OSU, Texas A&M make final in NIT

Seven-foot freshman Kosta Koufos scored a career-high 24 points to help Ohio State beat No. 21 Syracuse 79-65 on Wednesday night in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals at New York's Madison Square Garden.

The Buckeyes (3-0) will play No. 16 Texas A&M on Friday night in the championship game. The Aggies beat Washington 77-63 in the other semifinal.

Othello Hunter added 15 points and Jamar Butler had 14 for the Buckeyes.

Donte Greene scored 21 and Eric Devendorf added 15 for the Orange (3-1), who beat Siena and Saint Joseph's to advance to the semifinals. Syracuse had won the NIT championship the previous two times the Orange made it to New York in 1988 and 2001.

Texas A&M 77, Washington 63: Donald Sloan scored 18 points and No. 16 Texas A&M held Washington without a field goal for a key 5-minute stretch in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals.

Joseph Jones added 17 points for the Aggies (5-0), who will play Ohio State for the title Friday night.

Jon Brockman had 21 points and 15 rebounds to lead Washington (3-1).

Kansas 87, N. Arizona 46: Darrell Arthur had 17 points and fourth-ranked Kansas overwhelmed Northern Arizona in the first half for an easy victory in the Jayhawks' 600th win in the 52-year history of Allen Fieldhouse.

Darnell Jackson had 13 points and Brandon Rush scored six in his second game back from knee surgery for Kansas, 4-0 for the first time since 2004-05.

Comagic, Cameron Jones and Josh Wilson led Northern Arizona (3-2) with 8 points each.

Louisville 68, UNLV 48: Earl Clark had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Jerry Smith added 14 points to lead No. 6 Louisville past host UNLV.

Louisville (3-0) led by double digits in the first half, but UNLV (3-1) made 4 straight 3-pointers to take a 35-33 lead with 14:36 left.

Following a time out, Louisville scored the next 9 points, including 3-pointers from Terrence Williams and Edgar Sosa, and never trailed again.

Georgetown 57, Ball St. 48: Roy Hibbert scored 16 points and had 7 rebounds, and No. 5 Georgetown (3-0) made seven 3-pointers in a win over outmanned host Ball State.

The Cardinals (0-3) were led by Peyton Stovall with 16 points.

Clemson 74, Presbyterian 57: K.C. Rivers scored 18 points, Cliff Hammonds added 14 and No. 24 Clemson defeated visiting Presbyterian.

The Tigers (4-0) are 22-1 in November during coach Oliver Purnell's five seasons.

Al'Lonzo Coleman had 18 points, while Pat Kiscaden finished with 16 for Presbyterian (0-6).

Detroit 77, Chicago St. 66: Chris Hayes had his first career double-double, and host Detroit ended a two-game losing streak with a victory over Chicago State.

Hayes had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists -- all career highs -- for the Titans (2-2). David Holston and John Cantrell had 27 and 19 points, respectively, for Chicago State (2-3).

Women

Tennessee 67, W. Virginia 49: Candace Parker made sure Tennessee teammate Alexis Hornbuckle's homecoming was a success.

Parker scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the top-ranked Lady Vols over No. 16 West Virginia at Charleston, W.Va.

Hornbuckle added 12 points in her first game at the Charleston Civic Center since winning four state championships there.

Tennessee (4-0) held a 50-35 rebounding advantage against what coach Pat Summitt called the most physical opponent the Lady Vols have faced.

"I'm very pleased with the defensive intensity on the boards tonight," Summitt said. "Candace has really played well at both ends of the floor. I'm really proud of where she's taken her game."

The Mountaineers (3-1) had averaged 83 points in their first three games but were held to their lowest output of the season, shooting 31 percent from the floor.

Michigan St. 67, NIU 40: Allyssa DeHaan scored 17 points to lead No. 19 Michigan State (301) over Northern Illinois (2-2) in the opening game of the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico.

Kalisha Keane added 15 points and Alisa Wulff 11 for the Spartans, while Kylie York had 14 points for Northern Illinois.

LSU 72, La.-Lafayette 37: Sylvia Fowles of LSU became the fifth player to dunk in a women's college basketball game and the sixth-ranked Tigers (4-1) defeated visiting Louisiana-Lafayette (1-3).

The other four women college basketball players who had dunked in a game were Georganne Wells of West Virginia, Charlotte Smith of North Carolina, and Michelle Snow and Candace Parker, both of Tennessee.

Whitney Dunlap led the Ragin' Cajuns (1-3) with 12 points.