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College roundup: Arizona tops Duke, wins NIT Season Tip-Off

In a game that featured two of the top freshmen in country, Arizona’s Aaron Gordon (11) and Duke’s Jabari Parker (1), it was Gordon’s Wildcats who came away with the victory.Jason DeCrow/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nick Johnson scored all but 2 of his 15 points in the second half and No. 4 Arizona beat No. 6 Duke, 72-66, on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

‘‘We’re an all-around team. Really you could see it in the box score. It was pretty even all the way around,’’ said Johnson, the tournament’s MVP, referring to the five starters scoring in double figures. ‘‘We’re a good team and we can play with anybody.’’

The game was expected to be a matchup of two of the best freshmen in the country, and although Aaron Gordon of Arizona and Jabari Parker of Duke didn’t spend a lot of time covering each other, both were key factors in the outcome.

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Gordon finished with 10 points and seven rebounds and came up big with a late dunk on an alley-oop pass, then fed Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for a dunk less than a minute later to give the Wildcats (7-0) a 61-51 lead with 3:59 to play.

Parker, who had 19 points, his first game with fewer than 20 this season, was 7 of 21 from the field. Duke fell to 6-2.

The victory gave Arizona its fourth NIT Season Tip-Off title, tying Duke for the most ever.

Michigan State 98, Mount St. Mary’s 65 — Keith Appling netted 17 points off the bench to lead the top-ranked Spartans to a rout of the Mountaineers.

The Spartans (7-0) wrapped up another successful early part of the season — the last time it lost at home in November was to a David Robinson-led Navy team Nov. 29, 1986.

With the victory, the Spartans have won 74 straight games against unranked non-conference opponents at home. They are off to their best start since opening the 2000-01 season 12-0.

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Villanova 63, Kansas 59 — Ryan Arcidiacono’s 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left put the Wildcats on top for good, and Villanova (6-0) upset the second-ranked Jayhawks in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Arcidiacono had missed all five of his previous shots, but made the one that counted — the only field goal in the final seven minutes for the Wildcats, who meet Iowa Saturday in the championship game.

Frank Mason scored 12 for Kansas (5-1). His 3-point play with 34.2 seconds left gave Kansas its first lead in more than 25 minutes. Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid added 10 each for Kansas.

Oklahoma State 69, Butler 67 — Marcus Smart scored 17 points as the No. 5 Cowboys (7-0) survived a scare against the Bulldogs in an Old Spice Classic semifinal in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Oklahoma State will face the Memphis Tigers, whose only loss this season came to the Cowboys , in the final.

Trailing, 68-67, Butler’s Khyle Marshall was fouled with 8.4 seconds remaining, but missed both free throws.

Ohio State 99, North Florida 64 — LaQuinton Ross broke out of a frigid shooting spell by scoring 17 points and the No. 7 Buckeyes (6-0) rode a 19-point first-half run to a victory over the visiting Ospreys (4-4).

Louisville 69, Southern Mississippi 38 — Chris Jones came off the bench to score 18 points for the hosts, including four 3-pointers, and the No. 9 Cardinals (6-1) bounced back from their first loss.

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Oregon 85, Pacific 62 — Mike Moser scored 19 points and the No. 14 Ducks (5-0) cruised at home. Johnathan Loyd had 13 assists, tying for the second-most ever by an Oregon player.

Florida 67, Florida State 66 — Dorian Finney-Smith hit a free throw with 1.3 seconds left, lifting the 15th-ranked Gators (6-1) to a victory over the visiting Seminoles (5-2).

Finney-Smith grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed jumper by Scottie Wilkebin and got fouled on the putback. He missed the first free throw, but gathered himself and sank the second one for the Gators.

San Diego State 86, Creighton 80 — Xavier Thames scored 6 of his 26 points in the final 1:18, J.J. O'Brien had 15 points and seven rebounds, and the Aztecs (4-1) overcame 30 points by Doug McDermott to upset the No. 20 Bluejays (5-1) in the semifinals of the Wooden Legacy in Fullerton, Calif.

Memphis 76, LSU 69 — Austin Nichols scored 19 points and No. 21 Memphis (4-1) beat LSU in the semifinals at the Old Spice Classic.

Michigan 87, Coppin State 45 — Playing without leading scorer Nik Stauskas (sprained ankle), the No. 22 Wolverines (5-2) got 24 points from Zak Irvin to rout the visiting Eagles.

