Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond combined to score 10 unanswered points during a decisive second-half run on Sunday afternoon as No. 9 St. John’s extended its lead in the Big East standings with a 79-73 win over No. 24 Creighton in New York.
RJ Luis Jr. posted a double-double with 23 points and a career-high-tying 14 rebounds for St. John’s (22-4, 13-2 Big East), which moved two games ahead of Creighton (18-8, 11-4) in the conference while avenging a 57-56 loss to the Bluejays on Dec. 31.
Richmond (19 points, 10 rebounds) also recorded a double-double while Ejiofor (18 points, nine rebounds) fell one board shy of doing so for the Red Storm, who won despite shooting just 33.3 percent from 3-point land (6 of 18) and 58.6 percent from the free-throw line (17 of 29).
Steven Ashworth had 23 points and 11 assists for Creighton, which led by 10 points in the first half but shot just 35.3 percent overall (12 of 34) in the second, where the Bluejays missed 11 straight shots during a scoring drought that lasted nearly seven minutes.
Wichita State 84, No. 14 Memphis 79 (OT)
Corey Washington scored 18 points and added 15 assists, Quincy Ballard notched 19 points and the Shockers stunned the No. 14 Tigers in a comeback overtime win.
Bijan Cortes contributed 13 points and Xavier Bell had 12 as Wichita State (15-10, 5-7 AAC) won its fourth game in a row.
Tyrese Hunter had a game-high 24 points and PJ Haggerty chipped in 15 for Memphis (21-5, 11-2), which saw its eight-game winning streak snapped in the loss. The Tigers remain atop the AAC standings.
No. 20 Michigan 86, Ohio State 83
Danny Wolf scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Wolverines ran their winning streak to six games with a victory over the Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio.
Vladislav Goldin led Michigan (20-5, 12-2 Big Ten) with 20 points and had 10 rebounds as the Wolverines extended their conference lead to a full game over Michigan State.
Devin Royal scored 26, Bruce Thornton added 17 and John Mobley Jr. had 16 for Ohio State (15-11, 7-8), who missed out on a second straight win.
No. 25 Maryland 101, Iowa 75
Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 26 points, seven assists and five rebounds as the Terrapins rallied in the second half to rout the Hawkeyes in a Big Ten matchup in College Park, Md.
Derik Queen chipped in 18 points and 13 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double. Rodney Rice had 18 points and every starter scored in double figures for Maryland (20-6, 10-5 Big Ten), which made 58.2 percent of its shots from the field while owning the glass with a 40-28 rebounding advantage.
Pryce Sandfort notched 15 points, Payton Sandfort had a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double and Seydou Traore chipped in 14 points for Iowa (14-11, 5-9), which led by four at the break.
–Field Level Media