College basketball roundup: Yante Maten has 20 points to power Georgia past No. 23 Florida

Yante Maten scored 20 points and Georgia recovered after blowing a halftime lead to beat No. 23 Florida 72-60 on Tuesday night.

Florida (15-7, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) began the night in second place in the SEC, one game behind No. 11 Auburn.

Georgia (13-8, 4-5) had lost three straight and five of six.

The Gators recovered after trailing 37-32 at halftime to lead 48-43. Florida opened the second half with a 12-2 run that included two 3-pointers by Jalen Hudson and a jam by KeVaughn Allen for a 44-39 edge.

Georgia regrouped and led 55-51 following a three-point play by Maten and stretched the lead to 60-53 on a 3-pointer by Maten.

Cold-shooting Florida could not answer. Georgia led 66-53 before Keith Stone sank a 3-pointer, ending a Florida scoring drought of about four minutes.

Georgia protected the lead by making 12 free throws without a miss in the final 1:35.

Chris Chiozza led the Gators with 15 points, including 11 in the first half. Egor Koulechov had 13 points.

Florida led 26-22 following an open layup by Gorjok Gak, before the Bulldogs took the lead with 11 straight points. Tyree Crump, Juwan Parker and William “Turtle” Jackson hit 3-pointers to start the run. Maten added a jam for a 33-26 lead.

Jackson had 16 points. Parker had 12.

at No. 20 Clemson 82, No. 19 North Carolina 78: Marcquise Reed had 20 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer after No. 20 Clemson blew a 16-point lead, and the Tigers ended a 10-game losing streak to North Carolina with an 82-78 victory over the 19th-ranked Tar Heels.

The Tigers (18-4, 7-3) were up 44-28 at the half and looked like they would cruise to their first win over the Tar Heels (16-7, 5-5) since January 2010. Instead, Cameron Johnson and Joel Berry II rallied UNC back, with Berry’s jumper tying it at 74 with 2:03 to play.

That’s when Reed struck with his 3 from the left side to put Clemson ahead for good. Reed rebounded Johnson’s miss moments later, and Elijah Thomas made an inside shot to go up 79-74.

North Carolina has its first three-game losing streak since the 2013-14 season.

Clemson fans rushed the court after the school’s second win over North Carolina since March 2004.

Gabe DeVoe had 17 points, including five of Clemson’s season high 15 3-pointers.

Johnson had a career-high 32 points while Berry had 27, 19 of those coming in the second half.

The Tar Heels played almost all of the game without starting forward Theo Pinson, who strained his left shoulder when he crashed hard to the court going for a rebound.

No. 6 Xavier 73, at St. John’s 68: Trevon Bluiett scored 14 points to lead No. 6 Xavier over St. John’s 73-68 on Tuesday night.

Bluiett was one of four players in double-figure scoring for the Musketeers (20-3, 8-2 Big East). Kerem Kanter and Quentin Goodin each had 13 points, and J.P. Macura added 11.

Despite a 31-point performance from Shamorie Ponds, the Red Storm (10-13, 0-11) dropped their 11th straight. Marvin Clark II added 19 points, and Bashir Ahmed had 12.

In the final 2:29, Bluiett made four free throws, and Kanter and Kasier Gates each converted layups. Kanter was aided by a defensive goaltending call on Tariq Owens, which led St. John’s coach Chris Mullin to complain to senior associate commissioner Stu Jackson after the game.

St. John’s committed other errors which aided Xavier’s cause, such as Ahmed taking a shot clock violation and shoving Bluiett on the ensuing possession. Bluiett made both free throws.

A few minutes earlier, Amar Alibegovic fouled out attempting to grab an offensive rebound of Clark’s missed 3.

The Musketeers went into halftime leading 37-32. After falling behind 14-8 at the first media timeout, Xavier outscored St. John’s 29-18 for the remainder of the half.

St. John’s opened the second half with a 13-6 run spanning the first 4:25 to take 45-43 lead.

No. 11 Auburn 79, at Mississippi 70: Bryce Brown scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half to lead No. 11 Auburn over Mississippi 79-70 on Tuesday night.

Auburn (20-2, 8-1 Southeastern Conference) beat Ole Miss for the second time this season. Brown made 9 of 16 shots from the field, including three 3-pointers.

Mustapha Heron added 16 points for the Tigers. Jared Harper had 13 points and seven assists.

Ole Miss (11-11, 4-5) lost for the first time at home during conference play. The Rebels were led by Deandre Burnett, who scored 16 points. Terence Davis, Markel Crawford and Devontae Shuler each added 11.

Auburn hit six 3-pointers in the first half on the way to a 38-36 halftime lead. The Rebels managed to keep the game close despite rampant foul trouble — seven players had two fouls before the break.

