Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Villanova upsets No. 5 Louisville Arcidiacono's 15 leads Wildcats over Cardinals

Achraf Yacoubou hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer late in the second half to help Villanova upset No. 5 Louisville 73-64 on Tuesday night.

The Wildcats (12-7, 3-3 Big East) led by as many as 10 points in the first half and rallied late in the second to send the Cardinals to their second straight loss. Louisville (16-3, 4-2) had an 11-game winning streak end in a 70-68 loss to Syracuse on Saturday.

Ryan Arcidiacono scored 15 points, and JayVaughn Pinkston and Mouphtaou Yarou each scored 11 for Villanova.

The Wildcats students packed behind each basket stormed the court in a wild celebration for a win coach Jay Wright's struggling program badly needed.

Yacoubou hit the go-ahead 3 with just less than four minutes left and the Wildcats held on from there.

Peyton Siva had 15 points and 13 assists for the Cardinals and Wayne Blackshear scored 17 points. The Cardinals didn't play like a team that was just the No. 1 team in the country. The Cardinals, a 71 percent free throw shooting team, were 12 of 24 from the line and shot 40 percent from the field.

Darrun Hilliard of the Wildcats picked off a pass at halfcourt and was fouled on the driving, crashing layup. He made the free throw to cut it to three. Yarou stepped back for the jumper to make it a one-point game. Pinkston tipped in the go-ahead basket for a 53-52 lead.

The Cardinals missed five straight from the free throw line (including two front ends of 1-and-1s) to keep Villanova's simmering upset hopes alive. Chane Behanan hit one to end the streak and tie the game at 53-all.

Yacoubou snapped the tie with a baseline 3 in front of Villanova's bench that sent his teammates into a frenzy. James Bell followed with another 3-pointer for a six-point lead and the upset win only 2:50 away.

Behanan fumbled the ball along the baseline and the Wildcats pounced. Arcidiacono was fouled and made two free throws for a 62-55 lead.

Kansas 59, Kansas State 55: Travis Releford scored 12 points and No. 3 Kansas held off No. 11 Kansas State down the stretch for a victory that gave the Jayhawks sole possession of first place in the Big 12.

Ben McLemore and Jeff Withey added 11 points each for the Jayhawks (17-1, 5-0), who pushed their nation-leading winning streak to 16 games -- matching the third-longest under coach Bill Self -- and ended the Wildcats' 12-game home winning streak.

Pittsburgh 68, Providence 64: Lancaster native Lamar Patterson scored 17 points to lead Pittsburgh.

The Panthers (16-4, 4-3 Big East) never trailed the Friars (10-9, 2-5), but never led by more than 12.

Patterson made 7 of 10 shots from the field and led the Panthers with seven rebounds.

J.J. Moore, Talib Zanna and Tray Woodall each scored nine points for the Panthers.

Bryce Cotton led the Friars with 24 points, shooting 4-for-9 from 3-point range. Kadeem Batts added 17 and led the team with nine rebounds.

Wake Forest 86, N.C. State 84: Devin Thomas scored 25 points to lead Wake Forest to the win over the 18th-ranked Wolfpack and put an end to a five-game losing streak to N.C. State.

Thomas, a freshman forward, hadn't scored more than 12 points in a game this season but was able to get loose against N.C. State, which played most of the game without top forward C.J. Leslie.

Michigan State 49, Wisconsin 47: Keith Appling scored 19 points and Branden Dawson added 18 to lead No. 13 Michigan State to a victory at Wisconsin.

Mike Bruesewitz led Wisconsin (13-6, 4-2 Big Ten) with 10 points.

Ohio State 72, Iowa 63: Deshaun Thomas, who missed part of the second half with a cut above his eye, scored 16 points and No. 14 Ohio State built a big lead and then held on to beat Iowa.

Thomas, the Big Ten's leading scorer at 21 points per game, sat out about three minutes while an open cut over his right eye was bandaged.

Missouri 71, South Carolina 65: Earnest Ross and Jabari Brown hit key 3-pointers in the final 1:11 and the No. 22 Tigers overcame 5-for-27 shooting from long range and a 13-point second-half deficit to beat the Gamecocks.

Ross had a career-best 21 points and Brown had 17 for Missouri (14-4, 3-2 Southeastern Conference), which is 11-0 at home this season and has won 12 straight at the Mizzou Arena since losing to Kansas State and coach Frank Martin, now in his first year at South Carolina.