Connecticut Defeats Kittles-less Villanova

Ray Allen was scoring at his usual pace, helping No. 3 Connecticut win a mythical Big East title.

Kerry Kittles just sat and watched while No. 4 Villanova struggled and misfired as its 10-game winning streak came to an end.

Allen had 26 points Sunday at Philadelphia as the Huskies defeated Villanova, 70-59, in the first of three games of Kittles’ suspension by the NCAA for unauthorized use of a school telephone credit card.

“That was still Villanova and it will be Villanova next year when Kerry Kittles won’t be there either,” Allen said.

Connecticut, 25-2 overall and 15-1 in the Big East, sewed up the top seeding in the conference tournament with the victory. Since the league expanded by three teams this season and then split into two divisions, it was decided there would not be a regular-season champion.

Jason Lawson led Villanova (23-4, 13-3), which shot 32%, with 14 points, and Eric Eberz and Alvin Williams each had 11.

No. 6 Cincinnati 65, Tulane 63--Darnell Burton sank a three-point basket from deep in the corner with two seconds left for the Conference USA victory at New Orleans.

Cincinnati (21-3, 10-2) held off a second-half charge by Tulane (17-7, 8-4) that saw the Green Wave erase a 10-point halftime deficit and lead by four with about three minutes to play.

No. 7 Purdue 74, Indiana 72--Chad Austin’s three-point basket with 13.7 seconds left helped the Boilermakers overcome a second-half field-goal drought of more than seven minutes in a Big Ten game at Bloomington, Ind.

Purdue (23-4, 13-2) saw an 11-point lead evaporate during its scoring drought before recovering.

Indiana (15-11, 8-6) tied the score for the last time at 64-64 on two free throws by Charlie Miller and the Hoosiers, who had been undefeated in conference play at home, led, 72-68, with 2:15 to go.

Temple 57, No. 12 Virginia Tech 41--Derrick Battie scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds in his final home game as the Owls kept their NCAA Tournament hopes alive in an Atlantic 10 game at Philadelphia.

The victory was the fourth consecutive for Temple (16-11, 11-4) and the lowest point total this season for the Hokies.

Virginia Tech (20-4, 11-3) cut the lead to nine at 35-26 with 15:21 to play, but Battie scored five points during a 9-0 run that extended the lead to 44-28.

No. 19 Memphis 57, No. 21 Louisville 54--Lorenzen Wright and Cedric Henderson scored 16 points each, and Wright grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Tigers (20-5, 10-2) in a Conference USA game at Memphis, Tenn.

The victory was Memphis’ 32nd consecutive at home, second-longest streak in the nation. The victory also moved Memphis into first place in the conference’s White Division, a half-game ahead of Louisville (19-8, 10-3).

OTHER GAMES

Carlos Williams scored 21 of his 24 points in the second half to help Alabama Birmingham (16-11, 6-6) to a 63-56 Conference USA victory over North Carolina Charlotte (12-14, 4-8) at Birmingham, Ala. . . . Nate Erdmann scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half and in overtime to lead Oklahoma (16-10, 7-5) past Nebraska (15-12, 3-9), 80-76, in Big Eight conference game at Lincoln, Neb. . . . In the final home game of his career, Damon Santiago scored 24 points to lead Rutgers (9-5, 6-10) to a 71-55 victory over Miami (12-12, 6-10) in a Big East game at Piscataway, N.J. . . . Katu Davis scored 13 of his 22 points during a 24-12 run that erased an 11-point deficit and helped Georgia (16-8, 7-7) to a 71-59 victory over Arkansas (16-1, 8-6) in a Southeastern Conference Eastern Division game at Athens, Ga. . . . Charles Smith scored 28 points late Saturday night to lead New Mexico (22-4, 12-4) to an 88-79 victory over Hawaii (9-15, 6-10) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Honolulu.