Missouri adds to Georgia’s struggles

Thursday, January 17, 2013

— Earnest Ross scored 15 points while surviving two spills to help No. 17 Missouri rebound from its biggest setback of the season with a 79-62 victory over Georgia on Wednesday night.

Alex Oriakhi had 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Tigers (13-3, 2-1), who were held to a season-low 49 points in a 15-point loss at Mississippi on Saturday. Their second game without leading scorer Laurence Bowers, who has a sprained right knee, was a major improvement for a team that is 10-0 at home this season and 26-1 at the Mizzou Arena in two seasons under Coach Frank Haith.

Vincent Williams had a career-best 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting for Georgia (6-10, 0-3), nine more than his previous best after entering with an average of 4.1 points per game. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the Bulldogs’ lone player averaging at least 10 points, added 15 points.

Ross was held to three points at Mississippi while missing 6 of 7 shots, Oriakhi had four points and six rebounds and Missouri was 2 for 18 from three-point range. The Tigers were 9 for 22 against Georgia, getting three each from Ross and Jabari Brown, who added 15 points.

Ross missed the last 2:52 of the first half after injuring his left leg. Then he landed hard on his hip after getting fouled under the basket with just under 6 minutes to go, making 1 of 2 free throws not long before limping to the bench for good.

Georgia is in a stretch of three Top 25 opponents in five games that started with a 33-point loss at Florida on Jan. 9 and ends with Florida, No. 10, at home Jan. 23. The Bulldogs have lost three in a row but shot 46 percent.

Haith juggled his lineup, with forwards Tony Criswell and Stefan Janovic each getting their first start in place of Ross and Keion Bell. Jankovic scored Missouri’s first five points but lasted just 4 minutes in the half after drawing three fouls, the last just 37 seconds after re-entering.

Ross scored a career-high 30 points for Auburn against Georgia on Feb. 5, 2011.

SOUTH CAROLINA 80, LSU 73, OT

BATON ROUGE - Michael Carrera’s 23 points led four South Carolina players with 10 or more as the Gamecocks (11-5, 1-2) defeated LSU (9-5, 0-3) in overtime.

Carrera scored 21 points after halftime, including 10 in overtime, when the Gamecocks outscored the Tigers 13-4.

South Carolina jumped out to an 11-point first-half lead, 34-23, by capitalizing on 11 LSU turnovers, but the Tigers closed the half with a 10-1 run to trail 35-33.

LSU connected on five of its first seven three-point tries in the second half, including four by Anthony Hickey, who scored 18 points. He also grabbed 7 rebounds, had 3 assists and 2 steals.

Unlike Saturday’s home loss to Florida, when they were outrebounded 45-34, the Tigers beat South Carolina 40-36 on the boards. They lost the turnover battle, 22-15.

ALABAMA 75, MISSISSIPPI STATE 43

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Levi Randolph scored 18 points, Rodney Cooper added 17 and Alabama (10-6, 2-1) coasted to a victory over Mississippi State (7-8, 2-1).

Alabama opened the second half with five consecutive three-pointers - including the first three by Trevor Lacey - to push a 30-22 halftime lead to 45-22. It was part of a 21-0 run going back to the first half.

The Crimson Tide made 8 of 13 shots (61.5 percent) from three-point range and 31 of 58 (53.4 percent) from the field.

Nick Jacobs added 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Lacey scored 11 points and had a team-high six assists.

Mississippi State had its three-game winning streak end. Fred Thomas led the Bulldogs with 10 points and Craig Sword added nine. The Bulldogs were outrebounded 35-23 and committed 21 turnovers.

WEDNESDAY’S TOP 25 MEN

Andrew Smith scored 15 points, Kellen Dunham added 11 and No. 13 Butler used a stifling defense to pull away from visiting Richmond for a 62-47 victory in its first Atlantic 10 Conference home game. Butler (15-2, 3-0), which has won 12 in a row, was without leading scorer Rotnei Clarke because of a severely sprained neck. Without the former Arkansas Razorback Clarke, the Bulldogs relied on a defense that held the Spiders to a season-low 32.7 percent shooting. Richmond (11-7, 1-2) was led by Darien Brothers with 12 points but has lost two straight and five of its last seven. Butler made it look easy, using first-half runs of 7-0 and 8-0 to take a 33-21 halftime lead and never let the Spiders get closer than nine in the second half. ... Alex Len dropped in a missed shot by teammate Pe’Shon Howard with 00.9 seconds left, giving Maryland a stunning 51-50 victory over No. 14 North Carolina State in College Park, Md. Howard drove the left side and came up short on a 5-footer, but the 7-foot-1 Len grabbed the ball in front of the rim and eased it through the hoop.After the Wolfpack failed on a desperation heave on the other end, thousands of students in the sellout crowd stormed the court to celebrate Maryland’s first win over a ranked team since March 3, 2010, against No. 4 Duke. Len led Maryland with 10 points. Maryland (14-3, 2-2) has won 10 of 11 against the Wolfpack (14-3, 3-1), including five in a row at home. ... Adreian Payne scored 20 points after spending the first half on the bench following a morning scuffle with teammate Brandon Dawson, and No. 18 Michigan State held on for a 81-72 victory against Penn State. Payne, a sturdy 6-foot-10 forward, made up for lost time by dominating the post in the second half. He had 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in a stretch of six-plus minutes after entering the game with about 16:30 left. Payne added a three-pointer - only his second made 3 of the year - in the middle of a 20-8 run to help the Spartans (15-3, 4-1) pull ahead midway through the second half. Penn State (8-9, 0-5) stayed closed much of the night in large part because of Jermaine Marshall, who scored 22 of his career-high 29 points after halftime.

...Reserve forward Davante Gardner scored 17 points to lead No. 25 Marquette to a 69-62 victory over injury-depleted Seton Hall, which had just eight available players in Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles (13-3, 4-0) got 12 points from Todd Mayo to win their season-high sixth consecutive game. Vander Blue had 11 points and four assists as the three Golden Eagles combined to go 17 of 18 from the free-throw line to claim their 19th consecutive home victory. Aaron Cosby had 15 points for Seton Hall (12-6, 1-4), which never led in the game. ... Rodney McGruder scored 21 points and No. 16 Kansas State stretched its winning streak to seven games with a 67-54 victory at Big 12 newcomer TCU in Fort Worth. The Wildcats (14-2, 3-0) got off to a slow start before taking control with a 19-4 run midway through the first half.McGruder’s layup with 11 minutes left in the first half tied the game at 10, after Kansas State had fallen behind 10-5. The Wildcats led for good when McGruder had a defensive rebound and turned that into a fast-break three-pointer by Will Spradling. A floater by McGruder stretched the lead to 24-14. Adrick McKinney had 18 points and nine rebounds for TCU (9-8, 0-4). ... Tony Snell scored 22 points and Hugh Greenwood added 15 to lead No. 19 New Mexico to a 79-74 overtime victory over host Boise State. Snell and Greenwood dominated the overtime, teaming for nine of the Lobos’ 16 points. The victory was the third in a row for the Lobos (16-2, 3-0). Derrick Marks scored 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting for Boise State (13-3, 1-1), which saw its seven-game winning streak snapped.

Sports, Pages 20 on 01/17/2013