SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Seniors Andy Rautins and Arinze Onuaku made their final home game at Syracuse one to remember, combining for 35 points as the Orange beat St. John’s 85-66 on Tuesday night in their first game in two decades as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Syracuse (28-2, 15-2 Big East) beat No. 9 Villanova 95-77 Saturday night before an NCAA record on-campus crowd of 34,616 to move from No. 4 to the top spot on Monday. It was the first time the Orange were there since a six-week stint in 1989-90.

They close the regular season Saturday at Louisville looking to finish 9-0 on the road. Their only losses this season were at home to the Cardinals and Pittsburgh.

Onuaku finished with a season-high 21 points and had eight rebounds. Rautins had 14 points and seven assists. Wes Johnson had 13 points, four assists and four blocks, and reserves Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine combined for 23 points.

D.J. Kennedy led St. John’s (15-14, 5-12) with 19 points and Paris Horne scored 18.

 

(6) OHIO STATE 73, ILLINOIS 57: Jon Diebler had 21 points, all on 3-pointers, to lead Ohio State (24-7, 14-4 Big Ten) to a victory over visiting Illinois (18-12, 10-7) that assured the Buckeyes of at least a share of the Big Ten title.

 

(9) VILLANOVA 77, CINCINNATI 73: Scottie Reynolds scored all of his 17 points in the second half and visiting Villanova (24-5, 13-4 Big East) let most of its late 16-point lead slip away before holding off Cincinnati (16-13, 7-10).

The Bearcats went on a 14-point run that cut their deficit to 66-65 with 2:17 to go, but Reggie Redding hit two free throws and a 3-pointer that blunted the comeback.

 

(13) VANDERBILT 64, FLORIDA 60: John Jenkins scored 18 points, A.J. Ogilvy added 16 and Vanderbilt (23-6, 12-3 SEC) beat Florida (20-10, 9-6) at Gainesville, Fla.

 

(18) GONZAGA 78, CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD 59: Matt Bouldin scored 15 points, leading Gonzaga (25-5) past Cal State Bakersfield (7-22) at Spokane, Wash.

 

(21) BAYLOR 86, TEXAS TECH 68: Tweety Carter scored 18 points to lead Baylor (23-6, 10-5 Big 12) past Texas Tech (16-13, 4-11) at Lubbock, Texas.

 

(24) UTEP 80, MARSHALL 76: Randy Culpepper scored 32 points to lead Texas-El Paso (23-5, 14-1 Conference USA) to a victory over Marshall (22-8, 10-5) at Huntington, W.Va.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

(15) TEXAS A&M 78, (11) OKLAHOMA 55: Tanisha Smith scored 19 points, Danielle Adams added 18 and Texas A&M (21-7, 9-6 Big 12) cruised to a win over Oklahoma (20-9, 10-5) at College Station, Texas.

The Aggies used a dominant first half to build a 19-point lead and didn’t allow Oklahoma to get within 10 points after halftime.

BASEBALL

MAINE 16, VALPARAISO 8: Michael Fransoso had a three-run homer and the Black Bears (2-5) scored eight runs in the seventh inning to pull away from Valparaiso (2-6) at Winter Haven, Fla.

Joey Martin drove in four runs for Maine.

SOFTBALL

MAINE 7, DAYTON 4: Stephanie George had two hits and knocked in four runs as the Black Bears (4-9) won at Kissimmee, Fla.