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.

Thank you for visiting Spokesman.com. To continue reading this story and enjoying our local journalism please subscribe or log in.

You have reached your article limit for this month.

Subscribe now and enjoy unlimited digital access to Spokesman.com

Unlimited Digital Access

Stay connected to Spokane for as little as 99¢!

Subscribe for access

Already a Spokesman-Review subscriber? Activate or Log in

You have reached your article limit for this month.

Subscribe now and enjoy unlimited digital access to Spokesman.com

Unlimited Digital Access

Stay connected to Spokane for as little as 99¢!

Subscribe for access

Already a Spokesman-Review subscriber? Activate or Log in

Oops, it appears there has been a technical problem. To access this content as intended, please try reloading the page or returning at a later time. Already a Spokesman-Review subscriber? Activate or Log in