— The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher scored 22 points each and No. 4 Villanova pulled away late to beat pesky Providence 92-81 Saturday in a Big East men’s basketball game.

The Wildcats (22-2, 11-1 Big East) moved into a tie with Syracuse atop the Big East standings. Villanova would be alone in first if the second-ranked Orange lose today against Louisville.

Providence (12-13, 4-9) had its second win over a top-25 team in sight until two costly fouls were called on Sharaud Curry with eight minutes left. Curry fouled Reynolds and snapped at the referee — a personal and a technical that gave him five fouls and sent Reynolds to the line for four shots.

Reynolds made three of them for a 67-60 lead. With Curry, who had 19 points, out of the game the Friars had no serious runs left.

Antonio Pena had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats, who split their last two games against top-10 teams. Villanova started flat against a Providence team in the lower half of the Big East standings. They were sloppy with the ball, committing six turnovers only eight minutes into the game, and let Providence hang around for most of the half.

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Vincent Council scored 21 points and Jamine Peterson had 19 for the Friars.

(6) PURDUE 63, IOWA 40: JaJuan Johnson had 21 points and 10 rebounds, leading Purdue (21-3, 9-3 Big Ten) past Iowa (9-17, 3-10) at West Lafayette, Ind.

E’Twaun Moore had 11 points and Chris Kramer anchored the defense with four steals for the Boilermakers.

Cully Payne scored 11 points and Jarryd Cole had 10 for the Hawkeyes. Matt Gatens, Iowa’s top scorer this season, finished with three points on 1-of-10 shooting.

(10) MICHIGAN STATE 65, PENN STATE 54: Kalin Lucas returned to the starting lineup and scored 24 points as Michigan State (20-6, 10-3 Big Ten) ended a three-game losing streak by beating Penn State (8-16, 0-12) at State College, Pa.

Durrell Summers and Delvon Roe scored all the points in a 13-0 second-half run that gave the Spartans a 57-46 lead.

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After the Nittany Lions took a 46-44 lead, Michigan State held them without a field goal for more than six minutes during the big run.

(11) WISCONSIN 83, INDIANA 55: Jason Bohannon had seven 3-pointers and a career-high 30 points to help Wisconsin (19-6, 9-4 Big Ten) roll over Indiana (9-15, 3-9) at Madison, Wis.

(14) TEXAS 91, NEBRASKA 51: Avery Bradley scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half and Texas (20-5, 6-4 Big 12) rolled over Nebraska (13-12, 1-9) at Austin, Texas.

The Longhorns shot 61 percent in the first half against the Big 12’s stingiest defense.

(18) BUTLER 70, CLEVELAND STATE 59: Matt Howard and Gordon Hayward had double-doubles and visiting Butler (23-4, 16-0 Horizon League) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 15 games by beating Cleveland (13-13, 9-5).

The Bulldogs tied the school record for consecutive wins set in 1999-2000 and matched the best start in conference play set by Wisconsin-Green Bay in 1995-96. They also swept the season series from the Vikings.

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BRADLEY 68, (19) NORTHERN IOWA 59: Andrew Warren scored 15 points and Bradley (13-12, 8-7 Missouri Valley) rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to beat Northern Iowa (22-3, 13-2) at Peoria, Ill.

Chris Roberts scored 13 points for the Braves, while Taylor Brown and Will Egolf both had 12 points.

(21) TEMPLE 78, RHODE ISLAND 56: Micheal Eric scored 19 points and Temple (20-5, 8-2 Atlantic 10) shot 68.6 percent from the field to beat Rhode Island (19-5, 7-4) at Philadelphia.

(22) VANDERBILT 77, LSU 69: Reserve Lance Goulbourne scored 11 of his career-high 18 points in the second half, leading Vanderbilt (19-5, 8-2 SEC) past LSU (9-16, 0-11) at Nashville, Tenn.

SAN DIEGO STATE 68, (23) UNLV 58: Billy White scored 19 points and freshman Kawhi Leonard had 13 points and 14 rebounds as San Diego State (18-7, 7-4 Mountain West) beat UNLV (19-6, 7-4) at San Diego.

White had only five field goals but was 9 of 11 at the free-throw line.

(24) BAYLOR 64, MISSOURI 62: Ekpe Udoh’s tip-in with 1.6 seconds remaining capped a wild finish and gave Baylor (10-5, 6-4 Big 12) a victory over Missouri (18-7, 6-4) at Waco, Texas.

The Bears led from the opening minute before Missouri took a 62-61 lead with 47 seconds left on Kim English’s layup and foul shot.


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