WILLIAMSTOWN, Massachusetts — The Williams Ephs battled to a five-point lead with 1:40 left after several lead changes and held off the University of Maine-Fort Kent Bengals for a 67-63 men’s basketball victory Monday.
Bobby Casey paced Williams (13-7) with 16 points and Daniel Aronowitz added 12 points and five rebounds.
Marquis Glenn scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead UMFK (18-13). Qaadir Ali chipped in with 17 points while Mauro Vicic added 13 points and five rebounds. Vicic scored eight of his points in the first half, which Williams led 28-26.
Duke bounced from AP poll
Duke was bounced from the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll for the first time in more than eight years.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils are 15-6 and have lost four of five, including two home games. This is the first time since the 2007-08 preseason poll that Duke has not been in the Top 25 — a streak of 167 weeks and the fifth-longest run since the AP poll debuted in 1948-49. The record is UCLA’s 221 straight polls from 1966 to 1980.
Duke, ranked 24th a week ago, lost to Miami 80-69 on the road last Monday night in its last game. The Blue Devils once again were shorthanded, playing without 6-foot-9 senior forward Amile Jefferson, who suffered a fracture in his right foot in practice Dec. 12. He was averaging 10.3 points and 9.3 rebounds before going out with the injury.
Oklahoma is 18-2 and ranked No. 1 for the third straight week, receiving 45 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. North Carolina (19-2) stayed second with 20 No. 1 votes.
Villanova (18-3) jumped three places to third, followed by Maryland (19-3), Iowa (17-4), Xavier (19-2), Kansas (17-4), Texas A&M (18-3), Virginia (17-4) and Michigan State (19-4).
Providence (18-4) is No. 11, followed by SMU (19-1), Iowa State (16-5), West Virginia (17-4), Baylor (17-4), Oregon (18-4), Miami (16-4), Purdue (19-4), Louisville (17-4), Kentucky (16-5), Wichita State (16-5), Indiana (18-4), Arizona (17-5), Dayton (18-3) and South Carolina (19-2).
Women’s Basketball
UMPI to host Think Pink games
The University of Maine-Presque Isle will host its annual Think Pink basketball games on Tuesday night.
UMaine-Machias will play UMPI with the women’s game at 5:30 p.m. and the men’s game at 7:30 p.m. Many events will accompany the games, all geared toward raising money and awareness for cancer research. T-shirts will be on sale for $10.