Illini's red-hot shooting downs Auburn

ATLANTA - Illinois shot a blistering 61 percent from the field and knocked down 12-of-23 from three-point land in an 81-62 victory over Auburn at Philips Arena.

The Illini (8-1) closed the first half on an 11-0 run to take a 41-17 halftime lead, then went up by as much as 73-41 at the 7:08 mark of the second half on three of Rayvonte Rice’s 22 points.

Tracy Abrams added 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Jon Ekey hit 4-of-6 3-pointers for Illinois. Auburn (4-3), which was considered the home team at Philips after playing as the road team against Illinois at the United Center in Chicago last December, was led by K.T. Harrell’s game-high 23 points.

A look at the rest of Sunday’s ACC & SEC action….

Virginia Tech 61, Miami 60 (OT)

Eddie Jarell hit a go-ahead basket with 22 seconds left in overtime to lift the Hokies in their first true road game of the season.

Garrius Adams had a chance to tie the game and Kirk Donnavan had a chance to win it for the Hurricanes, but Adams hit just 1-of-2 free throws with seven seconds to play and Donnavan got the rebound off the second miss, then missed the potential game-winning jumper at the buzzer.

Jarell finished with a game-high 24 points for Virginia Tech (7-3), which won its fourth consecutive game.

Adams led Miami (5-5) with 14 points.

George Washington 77, Maryland 75

Maurice Creek’s jumper at the buzzer sent the Colonials to a win in the BB&T Classic.

George Washington held a seemingly-comfortable, 68-54 lead late in the second half, but Maryland (5-4) stormed back. Varun Ram and Nick Faust each knocked down a 3-pointer and Roddy Peters had a conventional three-point play to make it a 68-63 game with four minutes left. While George Washington was stuck in a five-minute drought without a field goal, Charles Mitchell tied it at 73-73 with a lay up at the 1:07 mark.

Creek and Peters each hit a pair of free throws to keep the game tied before Creek knocked down the game-winner to continue the 8-1 Colonials’ best start since the 2005-2006 team won 26 of their first 27 games.

No. 13 Oregon 115, Mississippi 105 (OT)

Johnathan Loyd had 25 points, including eight in overtime, and dished out 15 assists in the Ducks’ road victory.

Loyd had made 1-of-2 free throws with 11 seconds to go in regulation, then Jarvis Summers drained a tying 3-pointer with one second left to send the game into overtime. Mike Moser, who also had 25 points, hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 93-93 early in the extra session, and with 2:57 to play, a dunk by Elgin Cook gave Oregon (8-0) the lead for good.

Marshall Henderson had a career-high 39 points, including hitting 10-of-23 shots from 3-point range for the Rebels (6-2).

Florida State 77, Jacksonville State 53

Okaro White scored 17 points and Boris Bojanovsky scored a career-high 15 points to lead four in double figures as the Seminoles cruised at home.

Florida State (6-3), who also got 14 points from Montay Brandon and Aaron Thomas’ 12 bench points, shot 54 percent (24-for-44) from the field, while holding the visiting Gamecocks to just 38 percent (20-of-52).

Teraes Clemmons led Jacksonville State (3-7) with 14 points off the bench.

USC 78, Boston College 62

The first meeting between the schools since a USC win in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament was tied at halftime, but the host Trojans never trailed in the second half to move to 5-0 at the Galen Center.

All five starters for USC (6-3) scored in double figures, led by Julian Jacobs (16 points) and Nikola Jovanovic (15 points).

Boston College, which was led by Ryan Anderson’s 13 points and Joe Rahon’s 11 points and career-high nine assists, fell to 3-6.


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