Kirthmon Dozier | Detroit Free Press
Indiana’s Christian Watford tries to control the ball against Michigan State’s Gary Harris during Tuesday’s game. The top-ranked Hoosiers won, 72-68.
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Rich Sugg | Kansas City Star
Missouri’s Keon Bell steals the ball from Florida’s Mike Rosario during the first half of Tuesday’s game. Missouri rallied for a 63-60 win.
Columbia, Mo. — Laurence Bowers’ right wing jumper with 1:15 remaining proved to be the difference-maker, as Missouri remained undefeated at home this season en route to slaying No. 5 Florida, 63-60, on Tuesday at Mizzou Arena.
Bowers finished with a game-high 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Tigers (19-7, 8-5 SEC), who bounced back from a loss at Arkansas on Saturday and improved to 15-0 on their home court. Jabari Brown added 12 points and Phil Pressey scored seven and dished out 10 helpers in the victory.
Florida had the ball with 19.1 seconds to play down one, but Kenny Boynton’s deep 3-point attempt hit the back rim, allowing the Tigers to grab the rebound and close the contest out with free throws. Mike Rosario netted 14 points and Boynton had 11 to go along with four boards for the Gators (21-4, 11-2 SEC), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
No. 1 Indiana 72, No. 4 Michigan State 68
EAST LANSING, Mich. — It looked, felt and sounded like a championship game.
And it might just turn out to be one.
In the first meeting of men’s basketball top-5 teams in the history of the Michigan State campus, the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers and No. 4 MSU Spartans played a game worthy of that history on Tuesday night at Breslin Center.
And when it was all over, Indiana was alone in first place after blowing a lead, getting it back in the final minute to prevail.
The Hoosiers (24-3, 12-2 Big Ten) got 17 points fromCody Zeller and 19 and the winning tip-in from Victor Oladipo with 46 seconds left – breaking a 17-game losing streak at Breslin and winning there for the first time since 1991.
MSU (22-5, 11-3) led 67-63 with 1:25 left, but a Christian Watford three-point play at Adreian Payne’s expense started the comeback. Keith Appling then missed the front end of one-and-one for MSU with 1:09 left, setting up Oladipo’s soaring putback of a Yogi Ferrell miss.
MSU’s Gary Harris (19 points) then missed on a hard drive to the basket, looking for a foul but not getting one. Oladipo got a dunk on the ensuing inbounds play with 10.1 ticks left, and the Spartans had one more chance.
Harris got the ball, pumped and was fouled by Indiana’s Will Sheehey with 3.7 ticks left. But he missed the first, made the second and missed the third intentionally – and Oladipo grabbed it and sealed it with two foul shots.
No. 2 Miami 54, Virginia 50
Coral Gables, Fla. — Second-ranked Miami-Florida escaped with another hard-fought ACC victory on Tuesday.
Reggie Johnson’s layup with 5.7 seconds remaining lifted the Hurricanes over the Virginia Cavaliers.
It was the 14th consecutive victory for Miami (22-3, 13-0 ACC), which survived a thriller on Sunday night, overcoming a late four-point deficit to down Clemson, 45-43.
Johnson ended with eight points and seven rebounds for the Hurricanes, who are off to the best start in conference history since Duke went 16-0 en route to the league crown in the 1998-99 season. Shane Larkin and Rion Brown added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the winners.
No. 15 Butler 68, Duquesne 49
Indianapolis — Rotnei Clarke led three Butler players in double-figures with 16 points and four 3-pointers to lead the No. 15 Bulldogs over Duquesne on Tuesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Khyle Marshall had 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Bulldogs (22-5, 9-3 A-10), who won their second straight following the team’s first home loss of the season on Feb. 13 versus Charlotte. Kellen Dunham donated 11 points and Andrew Smith scored eight and grabbed 10 rebounds in the victory.
Freshman Derrick Colter registered 11 points for the Dukes (8-18, 1-11), who have dropped two straight and 13 of their last 14 games overall.
No. 17 Marquette 67, Seton Hall 46
Newark, N.J. — Vander Blue scored 19 points for the second straight game and the 17th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles disposed Seton Hall on Tuesday at Prudential Center.
Davante Gardner had 18 points off the bench and played an important role during a second-half surge to help the Golden Eagles (19-6, 10-3 Big East) pull away for good and capture their fourth win in five games.
Fuquan Edwin led Seton Hall with 14 points.
St. Louis 76, No. 24 VCU 62
St. Louis, Mo. — Jordair Jett scored all 16 of his points in the second half and St. Louis was nearly flawless in taking down 24th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth.
Mike McCall Jr. added 15 points and Dwayne Evans tallied 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting with eight rebounds as the Billikens (20-5, 9-2 A-10) took sole possession of first place with their eighth straight victory.
St. Louis shot a strong 55.3 percent while giving the ball away just nine times against the nation’s top team in forced turnovers.
VCU (21-6, 9-3 A-10) was unable to keep up with Saint Louis’ scoring pace and saw its five-game winning streak come to an end. Juvonte Reddic posted his sixth double-double in eight games, tallying 19 points with 12 boards in the setback.
The Billikens came out strong, took control of the contest early and never looked back. They got things started by making four 3-pointers during a 17-0 surge and built a 28-8 advantage just under 13 minutes in.
The usually efficient Rams were anything but in the first half, converting only 8-of-29 shots from the field and found themselves in a 38-21 hole at the break.
