Florida revels in championships
It was a night of champions in Gainesville, Fla.
Taurean Green scored 17 points and Corey Brewer added 13 to lead No. 2 Florida to a 79-72 victory over Arkansas last night. At halftime, the sellout crowd at the O'Connell Center welcomed the Gators' football team, which beat Ohio State, 41-14, Monday night in the BCS championship game. That made Florida the first school to hold the national titles in Division 1 football and men's basketball at the same time.
The Gators (15-2, 2-0 SEC) built an early 12-point lead, then spent the rest of the night holding off the Razorbacks (12-4, 1-1), who briefly took the lead before faltering over the last 10 minutes.
Joakim Noah and Al Horford both scored 11 points for Florida, which has all five starters back from the team that won the school's first basketball title last spring.
Wisconsin 72, Ohio State 69 -- Kammron Taylor scored 25 points and the No. 3 Badgers (16-1, 2-0 Big Ten) survived a late charge by Greg Oden (10 points, 7 rebounds, 6 blocks) and the No. 5 Buckeyes (13-3, 2-1) in Madison, Wis.
Texas A&M 61, Baylor 51 -- Joseph Jones, who was violently ill at halftime, had 6 points and 3 rebounds in a three-minute stretch to lead the No. 8 Aggies (14-2, 2-0 Big 12) in Waco, Texas.
Alabama 71, LSU 61 -- Richard Hendrix scored 18 points and the No. 14 Crimson Tide (14-2, 1-1 SEC) took advantage of cold shooting by the No. 13 Tigers (11-4, 0-1) in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Clemson 87, North Carolina St. 76 -- Vernon Hamilton scored 21 points to lead the No. 17 Tigers (17-0, 3-0 ACC) in Raleigh, N.C., to match the best start in school history and remain the only unbeaten team in Division 1.
Notre Dame 61, West Virginia 58 -- Russell Carter scored 19 points and kept West Virginia's Frank Young from getting off a shot at the buzzer as the No. 22 Irish (14-2, 2-1 Big East) beat the No. 21 Mountaineers (13-2, 3-1), in South Bend, Ind.
Holy Cross 66, Army 42 -- Keith Simmons had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists to lead the Crusaders at the Hart Center.
BU 65, Maine 63 -- Kevin Reed of Yarmouth scored 29 points, but it was not enough as the Terriers (4-10, 1-1 America East) held off the Black Bears (5-10, 0-3) at Case Gym. The Terriers were led by 17 points from Newton North product Corey Lowe.
Vermont 62, UNH 60 -- Marqus Blakely drained a 3-pointer in the final second of play as the Catamounts (10-5, 2-0 America East) stunned the Wildcats (4-11, 1-2) in Durham, N.H. Wildcats senior Blagoj Janev recorded a career-high 31 points on 11 of 11 from the field (including 5 for 5 from beyond the arc).
Bentley 77, Franklin Pierce 65 -- Yusuf Abdul-Ali scored a career-best 20 points as the fourth-ranked Falcons (15-0, 11-0 Northeast-10) won in Waltham.
Bates 90, University of New England 46 -- Rob Stockwell (Temple, N.H.) had 18 points and 7 rebounds as the Bobcats (11-0) extended their best start ever with a victory in Lewiston, Maine.
George Washington 57, Richmond 50 -- Jazmine Adair had 11 points and 10 rebounds as the No. 12 Colonials beat the Spiders in Washington.
Rhode Island 71, UMass 69 -- A Safi Mojidi free throw with 3.2 seconds left in overtime gave the Rams (3-12, 1-0 Atlantic 10) a win over the Minutewomen (10-6, 0-1) in Kingston, R.I.
Southern Maine 75, R.I. College 63 -- Senior forward Ashley Marble had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the fifth-ranked Huskies (11-1, 4-0 Little East) to a win in Providence, giving coach Gary Fifield his 500th career victory.
UMass-Boston 65, Plymouth St. 62 --Senior guard Kristen Reske (Duxbury) hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for her only points of the game to lift the host Beacons (6-6, 2-2 Little East).
