Purdue and Xavier barely avoided road upsets. Arizona State wasn’t so lucky.
JaJuan Johnson hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds left Thursday night to give the No. 19 Boilermakers a 63-61 win over Northwestern, while No. 15 Xavier got a scoring spurt from C.J. Anderson that helped the Musketeers hold off Rhode Island 67-65.
“We were fortunate to win the game,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said.
Purdue (13-4, 2-2 Big Ten) got a few breaks, too. The Boilermakers were down 14 points before they rallied, thanks in part to seven missed free throws by Northwestern (8-6, 0-4) in the second half.
“No question we got some breaks in the last five minutes of the game,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Northwestern clearly outplayed us most of the game and we did a good job of clawing back in.”
In other ranked games Thursday, it was: Southern Cal 61, No. 16 Arizona State 49; No. 4 Connecticut 67, St. John’s 55; No. 5 North Carolina 83, Virginia 61; No. 9 UCLA 83, Arizona 60; No. 17 Butler 78, Loyola of Chicago 55; and No. 18 Minnesota 78, Wisconsin 74 in overtime.
e game against Illinois a little more than two weeks ago, missing a potential winning free throw with about two seconds to go to send the game to overtime – where Purdue lost.
This time Johnson hit both – he tried to miss the second but banked it in.
“I knew I needed to make those free throws, a chance to try and redeem myself from Illinois,” Johnson said.
In Evanston, Ill., Northwestern had just enough time to get off a final shot, but Craig Moore’s long heave was short.
In Kingston, R.I., Anderson scored nine of his 11 points in the first 3:55 of the second half and Derrick Brown had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Musketeers (14-2, 3-0 Atlantic 10).
Xavier, which held its last five opponents under 40 percent shooting from the floor, help Rhode Island (11-6, 0-2) to 37.1 percent shooting and outrebounded the Rams 48-36.
In Los Angeles, the Sun Devils managed to lose even though the Trojans shot 1-for-12 from the field and committed seven turnovers in the first 11 minutes.
Freshman DeMar DeRozan scored 19 of his career-high 22 points in the second half for USC, which is 9-1 at home. Dwight Lewis added 18 points for the Trojans (11-5, 2-2 Pac-10), who snapped a two-game skid.
-7 from the foul line.
Rihards Kuksiks led Arizona State (14-3, 3-2) with 16 points.
No. 4 Connecticut 67, St. John’s 55
At New York, freshman guard Kemba Walker scored 21 points and senior forward Jeff Adrien added 17 points and 11 rebounds for UConn.
The win was the fourth straight for the Huskies (15-1, 4-1 Big East) since they lost their conference opener at home to Georgetown.
Sophomore guard Paris Horne had a career-high 24 points for the Red Storm (10-6, 1-3), who lost for the fifth time in six games. Their only win was over then-No. 7 Notre Dame.
No. 5 North Carolina 83, Virginia 61
At Charlottesville, Va., Tyler Hansbrough scored 28 points and Ty Lawson had 19 to help North Carolina end an uncharacteristic two-game ACC losing streak.
The Tar Heels (15-2, 1-2) lost at home to Boston College and on the road at No. 2 Wake Forest, but avoided their first 0-3 conference start since the 1996-97 season.
Virginia (7-7, 1-2) was led by Jamil Tucker with 12 points and Calvin Baker and Mike Scott with 11 each, but scoring leader Sylven Landesberg scored only two, 16.5 below his average.
No. 9 UCLA 83, Arizona 60
At Los Angeles, Nikola Dragovic led five UCLA players in double figures with 15 points and the Bruins got their 10th consecutive victory and 15th in a row at home.
and Darren Collison and Michael Roll scored 12 points each for UCLA (14-2, 4-0 Pac-10).
The Bruins have won eight in a row against the Wildcats, the longest streak for either team in the last 24 seasons.
Jordan Hill scored 22 points and Chase Budinger added 14 for Arizona (11-6, 2-3).
No. 17 Butler 78, Loyola of Chicago 55
At Chicago, Shelvin Mack scored 20 points, and Matt Howard had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Bulldogs (15-1, 6-0 Horizon League) won their seventh straight.
Freshman Gordon Hayward had 11 points for Butler, which improved to 7-1 on the road.
Ross Forman scored 13 points and Marcus Thomas had 12 for the Ramblers (10-8, 2-4).
No. 18 Minnesota 78, Wisconsin 74, OT
At Madison, Wis., Lawrence Westbrook hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with two seconds left in regulation, then scored nine points in overtime for the Gophers.
Westbrook scored 29 points to lead Minnesota (16-1, 4-1 Big Ten), which rallied from a nine-point deficit with 3:24 remaining for a rare road victory at the Kohl Center. Minnesota hadn’t won at Wisconsin since Feb. 12, 1994.
Marcus Landry scored 18 for the Badgers (12-5, 3-2), who have lost two straight.
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