Penn State Beats Illini, Ties For First

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Matt Gaudio scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and made two free throws with 10 seconds left as Penn State beat Illinois 61-58 Thursday night at State College, Pa., to earn a share of the Big Ten lead.

The 10th-ranked Nittany Lions (17-2, 8-2) moved into a tie with Purdue. The Illini fell to 14-8, 3-7.

Penn State’s usually accurate 3-point shooting failed, so Gaudio took the ball down low and took over, using pump fakes and spinning layups, the last of which put Penn State up by four points with 1:40 left.

(15) Memphis 68, NC Char. 55

Mingo Johnson scored 20 points and the Tigers (17-4, 8-2 Conference USA) used a 17-0 run to beat the 49ers (11-10, 4-4) at Charlotte, N.C.

Memphis was coming off its worst defeat of the season, a 74-56 loss to Louisville last weekend.

Tulane 68, (20) Louisville 65

Jerald Honeycutt made two foul shots and set up Correy Childs and Chris Cameron for dunks that lifted the Green Wave (13-6, 4-4) past the Cardinals (16-7, 7-2, Conference USA) at Louisville.

Louisville had a chance to send the game into overtime, but DeJuan Wheat missed two 3-point shots - one from the top of the key, the other from the left wing as time expired.