Croone’s 27 not enough for Paladins

A big night from Stephen Croone wasn’t enough for the Furman mens basketball team Monday. Croone, a sophomore guard, scored 27 points, but the Paladins dropped their fifth consecutive game 83-75 to Western Carolina.

The Newton graduate, second in the Southern Conference and tied for 45th nationally in scoring, hit 7 of his 12 field goal attempts and scored at least 20 points for the 12th time in 24 games for Furman (7-17, 1-10 Southern Conference).

Trey Sumler, fourth in the conference in scoring, had a team-high 24 points and James Sinclair had 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Western Carolina (14-11, 7-3).

A look at some other Monday NCAA games…

No. 17 Virginia 61, Maryland 53

A stout defense came through again as the Cavaliers stayed unbeaten at home in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Virginia (20-5, 11-1), which was second nationally in scoring defense coming into the game, held its 14th opponent to 55 points or fewer and stayed unbeaten at home in conference play (6-0) with its eighth consecutive victory overall.

Joe Harris hit four three-pointers to collect a game-high 19 points for Virginia, which won its fifth straight game in the series.

Guard Seth Allen scored 15 points to lead the visiting Terps (14-11, 6-6).

Miami 77, Florida State 73

The Hurricanes came into the game with one of the nation’s top defenses, and one of its worst offenses. But the visitors flipped the script a bit Monday, and though Florida State (14-10, 5-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) hit half of its 56 field goal attempts, Miami (12-12, 3-8) knocked down 48 percent of its shots and never trailed in avenging a January home loss to its state rival.

For the Hurricanes, who snapped a brief two-game losing streak, Donnavan Kirk scored 16 points. Garrius Adams, who added 12 points, gave Miami its largest lead at 39-26 with two free throws at the 18-minute mark of the second half. The host Seminoles, who have lost five of six games, got 17 points from Devon Bookert.

West Virginia 102, No. 11 Iowa State 77

The Mountaineers shot the ball extremely well in handing the Cyclones their worst loss in three years.

West Virginia (15-10, 7-5 Big 12) shot 53 percent from the field and was a blistering 13 of 22 from three-point range, led by Remi Dibo, who drained 6 of 8 from behind the arc. It was the largest margin of defeat for Iowa State (18-5, 6-5) since dropping a 95-69 decision at Colorado in February, 2011.

Dibo led all scorers with 20 points, Juwan Staten had 19 points and Terry Henderson (4 of 7 on 3-pointers) and Eron Harris scored 16 points for the Mountaineers, who won their fourth straight at home.

Georgetown 83, Providence 71

Bryce Cotton’s 31 points weren’t enough as the Friars’ drought in the nation’s capital continued.

Cotton hit 8 of 14 shots to score at least 30 points for the second time in three games, but the rest of the team combined for just 13 field goals as Providence (16-9, 6-6) lost its sixth consecutive road game in the series.

Georgetown, which won its fourth straight game in moving to 15-9 overall and 6-6 in the Big East, used its conference-leading field goal percentage defense to hold the visitors to just 36 percent shooting from the field.

D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 22 points to lead the Hoyas, who haven’t lost at home to Providence since March, 2005.

Kansas State 85, No. 7 Kansas 82 (OT)

Marcus Foster’s three-point play with 3:20 to play in the extra session gave the host Wildcats the lead for good. Kansas got to within 81-79 on Tarik Black’s dunk with 24 seconds to go, but Foster made two free throws for the last of his game-high 20 points and Will Spradling made two more to help the Wildcats (17-7, 7-4 Big 12) snap a six-game losing streak in the series and defeat its in-state rival for the first time since February, 2011.

Kansas (18-6, 9-2) trailed by four at the end of regulation before Naadir Tharpe hit a jumper with 23 seconds to go and Andrew Wiggins had two of his 16 points when he tipped in his own miss to tie the game at 69-69 with seconds left. Spradling turned the ball over at the other end, sending the game into overtime.

Perry Ellis had 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Kansas, which allowed its most points since eventual national runner-up Michigan scored 87 in last season’s Sweet 16.

News and notes

Torrey Craig scored 22 points and tied a career-high with 15 rebounds, while becoming the seventh player in Atlantic Sun history with 2,000 points in USC-Upstate’s 75-63 victory over East Tennessee State…North Carolina-Wilmington ended two streaks: a 14-game losing streak overall and a 14-game spell in Colonial Athletic Association play dating back to last year, as Chris Dixon and Dylan Sherwood scored 14 points each in a 66-53 win over Towson…Ousmane Drane tied a career-high with seven blocked shots and added 16 points and 13 rebounds as Quinnipiac defeated Marist 83-78 to move to 10-4 in its first season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.