The Orange’s fifth-year seniors held aloft an unlikely prize Tuesday night— the Big East championship trophy—after Syracuse beat St. John’s 85-66 in its first game in two decades as the No. 1 team in the nation.
“It’s a blessing. I’ve been here five years and it’s the first time my mom’s seen me play here,” Onuaku said. “It’s just special. We came in the same day, and we were two guys that they felt wouldn’t be much, underrated guys. We came here, worked hard, and it’s paid off.”
Onuaku finished with a season-high 21 points and had eight rebounds, and Rautins had 14 points and seven assists as Syracuse won the Big East title outright for only the second time (1990-91).
“I really couldn’t think of a better way to go out,” said Rautins, who was accompanied by his dad, Leo, a former Syracuse star, in pregame festivities on senior night. “We’re not going to be satisfied just yet.”
Wes Johnson had 13 points, four assists and four blocks, and reserves Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine combined for 23 points for Syracuse (28-2, 15-2).
D.J. Kennedy led St. John’s (15-14, 5-12) with 19 points, while Paris Horne had 18.
The Orange were coming off a raucous 95-77 victory over No. 9 Villanova on Saturday night before an NCAA record on-campus crowd of 34,616 to move from No. 4 to the top spot on Monday. It was the first time the Orange were there since a six-week stint in 1989-90 and they apparently like the view.
Syracuse closes the regular season on Saturday at Louisville looking to finish 9-0 on the road. Their only losses this season were at home to the Cardinals and Pittsburgh.
No. 6 Ohio St. 73 Illinois 57: In Columbus, Ohio, Jon Diebler hit seven 3-pointers for 21 points to lead Ohio State, which clinched at least a share of the Big Ten title.
It was the third conference title in the last five years for Ohio State (24-7, 14-4), winners of four straight overall and 13 of 15.
William Buford added 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Evan Turner contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds and David Lighty had 15 points for Ohio State.
DeMetri McCamey had 18 points for the Illini (18-12, 10-7), who have lost two straight and four of five.
Diebler hit six 3-pointers and scored 18 points in the Buckeyes’ 72-53 rout at Illinois on Feb. 14.
No. 9 Villanova 77 Cincinnati 73: In Cincinnati, Scottie Reynolds scored all of his 17 points in the second half and Villanova let most of its late 16-point lead slip away before holding on.
The Wildcats (24-5, 13-4 Big East) got their second win in their last five games.
Down by 16 points with 6 minutes left, Cincinnati (16-13, 7-10) regrouped for a 14-point run that cut it to 66-65 with 2:17 to go. Reggie Redding hit two free throws and a 3-pointer that blunted the comeback. Reynolds finished it off with two free throws with 3.2 seconds left.
Rashad Bishop had 19 points and Deonta Vaughn, one of two Cincinnati seniors honored before the game, kept the Bearcats in it with 14 points in the first half, and a 3 that sparked the late run.
Reynolds led six Villanova players in double figures.
No. 13 Vanderbilt 64 Florida 60: In Gainesville, Fla., John Jenkins scored 18 points and A.J. Ogilvy added 16 as Vanderbilt dealt a blow to Florida’s NCAA tournament hopes.
Jermaine Beal chipped in 13 points for the Commodores, including two key free throws with 6.2 seconds remaining.
Vanderbilt (23-6, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) swept the season series for the first time since 1997 and stayed in the hunt for the league’s regular-season title.
Vernon Macklin led the Gators (20-10, 9-6) with 21 points and nine rebounds. No other Florida player scored in double digits, the biggest problem for a team trying to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years.
No. 18 Gonzaga 78 Cal State Bakersfield 59: In Spokane, Wash., Matt Bouldin scored 15 points as Gonzaga closed its regular season.
Bol Kong scored 13 points and Robert Sacre added 10 for the Bulldogs (25-5), who had already wrapped up their 10th consecutive West Coast Conference title and a bye into Sunday’s semifinals of the league tournament.
This was the final game for Cal State Bakersfield (7-22), which is in its transition to full Division I status next season. It fell to 0-5 against WCC teams this season.
Trent Blakley led Bakersfield with 19 points.
No. 21 Baylor 86 Texas Tech 68: In Lubbock, Texas, Tweety Carter scored 18 points to lead Baylor to its sixth win in seven games.
The Bears (23-6, 10-5 Big 12) trailed by 11 points in the first half but came to life right after the break. Baylor used a 14-5 run to go up 51-43, then built its largest lead, 76-58, on a dunk by Ekpe Udoh with 5:29 remaining.
Carter, who was 7 of 12 from the field, including 3 of 6 from behind the arc, had nine assists and two steals.
Udoh scored 17 points for the Bears, who outrebounded the Red Raiders 39-23.
Mike Singletary scored 20 points to lead Texas Tech (16-13, 4-11), which lost its sixth straight overall and their fourth consecutive at home. The last time Tech lost four straight conference games at home was in 2000.
No. 24 UTEP 80 Marshall 76: In Huntington, W.Va., Randy Culpepper scored 32 points and Texas-El Paso clinched its first outright Conference USA championship.
The Miners were ahead 62-51 with 9 minutes remaining but surrendered the lead and needed a strong finish from Derrick Caracter, who scored 10 of his 18 points in the final 5 minutes. His layup with 31 seconds remaining put the Miners ahead 78-76.
Marshall lost the ball out of bounds with 10 seconds remaining and Culpepper completed the scoring with two free throws.
Claude Britten added 14 points for UTEP (23-5, 14-1), which has won 13 straight and broke into the Top 25 on Monday for the first time since February 1992.
Tyler Wilkerson had 22 points and 16 rebounds for Marshall (22-8, 10-5), which had a seven-game winning streak snapped.
