NEW YORK – Russ Smith scored 28 points in a bittersweet homecoming, leading No. 4 Louisville into the Big East tournament semifinals with a 74-55 victory over Villanova on Thursday night.
Smith and the defending champion Cardinals (27-5) harassed Villanova into 25 turnovers.
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(5) GEORGETOWN 62, CINCINNATI 43: Otto Porter Jr. scored 18 points and the Hoyas (25-5) advanced to the Big East tournament semifinals in New York, recovering from a mid-game slump to beat the Bearcats (22-11).
(6) MICHIGAN 83, PENN STATE 66: Trey Burke scored 21 points and Michigan (26-6) won in the first round of the Big Ten tournament at Chicago, avenging a shocking loss to the Nittany Lions (10-21) during the regular season.
(7) KANSAS 91, TEXAS TECH 63: Ben McLemore scored 24 points to lead the Jayhawks to a rout at home, setting up an intriguing date with Iowa State in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.
(11) KANSAS STATE 66, TEXAS 49: Rodney McGruder scored 24 points and sparked an 11-0 run in the second half, lifting the Wildcats (26-6) to a quarterfinal win in the Big 12 tournament at Kansas City, Mo.
(18) ARIZONA 79, COLORADO 69: Nick Johnson scored 18 points and hit a contested shot with 34 seconds left, helping Arizona (25-6) win a Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal at Las Vegas.
(19) SYRACUSE 62. (17) PITTSBURGH 59: James Southerland had a second straight great effort from 3-point range and Michael Carter-Williams scored Syracuse’s last seven points as the Orange (25-8) held off Pittsburgh (24-8) in a Big East quarterfinal at New York.
(20) MEMPHIS 81, TULANE 68: Chris Crawford set career-highs with 24 points and six 3-pointers, Adonis Thomas scored 17 points and Memphis (28-4) won a quarterfinal in the Conference USA tournament at Tulsa, Okla.
(21) UCLA 80, ARIZONA STATE 75: Shabazz Muhammad scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half as the Bruins (24-8) rallied from a 15-point deficit to win a quarterfinal game in the Pac-12 tournament at Las Vegas.
BALL STATE fired coach Billy Taylor less than 24 hours after the Cardinals (15-15) lost to Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference tournament. Taylor went 84-99 in six seasons.
SOFTBALL
ST. JOSEPH’S SPLITS: Freshman Erica Boulanger gave up one unearned run on six hits while striking out eight and walking three in her first career start for the Monks, as they beat winless Albright 7-1 in their first game of the day at Fort Myers, Fla.
For the Monks, Lindsay Moore had three hits, and two RBI and Danyelle Shufelt had three hits and scored three runs.
In the second game, St. Joseph’s (6-2) took a 3-1 loss to Bethany Lutheran (6-6).
BATES SPLITS: Molly Brown scored on a double by Alayna Garbarino in the 10th inning and Brenna Callahan closed out the game with six scoreless relief innings to lift the Bobcats to a 6-5 win over Lesley College (1-6) in their season opener at Clermont, Fla.
Mary Lewis went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two stolen bases for the Bobcats.
In the second game, the Bobcats (1-1) lost 4-3 to Salve Regina (3-4).
Mary Lewis and Alex Eliopoulos had two hits each for Bates.
BOWDOIN SWEEPS: Hanna Wurgaft went 4-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored as the Polar Bears posted an 8-4 win over Wesleyan (2-2) in the first game of a doubleheader at Clermont, Fla.
In the second game, the Polar Bears (4-0) rallied for a 6-5 win over Salve Regina as Cielle Collins drove in the tying run and Adriane Krul scored the game-winner on Siena Mitman’s RBI single in the seventh.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
USM 17, ST. JOSEPH’S 7: Jacki Kelly scored five goals and Sarah Pelligrinelli added four more as the Huskies (3-0) raced out to an 11-4 halftime lead in a win over the Monks (2-2) at Gorham.
Anh Nguyen chipped in with four assists and one goal for Southern Maine and Lauren Santo and Nicole LaPlante added two goals apiece.
St. Joseph’s was paced by Cassie Diplock, who scored four goals and had an assist.
BASEBALL
WEBSTER 5, ST. JOSEPH’S 0: Cody Hafell struck out six and tossed a shutout as the Gorloks (5-5) handed the Monks (6-1) their first loss of the season at Winter Haven, Fla.
Mike Pratt and Brandon Chase had two hits apiece for St. Joseph’s, which committed four errors in the loss.
KEENE STATE 4, BOWDOIN 3: Nick Vita led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a double and later scored on an error to lift the Owls (5-7) to a win over the Polar Bears (4-1) at Avon Park, Fla.
Kyle LeBlanc had three hits and scored one run for the Polar Bears, who scored all three of their runs in the top of the third to break a scoreless tie.
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