PHILADELPHIA — For one night free throw shooting in the Big East turned upside down.
No. 17 Syracuse, last in the 16-team league in free throw shooting at 65.5 percent, made the ones that counted Monday night in a 69-64 victory over No. 15 Villanova, the conference’s best team at 76.8 percent.
Scoop Jardine and Rick Jackson - a couple of Philly kids - scored a combined 38 points and freshman Dion Waiters, another Philadelphia product, and Jackson made the final free throws that sealed the victory.
“We’ve been pretty good at the end of games,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “We’ve been pretty good when we need them and tonight we needed them.”
Jardine had 20 points and six assists for the Orange (23-6, 10-6 Big East), while Jackson had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks.
The victory was the sixth this season over a ranked team for Syracuse, tying it with No. 5 Texas for the most in the nation.
The teams swapped road victories, with Villanova winning 83-72 at Syracuse on Jan. 22.
“After they beat us like that with all those threes [11], we got them off their spots and our guards did a great job of staying in front of them,” Jackson said.
Corey Stokes returned from missing three games because of a turf toe injury to lead the Wildcats (21-7, 9-6) with 24 points, including matching his season high with five three pointers.
“I felt great,” Stokes said. “It’s always good to be back on the floor with your teammates. We just have to work on our defense and get better.”
It was at the free throw line where the teams traded places.
Villanova was 17 of 27 at the line. Stokes, third in the nation at 93.5 percent, went 5 of 8.
Syracuse went 13 of 17 from the line, a performance topped off by Waiters making two with 14.1 seconds left for a 67-64 lead, and Jackson making two - the second a bank shot- with 4.6 seconds to go for the final margin.
“I had to make up for the one I missed,” Waiters said of the missed front end of a 1-and-1 with 37 seconds left.” NO. 3 KANSAS 92, OKLAHOMA STATE 65
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Marcus Morris had 27 points and No. 3 Kansas brushed off the suspension of point guard Tyshawn Taylor, romping past Oklahoma State.
The Jayhawks (26-2, 11-2 Big 12) hit eight of their first 10 shots and pulled away from the outmanned Cowboys with an 18-2 run that led to a 52-28 halftime lead.
Marshall Moses had 27 points for Oklahoma State (16-11, 4-9).
Taylor, a 6-3 junior who has struggled at times to replace Sherron Collins at the point, was suspended indefinitely earlier Monday for violating unspecified team rules.
Sophomore Elijah Johnson, who started in his place, had 15 points and was 4 for 4 from behind the three-point arc.
Sports, Pages 19 on 02/22/2011