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Top 25/Big Sky: Volunteers keep No. 5 Gators reeling

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

Chris Lofton scored 21 points, and Tennessee pulled away from No. 5 Florida in the first half and held on for an 86-76 victory Tuesday night in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Gators (25-5, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) continued a troubling trend for the defending national champions, who have lost three of four after a 17-game winning streak. Their chances for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament are slipping away after easily wrapping up the SEC regular-season title last week.

Tennessee (21-9, 9-6) had a 17-0 run in the first half and was ahead by 19 points at halftime and as many as 27 in the second half.

(12) Pittsburgh 80, West Virginia 66: Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall wore down West Virginia with their inside scoring and rebounding and the Panthers (25-5, 12-3 Big East) dominated the second half in a victory over the Mountaineers (20-8, 8-7) in Pittsburgh.

Gray finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Kendall tallied 12 points.

BYU 62, (25) Air Force 58: Austin Ainge scored 14 points and Keena Young added 12 – including eight straight in a pivotal second-half run – to lead the Cougars (22-7, 12-3 Mountain West Conference) to an upset win over the Falcons (23-7, 10-6) in Air Force Academy, Colo.

The Cougars also ended the Falcons’ 30-game winning streak at Clune Arena. BYU’s home winning streak, also 30, is now the nation’s longest.

Idaho State 67, Montana State 58: Senior guard David Schroeder scored 20 points, 15 in the second half, to lead the Bengals (13-16, 8-8) to a win over the Bobcats (11-18, 8-8) in Pocatello, Idaho.

Both the Bengals and the Bobcats advance to the Big Sky tournament.

MSU, the fifth seed, will play No. 4 Portland State, while the sixth-seeded Bengals will play No. 3 seed Montana in the first round of the tourney Saturday.

Northern Arizona 89, Northern Colorado 77: Stephen Sir scored 22 points and Ruben Boykin Jr. had 19 points and 11 rebounds as the Lumberjacks (17-11, 11-5) beat the Bears (4-24, 2-14) in Flagstaff, Ariz., to clinch the No. 2 seed in the Big Sky tournament.