College Basketball Roundup: Vermont Edges Wofford to Open Fla. Tourney

Estero, Fla. — Trae Bell-Haynes’ floater from the left side of the lane with 3.5 seconds remaining lifted Vermont to a 60-59 victory over Wofford on Monday in the opening game of the Gulf Coast Showcase.

Cameron Jackson’s basket with 1:42 left gave Wofford a 59-58 lead but teammate Derrick Brooks missed a pair of free throws with 52 seconds left. The Catamounts’ Payton Henson had his shot underneath blocked by Jackson before the Terriers’ Fletcher Magee missed a 3-point attempt with 13 seconds left. Bell-Haynes then made his winning shot on the other end. A half-court shot by Wofford at the buzzer was short.

Henson finished with 14 points and eight rebounds for Vermont (4-1), which survived a 38 percent shooting performance, in part by making 18 of 22 free throws. Bell-Haynes had six assists.

Jackson scored 20 points and Magee 12 for Wofford (1-2).

Ranked MenGeorgetown 65No. 13 Oregon 61

Lahaina, Hawaii — Rodney Pryor had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Georgetown withstood a furious second-half rally to hold on for a victory over No. 13 Oregon in the first round of the Maui Invitational.

Georgetown (1-2) led by 17 after a superb first half, capped by Pryor’s running 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Ducks (2-2) swarmed their way back, using pressure defense to create turnovers and easy baskets in transition.

Unlike their loss to Maryland last week, the Hoyas weathered the Duck storm and will advance to the second round against No. 16 Wisconsin.

No. 16 Wisconsin 74Tennessee 62

Lahaina, Hawaii — Bronson Koenig scored 21 points, Nigel Hayes had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 16 Wisconsin opened the Maui Invitational with a win over Tennessee.

Wisconsin (3-1) built a big early lead and rallied after Tennessee made two runs to take the lead early in the second half. Hayes hit a couple of big 3-pointers and the Badgers pulled away late to earn a spot in the second round on Tuesday.

Wisconsin, in its third Maui Invitational, shot 56 percent and used its size advantage inside to pull down 11 more rebounds.

Ranked WomenNo. 3 South Carolina 79Maine 42

Columbia, s.c. — A’ja Wilson had 14 points and Alaina Coates had 12 points and 14 rebounds as No. 3 South Carolina used its height advantage to blow past Maine in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge.

The 6-foot-5 Wilson and 6-4 Coates did about whatever they wanted against the undersized Black Bears (2-3). Wilson hit seven of her eight shots while Coates, who notched her second double-double of the season by halftime, hit six of seven shots.

No. 4 Louisville 63Chattanooga 47

Louisville, Ky. — Mariya Moore scored nine points to surpass 1,000 career and Louisville held Chattanooga to 30 percent shooting for a victory to wrap up site play in the Hall of Fame Challenge.

Playing their third game in as many days, the Cardinals (6-0) were never threatened in their tuneup ahead of Sunday’s Challenge matchup against third-ranked South Carolina.

Drexel 62, No. 11 Syracuse 61

Philadelphia — Meghan Creighton hit a career-high seven 3-pointers — including the winner with nine seconds left — and Drexel rallied from a five-point deficit with 1:23 left to beat Syracuse.

It was Drexel’s first win over a ranked team since beating No. 25 James Madison on Jan. 3, 2010.

Creighton scored a career-best 23 points, Sarah Curran added 14 and Bailey Greenberg scored 10 for the Dragons (3-1).

Kelsi Lidge stole it from Sykes, who was called for a technical foul and Creighton made both free throws to trim Drexel’s deficit to 57-53 with 1:57 remaining.

With Syracuse up five, the Dragons had back-to-back offensive rebounds before Greenberg’s layup made it 60-57 50 seconds later. Briana Day was called for offensive foul and Curran’s layup pulled the Dragons within one.

Syracuse’s Alexis Peterson made 1 of 2 free throws with 18 seconds to play and then Lidge found Creighton for the winner.

Sykes led the Orange with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting.