HONOLULU — Menno Dijkstra scored 17 points, Chance Murray added 16 points with six assists and UC Riverside beat Hawaii 64-60 on Wednesday night.
The visiting team won for the fifth straight time in the series.
Hawaii’s Brocke Stepteau cut the deficit to 59-57 with 45 seconds left on a 3-pointer and after DJ Sylvester answered with a 3, Stepteau added another 3 to make it 62-60. Dijkstra sealed it at the line with two makes.
Sylvester finished with 12 points for UC Riverside (6-17, 1-8 Big West).
Michael Thomas led Hawaii (13-9, 4-5) with 18 points. Stepteau added 11 and Jack Purchase grabbed 10 rebounds. The Rainbow Warriors shot just 33 percent from the field.
Hawaii was just 10-of-30 shooting in the first half but it was tied at 30-all after UC Riverside was outrebounded 22-9. The Bows finished with a 40-26 edge on the glass.
Around college basketball
St. John’s tops Nova, first win over No. 1 team since ‘85
PHILADELPHIA — St. John’s took down another of the nation’s elite, and stunned No. 1 Villanova 79-75 on Wednesday night for its second win over a top-five team this week — and first over the top-ranked team in 33 years.
Shamorie Ponds scored 26 points to spark the Red Storm (12-13, 1-11 Big East) to their first conference win of the season and easily their best week since Chris Mullin was in uniform, not the coach.
Mullin played for St. John’s when it beat No. 1 Georgetown 66-65 on Jan. 26, 1985. And he was on the sideline exhorting his players in the final minutes of this shocker.
St. John’s beat then-No. 4 Duke Blue Devils 81-77 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, snapping an 11-game losing streak. It was the first win for St. John’s since Dec. 20 against Saint Joseph’s.
The Wildcats (22-2, 9-2) ended a nine-game winning streak and will surely tumble from the top of the national rankings, where they’ve spent the last five weeks at No. 1.
Robinson’s career night lifts Hokies past NC State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Devon Hall scored 17 points, Ty Jerome added 15 and Virginia rallied in the second half to beat Florida State.
Kyle Guy scored 10 of his 13 points in the final 20 minutes as the Cavaliers fought back from a 32-22 halftime deficit to remain unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia was 5 of 10 on 3-pointers in the second half and committed just one turnover.
Virginia (23-1) is the third team since 2000-01 to win its first 12 ACC games, joining North Carolina (2000-01) and Miami (2012-13). It is the Cavaliers’ best conference start since they were 12-0 in 1980-81.
Florida State had two stretches over the final 26 minutes where it went over five minutes without making a field goal — including the final 9:01 of the game. The Seminoles shot 40 percent from the field (18 of 45) and made only two of their last 12.
MJ Walker paced the Seminoles (17-6, 6-6) with 10 points.
No. 14 Ohio St. closes strong to end No. 3 Purdue’s streak
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Keita Bates-Diop scored 18 points, including the decisive putback with 2.8 seconds left, to give Ohio State an upset at Purdue, ending the nation’s longest winning streak at 19 games Wednesday night.
The Buckeyes (21-2, 12-1 Big Ten) grabbed a share of the conference lead as Ohio State won for the 11th time in 12 games.
Carsen Edwards finished with a career-high 28 points to lead the Boilermakers (23-3, 12-1), who lost for the first time since Nov. 23. Isaac Haas had 18 points but missed an 8-foot jumper at the buzzer to win it.
Purdue’s school record 14-game winning streak in conference play and 21-game winning streak at home also ended with a surprising finish.
No. 7 Texas Tech wins 5th straight
Texas Tech freshman Zhaire Smith scored a career-high 21 points, including a steal that led to his alley-oop slam, and the Red Raiders beat Iowa State.
After Iowa State (12-11, 3-8 Big 12) had scored seven straight points in a 77-second span to get within one point after halftime, Smith had a steal. He passed the ball on the break to Jarrett Culver, who then lobbed up the pass that resulted in Smith’s two-handed slam.
Culver added 16 points for the Red Raiders (20-4, 8-3), whose last loss was 70-52 at Iowa State on Jan. 20.
