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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, December 30, 2009

West Virginia pulls out victory on Butler's late bucket, 63-62


Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A dramatic victory over Marquette wasn't what West Virginia coach Bob Huggins had in mind with a showdown looming at No. 4 Purdue.

Da'Sean Butler's 19-foot jumper with 2 seconds left lifted the sixth-ranked Mountaineers to a 63-62 victory over Marquette last night.

West Virginia (11-0, 2-0 Big East) overcame a five-point deficit in the final minute and its lowest point total of the season to improve.

Butler scored eight of his 17 points over the final 12 minutes.

Lazar Hayward paced Marquette (9-4, 0-1) with 24 points.

With the Golden Eagles leading 62-61 with 11 seconds left, Marquette's Jimmy Butler missed a 1-and-1.

Da'Sean Butler rebounded the miss, dribbled the length of the court, turned around on the top right side of the key and buried a long jumper.

West Virginia plays Purdue on Friday.

NO. 1 KANSAS 81, BELMONT 51

Cole Aldrich had 11 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks to lead host Kansas (12-0) over Belmont (7-5).

NO. 2 TEXAS 95, GARDNER-WEBB 63

Damion James had 14 points and 13 rebounds — his 43rd career double-double — and host Texas (12-0) beat Gardner-Webb (3-8).

NO. 3 KENTUCKY 104, HARTFORD 61

Freshman point guard John Wall set a Kentucky (14-0) record with 16 assists in a win over Hartford (2-10).

NO. 4 PURDUE 67, IOWA 56

E'Twaun Moore scored 21 points, 15 in the second half, and visiting Purdue (12-0, 1-0 Big Ten) beat Iowa (5-8, 0-1).

NO. 5 SYRACUSE 80, SETON HALL 73

Wesley Johnson had 20 points and a career-best 19 rebounds as visiting Syracuse (13-0, 1-0 Big East) beat Seton Hall (9-3, 0-2).

NO. 7 DUKE 84, LONG BEACH ST. 63

Jon Scheyer scored 22 points and Nolan Smith added 19 as host Duke (10-1) beat Long Beach State (6-7).

WAC MEN

LOUISIANA TECH 99, HOUSTON 94

Magnum Rolle and Olu Ashaolu each recorded double-doubles and Kyle Gibson added 28 points as visiting Louisiana Tech (12-2) beat Houston (7-4).

BOISE STATE 76, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 58

Paul Noonan made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points to lead host Boise State (9-4) over Northwest Nazarene (7-2).

UTAH STATE 78, WESTERN OREGON 42

Jared Quayle scored 18 points to lead host Utah State (10-4) past Western Oregon (6-3).

WOMEN'S TOP 10

NO. 3 NOTRE DAME 85, CENTRAL FLORIDA 52

Ashley Barlow had 17 points, Brittany Mallory scored 16 and visiting Notre Dame (11-0) beat Central Florida (3-6).

NO. 7 NORTH CAROLINA 89, KENNESAW ST. 44

Italee Lucas had 16 points and Waltiea Rolle added 13 to help host North Carolina (10-1) cruise past Kennesaw State (4-7).

Honors: Hawai'i Pacific guard Mike Helton (22.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 4.5 steals per game) was named Pacific West Conference Player of the Week.

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