Iowa 89, Texas-El Paso 53 — Aaron White scored 17 points, Zach McCabe added 14, and the No. 23 Hawkeyes (7-0) rolled into the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Marquette 76, George Washington 60 — Davante Gardner scored 20 points and had nine rebounds to lead the No. 25 Golden Eagles (5-2) to a victory in the semifinals of the Wooden Legacy.

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Va. Commonwealth 79, Northeastern 66 — Treveon Graham came off the bench and scored 24 points as the Rams (5-2) pulled away to beat the Huskies in Richmond.

David Walker led Northeastern (2-5) with 19 points, and Scott Eatherton had 17 with eight rebounds.

Providence 78, Fairfield 69 — Bryce Cotton had 24 points and was 18 of 19 from the foul line, leading the host Friars (7-1) past the Stags.

Marcus Gilbert had 23 points and Maurice Barrow had 20 to lead Fairfield (1-6).

San Francisco 72, Vermont 61 — Brian Voelkel had 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists as the Catamounts (2-6) fell to the Dons in the Golden Gate Challenge in San Francisco.

.   .   .

On Thursday night in Anchorage, Ala., Steve Moundou-Missi dominated the inside game and scored 20 points as Harvard (5-1) beat Denver, 68-60, to advance to face Green Bay Friday in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout.

Women’s basketball

Duke 97, Central Michigan 64 — Tricia Liston scored 15 of her 20 points in the first half and added 11 rebounds as the No. 2 Blue Devils (7-0) topped the Chippewas at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Tennessee 87, SMU 47 — Ariel Massengale scored 16 points to help the third-ranked Volunteers (7-0) win the Junkanoo Jam in Freeport, Bahamas.

Maryland 100, Texas Southern 59 — Alyssa Thomas had 23 points and 10 rebounds to help the No. 8 Terrapins (6-1) rout the Lady Tigers (3-3) in the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico.

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Iowa 78, BC 68 — Freshman Kelly Hughes had 18 points, including a career-high five triples, but the Eagles fell to the Hawkeyes in the Cancun Challenge. BC (3-3) will play Southern Cal Saturday.

Maine 86, UMass 56 — Emily Mital netted 18 points, but the Minutewomen (2-5) fell to the host Black Bears.

Liz Wood scored 24 points, and Ashleigh Roberts had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Maine (4-1).

Men’s hockey

UNH 6, Colorado College 2 — The No. 20 Wildcats scored four times in the second period to turn a tie game with the host Tigers (1-9-2) into a rout.

Grayson Downing, Nick Sorkin, Jeff Silengo, and Dalton Speelman scored in the final frame for UNH (8-7-1).

Northeastern 2, Western Michigan 1 — Dalen Hedges scored the lone goal in the shootout to help the Huskies (8-5-1) advance in the Shillelagh Tournament in South Bend, Ind.

Vermont 3, Maine 2 — Chris Muscoby scored the winner with less than three minutes left as the host Catamounts (6-5-1) topped the Black Bears (6-5-1) in a nonconference game.

Bentley 4, Air Force 2 — Brett Switzer’s second goal of the game with less than four minutes left helped Bentley (5-7-0, 4-2-0 Atlantic Hockey) soar past host Air Force.

RIT 5, Sacred Heart 2 — Netminder Alex Vazzano turned aside 32 shots but it wasn’t enough for the Pioneers (4-9-0, 3-4-0 Atlantic Hockey) as the Tigers (3-7-2, 2-3-0) pulled away with three third-period goals in Milford, Conn.

Canisius 3, UConn 1 — Shawn Pauly netted his third goal of the season, but the Huskies (4-5-1, 3-2-0 Atlantic Hockey) dropped a road contest to the Golden Griffins (4-7-0, 3-3-0).

Mercyhurst 6, AIC 3 — Jon Puskar had a goal and an assist, but the host Yellow Jackets (3-6-0, 3-3-0 Atlantic Hockey) fell to the Lakers (6-7-1, 4-1-0)

Women’s hockey

Cornell 2, BC 0 — Despite sending 19 shots on goal in the third period, the No. 7 Eagles (11-4-1) couldn’t solve Lauren Slebodnick (27 saves) and the No. 3 Big Red (9-0-2) in Ithaca, N.Y.

Northeastern 2, Dartmouth 1 — Kelly Wallace scored 3:08 into overtime to lift the visiting Huskies (7-9-1) past the Big Green (2-8-0).

Women’s soccer

Florida State 4, BC 0 — Marta Bakowska-Mathews had two goals and an assist as the Seminoles (22-1-3) eliminated the Eagles (13-10-1) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division 1 tournament in Tallahassee, Fla.