thompson scored 11 of her 21 points in the second half and Kentucky beat Northern Kentucky (5-2).
No. 15 Northwestern 85,
North Carolina 72
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Maggie Lyon hit four 3-pointers and scored a career-high 31 points, Nia Coffey added 22 points and 11 rebounds and Northwestern (7-0) defeated North Carolina (5-4) in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
No. 21 Oklahoma 65, UALR 52
NORMAN, Okla. — Kaylon Williams scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and Oklahoma (6-1) pulled for a win over Arkansas-Little Rock (2-3).
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
