The New York Times-20080124-Pitt Routs St- John-s- Rutgers Tops Villanova

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Pitt Routs St. John's; Rutgers Tops Villanova

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With two injured starters sidelined and with few able bodies on its bench, Pittsburgh seemed ripe for the taking Wednesday night, but St. John's was, instead, soundly beaten. Just now getting into the heart of the Big East portion of its schedule, the Red Storm is having a bad season that only figures to get worse.

St. John's, a loser of four straight and six of seven, was no match for the hobbled Panthers at Madison Square Garden. Despite having only eight scholarship players available, No. 13 Pittsburgh came away with an 81-57 victory. The crowd was only 5,219, which included a small student section that spent much of the game jeering the home team.

Teams right now are out-toughing us, the St. John's freshman Malik Boothe said. We have to get back into the gym and get tougher.

St. John's (7-10, 1-5 Big East) got most of its offense from Anthony Mason Jr., who had a career-high 29 points. Justin Burrell and D. J. Kennedy each scored 7.

Pittsburgh (16-3, 4-2) took a 15-6 lead, but St. John's managed to stay close until the final few minutes of the half. The Panthers had a 38-27 lead at the break and were never challenged over the final 20 minutes.

St. John's Coach Norm Roberts preached patience, pointing out that his team is young.

I chose the path that we're in, he said. I chose to bring in eight freshmen. I chose to do that for our program and to build a foundation. We have to take our lumps in order to get good. I chose to bring in quality kids, and we're going to build this with those young kids. We're playing against great teams. Not just good teams, but great teams.

Pittsburgh was led by Sam Young, who had 26 points. Ronald Ramon had 16 for the Panthers.

Pittsburgh has been playing without Levance Fields and Mike Cook, two of its key players, since they were injured a game apart in late December. The Panthers suffered the first of their three losses this season the night Fields was injured but have gone 5-2 since, including a 69-60 victory against Georgetown, which was ranked No. 5 at the time.

I guess we fooled everybody, Keith Benjamin said. Levance and Mike are key players, but there are a lot of guys on this team that can produce. We have guys who weren't playing, and in practice they look like the best players on the floor. We are one of the most focused teams you'll ever see.

Young has been particularly effective since Fields and Cook went down. He has topped the 20-point mark in three of Pittsburgh's last four games.

RUTGERS 80, VILLANOVA 68 Anthony Farmer and Mike Coburn each scored 23 points to help host Rutgers upset No. 19 Villanova for the Scarlet Knights' first victory against a ranked opponent in more than two years.

Malcolm Grant scored 23 points, including a stretch of 17 in a row, for the Wildcats (13-4, 3-3 Big East), who lost for the first time in five games against Rutgers (9-11, 1-6).

The Scarlet Knights shot 50 percent (24 of 48) for the game.

Scottie Reynolds, who was averaging 17.5 points a game to lead the Wildcats, had one of his worst shooting performances. He made 5 of 18 shots from the field, missed 7 of 8 3-point attempts and finished with 16 points.

With 3 minutes 45 seconds remaining, Grant tried to shoot the Wildcats back into the game. He scored 17 straight points, including 5 3-pointers. His two free throws brought Villanova to 71-64 with 1:40 remaining. But the Scarlet Knights made their free throws down the stretch to take care of the Wildcats. It was the Scarlet Knights' first win over a ranked opponent since a 65-56 victory against No. 22 Louisville on Jan. 18, 2006. (AP) MEMPHIS 56, TULSA 41 Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 20, Derrick Rose had 19 and No. 1 Memphis (18-0, 5-0 Conference USA) beat Tulsa (9-7, 1-3). (AP)

KANSAS 83, IOWA STATE 59 Darnell Jackson had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 2 Kansas (19-0, 4-0 Big 12) rout visiting Iowa State (12-7, 2-2). (AP) NORTH CAROLINA 98, MIAMI 82 Tyler Hansbrough scored 27 of his season-high 35 points after halftime, Lawson scored 15 of his 23 points in the first 20 minutes, and No. 5 North Carolina (19-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat host Miami (14-4, 1-3). (AP)

NO. 7 INDIANA 65, IOWA 43 D. J. White scored 19 and Eric Gordon 17 as No. 7 Indiana (17-1, 6-0 Big Ten) beat Iowa (9-11, 2-5) for its 13th victory in a row. (AP)

CONNECTICUT 84, CINCINNATI 83 Jerome Dyson scored 20 points and blocked a shot in the closing seconds as visiting Connecticut (13-5, 4-3 Big East) rallied from a 12-point deficit against Cincinnati (9-10, 4-3). (AP)

MAYO MIGHT HAVE BROKEN RULE The Southern California freshman standout O. J. Mayo might have violated an N.C.A.A. rule by accepting free tickets to Monday night's N.B.A. game between Denver and the Los Angeles Lakers from the Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony. (AP)Women

BAYLOR 72, MISSOURI 57 Jhasmin Player scored 18 points, Danielle Wilson had 16 and No. 6 Baylor (17-1, 5-0 Big 12) beat host Missouri (8-10, 1-4) to give Coach Kim Mulkey her 200th victory.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Pittsburgh's Gilbert Brown soaring to the basket past St. John's Anthony Mason Jr.(PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANK FRANKLIN II/ASSOCIATED PRESS)