Ole Miss trailed the entire second half. The Rebels pulled within 59-55 with eight minutes remaining, but Auburn responded with a 13-2 run and cruised to its fourth straight win.

Ole Miss was hurt by 17 turnovers.

at No. 12 Oklahoma 98, Baylor 96: Trae Young scored 31 of his 44 points in the second half to help No. 12 Oklahoma hold off Baylor 98-96 on Tuesday night.

Young, a freshman guard who leads the nation in scoring and assists, made 11 of 20 field goals and 16 of 19 free throws. It was his fourth game this season with at least 40 points, and the third time in the past six games he has scored that many.

Rashard Odomes scored 18 points, Brady Manek had 16 and Khadeem Lattin added 15 for the Sooners (16-5, 6-3 Big 12).

Oklahoma led 97-96 when Baylor’s Jake Lindsey was fouled with 4.7 seconds remaining. Lindsey missed the free throw and Oklahoma rebounded. Odomes was fouled with 3.9 seconds to play. He made the first free throw and missed the second, but Baylor’s King McClure missed a wild shot at the buzzer.

Manu Lecomte scored 29 points and Nuni Omot scored 23 for Baylor (12-10, 2-7), which lost its fourth straight.

at No. 17 Ohio State 71, Indiana 56: Jae’Sean Tate scored 16 points and No. 17 Ohio State took control early in cruising to a 71-56 win over Indiana on Tuesday night.

Kaleb Wesson added 14 points and Keita Bates-Diop had 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Buckeyes (19-5, 10-1 Big Ten) bounced back from last week’s buzzer-beater loss to Penn State that dropped them three places in the AP Top 25 poll.

Devonte Green scored 20 for the Hoosiers (12-11, 5-6), who have lost three in a row and four of five. Indiana, playing its fourth game in eight days, shot just 36.4 percent from the floor after hitting better than 50 percent of its shots the past three games.

The Hoosiers struggled on defense, too. They had trouble stopping Wesson when he went to the basket in the lane. Ohio State scored 40 points in the paint.

Zach McRoberts hit two quick jump shots, one of them a 3-pointer, in the first 1:14 to put the Hoosiers up by one, but Ohio State reeled off 10 straight points and didn’t relinquish the lead again.

The Buckeyes led 38-23 at halftime on 5-for-5 shooting by Wesson. Indiana couldn’t get any closer than 12 the rest of the way.

at No. 21 Kentucky 83, Vanderbilt 81 OT: Quade Green’s layup with five seconds remaining gave No. 21 Kentucky an 83-81 overtime victory against Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.

Kentucky (17-5, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) overcame a 57-46 deficit with 9 { minutes left to tie it on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s two free throws with three seconds left. The freshman then opened OT with a jumper, PJ Washington made two free throws and Kevin Knox hit a 3-pointer for a 78-74 lead.

Vanderbilt (8-14, 2-7) rallied for a 79-78 edge before Knox finished a three-point play, and that was answered by Clevon Brown’s layup. After Green found open space for the winning layup, Peyton Willis fired a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim and sparked a dog pile at midcourt for the Wildcats.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 30 points for Kentucky, while Knox had 18 and Green 12.

Jeff Roberson had 23 points for the Commodores, who looked to string together consecutive wins for the first time since late last month.

No. 22 Rhode Island 85, at Massachusetts 83: Jeff Dowtin had 19 points and 10 assists, and No. 22 Rhode Island escaped with an 85-83 win over Massachusetts on Tuesday night after the Minutemen botched an intentional missed free throw in the final seconds.

The Rams (18-3, 10-0 Atlantic 10) led by three with 1.8 seconds left when UMass’ Luwane Pipkins went to the free-throw line. Pipkins made the first shot and missed the second on purpose, but he was called for a lane violation while grabbing the rebound.

Rhode Island has won 13 straight games.

Jared Terrell led the Rams with 21 points and fueled a 21-2 run in the first half, capped by E.C. Matthews’ 3-pointer with under eight minutes left. Rhode Island led 44-41 at halftime.

Pipkins paced the Minutemen (10-13, 3-7) with 27 points. He came in as the A-10’s third-leading scorer at 19.9 points per game.

Dowtin added a few key free throws late in the second half, and Andre Berry had 15 points for Rhode Island.

Rhode Island has sweated out late drama in two straight victories. The Rams rallied from 15 down to stave off an upset over the weekend against Duquesne, then shot 81.3 percent from the field Tuesday in the second half. They made 8 of 15 3-point attempts, led by three from Dowtin.

SOUTHLAND MEN

WEDNESDAY

UC Riverside at Cal Poly, 7 p.m.

UC Irvine at Long Beach State, 7:30 p.m.