HORNETS-BULLS
Hornets beat Bulls 98-86 with Rose out for Chicago
CHICAGO (AP) β Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Mo Williams scored 17 and the Charlotte Hornets beat Chicago 98-86 Wednesday night after the Bulls learned Derrick Rose will have yet another knee surgery.
Al Jefferson added 16 points to help the Hornets snap a five-game losing streak. But all that was overshadowed by the news that Rose needs another operation.
The Bulls revealed Tuesday night that their star point guard has a torn meniscus in his right knee, a big blow to the franchise and its fan base. That fueled more doubts about whether the 2011 NBA MVP will ever be the same, let alone lead Chicago to its first championship since the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen era.
LIPSCOMB-SC-UPSTATE
USC Upstate beats Lipscomb 70-47 on senior night
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) β Ty Greene had 25 points, his 16th 20-plus game of the season, and eight rebounds to help South Carolina Upstate beat Lipscomb 70-47 on Wednesday night.
USC Upstate (21-9, 8-5 Atlantic Sun) tied its program record for wins and secured a 3-seed in the conference tournament.
ShunQuez Stephens added 15 points and nine rebounds for USC Upstate. Fred Miller had nine points, six rebounds and five assists as the Spartans held a 51-36 advantage on the glass.
Greene and Stephens scored Upstate’s first 12 points of the game as the Spartans held a 12-1 lead.
Josh Williams scored 15 points for Lipscomb (12-16, 6-7). The Bisons were held to 17-of-63 shooting (27 percent), including 5 of 27 from distance.
Lipscomb got within eight points early in the second half, but had a six-plus-minute field goal drought and trailed 55-39 with 6:36 left.
COLL OF CHARLESTON-HOFSTRA
Kone scores 16, Hofstra tops Charleston 73-40
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) β Moussa Kone scored 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Hofstra to a 73-40 win over College of Charleston on Wednesday, holding the Cougars to a season low-tying scoring night.
Ameen Tanksley had 15 points, Brian Bernardi had 12 points and Juan’ya Green added 10 points, eight assists and seven boards for the Pride (19-11, 10-7 Colonial).
Joe Chealey and Donavan Gilmore added 11 apiece for the Cougars (8-22, 3-14), who shot just 23.1 percent from the field_18 percent below their season mark.
Kone scored eight of his 16 points during a 21-6 Pride run to close out the first half up 17. Charleston pulled closer scoring the first six points of the second half, but Hofstra responded with three back-to-back 3s to stretch the lead to 20.
The lead never dropped back to single digits.
CLEMSON-HOWARD’S ROCK
Clemson says case protecting iconic Howard’s Roc k damaged
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) β Clemson’s athletic department says the case surrounding the school’s iconic Howard’s Rock that is the center of the team’s pregame football ritual was damaged Wednesday morning.
The school said in a statement the rock does not to appear to have been damaged and that campus police are investigating the incident.
The rock sits at the entrance to Clemson’s Memorial Stadium atop a hill. The casing is removed before games and Tiger coaches and players gather there and rub the rock before rushing down into the stadium.
It’s the second time in two years there was vandalism on the rock.
In June 2013, the protective case was damaged and a piece of the rock was chipped off. Three men were arrested and charged in the case and are awaiting trial.
T25-DUKE-VIRGINIA TECH
Okafor’s 30 points lead No. 4 Duke past Virginia Tech, 91-86
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) β Jahlil Okafor scored a career-best 30 points, including four in overtime, and No. 4 Duke beat Virginia Tech 91-86 Wednesday night for the Blue Devils’ eighth straight victory.
Okafor also grabbed nine rebounds and showed no ill effects of the sprained left ankle that caused him to miss the Blue Devils’ last game. Quinn Cook added 26 points and Justise Winslow had 15 for Duke (25-3, 12-3 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Jalen Hudson scored a career-high 23 points for Virginia Tech (10-18, 2-13), but missed a layup in the final seconds of regulation that could have given the Hokies their first victory against a ranked team in more than two years.
Adam Smith added 15 points for the Hokies and Devin Wilson had 10 points and 11 assists.
Both teams shot well all night, with Duke at 59.3 percent (35 for 59) and the Hokies at 53.4 percent (31 for 58).
T25-VIRGINIA-WAKE FOREST
No. 2 Virginia routs Wake Forest, 70-34
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) β Anthony Gill scored 11 points and No. 2 Virginia routed Wake Forest 70-34 on Wednesday night for its seventh straight win.
Darion Atkins added 10 points to help the short-handed Cavaliers (26-1, 14-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) score their most points since they beat Miami 89-80 in double overtime on Jan. 3.
The ACC leaders shot 50 percent, led by 38 and held Wake Forest to 15 points in the first half and a season-worst 22 percent shooting.
Dinos Mitoglou had 10 points for the Demon Deacons (12-16, 4-11), who took their most lopsided loss of the year.
Virginia played without two injured starters β Justin Anderson and London Perrantes β but had no trouble with rebuilding Wake Forest, which became the fifth Virginia opponent in six games to fail to reach 50 points.
