No. 2 Syracuse beats St. John's
NEW YORK -- C.J. Fair and Tyler Ennis both scored 21 points, and No. 2 Syracuse pulled out a 68-63 victory against St. John's on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Fair hit three big shots from the same spot -- about 15 feet from the basket on the right baseline. The smooth left-handed shooter tied the game from there at 58 with 6:51 to go, then he made two more in the final 3 minutes as the Orange (10-0) were able to open a lead as big as seven points.
Ennis had 15 points in the first half as Syracuse took a 39-27 lead. The Red Storm (6-3) chipped away and were able to tie it at 53 on three free throws by Rysheed Jordan with 9:16 to go. There were then four lead changes and three ties as Syracuse became the second highly ranked team to escape this weekend.
No. 1 Arizona beat Michigan 72-70 on Saturday.
D'Angelo Harrison led St. John's with 21 points on 6-of-19 shooting, including 1 of 5 from 3-point range.
No. 10 Villanova rolls past La Salle
VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Darrun Hilliard scored 21 points and Josh Hart added 13, lifting the undefeated No. 10 Villanova past La Salle 73-52 on Sunday.
The Wildcats are 10-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 season, and three shy of matching the program-best 13-0 start in 1937-38.
The Wildcats have now thumped city rivals Penn, Saint Joseph's and the Explorers (5-5) by at least 20 points in each game.
The Wildcats opened the second half on a 15-5 run that helped them build a comfortable lead. They shot well better than 50 percent for most of the half to beat La Salle for the 11th time in the past 12 games.
La Salle's Jerrell Wright scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half.
Brown, No. 24 Missouri top Western Michigan
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Jabari Brown scored 15 points while Jordan Clarkson and Earnest Ross both added 12 to help No. 24 Missouri defeat Western Michigan 66-60 on Sunday.
Missouri (10-0) looked rusty at times after an eight-day break for final exams and clung to a 47-45 lead with 10:46 remaining. Tony Criswell's jumper two minutes later capped a 9-0 run as the Tigers pulled away.
Missouri stretched its NCAA-best homecourt winning streak to 25 games and has won 80 consecutive games against nonconference opponents at Mizzou Arena dating to the 2005-06 opener.
St. Louis native David Brown led Western Michigan (5-4) with 18 points and Shayne Whittington added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Missouri scored 80 points against West Virginia and then-No. 18 UCLA in its previous two games, but struggled to maintain that momentum into Sunday.
