College basketball roundup: St. John’s upsets No. 13 Butler, 76-73

Freshman guard Sha-morie Ponds scored 26 points, including four free throws in the final 9.1 seconds, and St. John’s upset No. 13 Butler, 76-73, on Thursday night in the Big East opener for both teams at Carnesecca Arena.

The Red Storm (7-7, 1-0), coming off a 33-point win at Syracuse, stayed close with the Bulldogs (11-2, 0-1) and finally took a lead at 72-71 on a free throw by Malik Ellison with 14.1 seconds left.

St. John’s kept the ball on the second miss and Ponds was fouled.

He made two free throws before Tyler Lewis of Butler did the same with 6.7 seconds left.

Ponds added two more with 6.2 seconds to go. Kelan Martin of Butler let a shot go from halfcourt at the buzzer and it hit the rim.

Bashir Ahmed added 19 points for the Red Storm.

Tyler Wideman had 20 points on eight-for-11 shooting for the Bulldogs, and Martin scored 13.

at No. 7 Gonzaga 92, Pepperdine 62: Nigel Williams-Goss and Przemek Karnowski each scored 16 points as the Bulldogs beat the shorthanded Waves, extending the best start in program history.

Three other players scored in double figures for unbeaten Gonzaga (13-0, 1-0 West Coast Conference).

Lamond Murray Jr. scored 19 points for Pepperdine (4-9, 0-1).

No. 8 Kentucky 99, at Mississippi 76: Malik Monk scored 34 points, Isaiah Briscoe had a triple-double and the Wildcats bounced back impressively from a loss at Louisville with a victory over the Rebels in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.

Briscoe added 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (11-2).

No. 19 St. Mary’s 72, at Loyola Marymount 60: Emmett Naar scored 19 points and Jock Landale added 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Gaels over the Lions in the West Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Naar went six for nine from the field and had five assists as St. Mary’s (11-1) won its fifth consecutive game.

No. 25 Florida 81, at Arkansas 72: Gators guard KeVaughn Allen had a triumphant return to Arkansas, where he played high school ball, scoring 21 points as Florida beat the Razorbacksteams.

SOUTHLAND

MEN

at Eastern Michigan 98, Long Beach State 72: Ray Lee scored 20 points and the Eagles closed the first half with a big run to pull away for a win over the 49ers. Loren Jackson, Evan Payne and Gabe Levin had 14 apiece for Long Beach State.

at Cal State Northridge 82, Morgan State 61: Kendall Smith scored 19 points and the Matadors built an insurmountable early lead and cruised in the second half to win over the Bears. The 49ers ended a four-game losing streak.

Upcoming Southland games to be played on Friday:

MEN

Bethesda at Cal State Fullerton — 7 p.m.

Life Pacific at UC Irvine — 7 p.m.

Seattle at UC Santa Barbara — 7 p.m.

WOMEN

No. 20 Colorado at USC — 6 p.m.

Utah at No. 10 UCLA — 7 p.m.