La Salle 72, UMass 71
The Explorers came to town and became the first team this season to topple UMass on its floor, 72-71.
La Salle (18-9, 7-5) was led by the trio of Ramon Galloway, Tyreek Duren and Jerrell Wright who each scored 15 points in the victory. It was a tough loss for the Minutemen, who now fall into a tie with the Explorers in the Atlantic 10.
UMass (18-8, 7-5) had a furious charge late in the second half to actually take the lead 63-62 with just under four minutes left, but the Explorers out-dueled them in the final moments.
Maxie Esho led the Minutemen in scoring with 18 points on the day. His team will need to regroup quickly with a big game against Xavier on Tuesday coming up.
Marquette 79, UConn 64
The Huskies were totally embarrassed on their own floor Saturday afternoon.
Marquette took apart Jim Calhoun's team, winning 79-64 at the XL Center to further UConn's chances of missing the NCAA tournament.
The No. 13 Golden Eagles went on a 23-9 run late in the first half and never looked back. The duo of Jae Crowder and Darius Johnson-Odom was simply too much to handle for UConn. Crowder finished with 29 points and 12 rebounds while Johnson-Odom poured in 24 points as well. Marquette also shot an incredible 10 of 22 from downtown.
Jeremy Lamb led the Huskies with 19 points, but in vein. Calhoun must be beside himself having to watch from a distance. At one point, his group was able to cut the lead down to four in the second half, before Ryan Boatright took a technical foul. From there, Marquette pulled away with ease.
UConn can't dwell on the loss though, with Villanova on tap for Monday.
Harvard 66, Yale 51
Yale never had much of a chance.
The Crimson exploded out of the gates at the Lavietes Pavilion, going on a 23-6 run in the first half en route to a 66-51 victory.
Harvard (23-3, 9-1) shot over 54 percent from the field on the way to its 27th consecutive home victory. The Crimson were led by Brandyn Curry who scored 18 points to compliment his five assists.
Yale (17-7, 7-3) put in a hard days work but to no avail. Senior Greg Mangano had a big day with 22 points and 11 rebounds, but just couldn't get enough support to pull out a victory.
Duke 75, Boston College 50
A tough season just keeps getting uglier for Boston College.
The Eagles were drubbed 75-50 by the No. 4 Blue Devils at home. With just over three minutes remaining in the first half, Boston College was only down five and looked to be making a game of it. Unfortunately, Duke was just getting warmed up.
The Blue Devils (23-4, 10-2) then went on a massive 40-18 run, destroying any notions of a close contest. Austin Rivers had 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists for Mike Krzyzewski's squad. Seth Curry also added 18 points for Duke on the rout.
As for the Eagles (8-19, 3-10), they received a quality evening from Ryan Anderson who scored 21 points and added eight rebounds.
For Steve Donahue it's back to the drawing board for a game at Wake Forest next Saturday.
Other scores:
Loyola (MD) 69, Boston 56
In a non-conference tilt, Loyola took care of Boston 69-56 to drop the Terriers under .500. Boston (14-15, 10-4) was undone by Robert Olson, who hit five of six three-pointers to lead Loyola. Darryl Partin led all scorers for the Terriers with 17 points.
Holy Cross 54, Bucknell 52
The Crusaders narrowly escaped against the Bison, 54-52.
Holy Cross (13-13, 7-5) came out on fire, leading 28-10 after the first half. However, Bucknell (20-8, 10-2) almost pulled off a miraculous comeback before falling just short. Justin Burrell was a key to the win, scoring 15 points.
Stony Brook 76, Northeastern 69
The Seawolves went on the road and took care of business 76-69 against a struggling Northeastern squad.
The Huskies (12-15, 8-8) were led by Joel Smith who scored 20 points in a losing effort. On the other side, Stony Brook (18-8, 10-2) got a great all-around effort by Tommy Brenton who had 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
For all of your Boston area college basketball needs, be sure to check out SB Nation Boston. For any updates and news on UConn, head over to The UConn Blog. For Boston College news and notes, direct yourself to BC Interruption immediately.