Published Sunday, March 07, 2010 12:17 AM

TOP 25: No. 1 Syracuse falls

Wire reports

Louisville 78, No. 1 Syracuse 68: LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kyle Kuric scored a career-high 22 points all in the second half, and Louisville upset No. 1 Syracuse on Saturday to provide one more highlight at Freedom Hall.

Louisville (20-11, 11-7 Big East) may also have earned a return trip to the NCAA tournament by sweeping the season series from the Orange (28-3, 15-3), whose only other loss came to Pitt.

Kuric made 9 of 11 shots -- including four 3-pointers -- to make for a happy ending at Freedom Hall, before Louisville moves from its 54-year-old home into a new downtown arena this fall.

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No. 4 Duke 82, North Carolina 50: DURHAM, N.C. -- Kyle Singler scored 19 of his 25 points in the decisive first half and No. 4 Duke routed North Carolina.

Jon Scheyer had 20 points in his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Blue Devils (26-5, 13-3), who earned their most lopsided home win over their fiercest rival.

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No. 7 Purdue 64, Penn St. 60: STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- JaJuan Johnson had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Keaton Grant scored 17 as the No. 7 Boilermakers clinched a share of its first Big Ten title in 14 years.

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No. 10 West Virginia 68, No. 9 Villanova 66, OT: PHILADELPHIA -- Da'Sean Butler scored 21 points, including the decisive basket with 5.8 seconds left in overtime to give the No. 10 Mountaineers the win.

Scottie Reynolds, who led the Wildcats with 17 points, missed an open 3-point attempt from the corner at the buzzer.

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No. 12 Butler 68, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 59: INDIANAPOLIS -- Matt Howard and Ronald Nored combined for all 10 points in a decisive run that led No. 12 Butler past Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Horizon League tournament semifinals.

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South Carolina 77, No. 13 Vanderbilt 73: NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Devan Downey scored 26 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:48 left that broke a 69-all tie in an upset of the No. 13 Commodores.

Sam Muldrow added 20 points as South Carolina (15-15, 6-10 SEC) snapped a six-game skid.

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No. 14 BYU 107, TCU 77: FORT WORTH -- Jonathan Tavernari scored 23 points, Jackson Emery and Charles Abouo added 22 each and the No. 14 Cougars won their 12th straight against TCU.

Jimmer Fredette added 18 points for BYU (28-4, 13-3 Mountain West).

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No. 16 Tennessee 75, Mississippi State 59: STARKVILLE, Miss. -- J.P. Prince had 16 points, Scotty Hopson added 14 and the No. 16 Vols held on for their third straight win.

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No. 17 Pittsburgh 83, Rutgers 54: PITTSBURGH -- Gilbert Brown scored 19 points and the No. 17 Panthers took control early with a 19-2 run that helped them wrap up the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament.

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No. 19 Georgetown 74, Cincinnati 47: WASHINGTON -- Six days after being diagnosed with diabetes, Austin Freeman scored 24 points to help the No. 19 Hoyas clinch a first-round bye in the Big East tournament.

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No. 20 Temple 70, George Washington 57: PHILADELPHIA -- Micheal Eric scored 18 points to help No. 20 Temple win a share of the Atlantic 10 title and earn the top need in next week's conference tournament.

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No. 22 Maryland 74, Virginia 68: CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Greivis Vasquez scored 23 points, and No. 22 Maryland made the most of a late technical foul on Virginia coach Tony Bennett to withstand a spirited comeback.

The Terps (23-7, 13-3 ACC) clinched at least a tie for the conference regular season title after the Cavaliers rallied without suspended scoring leader Sylven Landesberg.

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No. 24 UTEP 52, UAB 50: EL PASO -- Derrick Caracter scored the final six points for UTEP, including a game-winning dunk with 1 second left.

Myron Strong scored 15 points and Caracter had 13 for UTEP (24-5, 15-1 Conference USA), which rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half.

The Miners held the Blazers (23-7, 11-5) to one field goal in a span of 10:47 while whittling away at the lead. Caracter's two free throws tied it at 48 with 2:46 remaining, and his layup put UTEP ahead 50-48 with 43 seconds to go.

After Aaron Johnson's jumper tied it with 6 seconds left, the Miners called timeout. Julyan Stone then passed to Caracter for the winning dunk.

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No. 25 Xavier 93, St. Bonaventure 72: CINCINNATI -- Jordan Crawford scored 22 points as No. 25 Xavier won a share of its fourth straight Atlantic 10 title.

The Musketeers (23-7, 14-2) share the title with No. 20 Temple.

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