PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) - C.J. Fair scored a career-high 21 points and Scoop Jardine added 17, including a dagger 3-pointer with 1:11 to play, as No. 2 Syracuse escaped another close one with a 74-64 victory over Rutgers on Sunday.
The Orange (27-1, 14-1) improved their lead in the Big East standings to 2 1/2 games over No. 12 Marquette and No. 23 Notre Dame. They won two of their last three games by three points or fewer and this one looked to be going the same way.
The Scarlet Knights (12-15, 4-10) beat two Top Ten teams this season at home - Florida and Connecticut - and they were right there with the Orange, who have won 12 straight games in the series.
Gilvydas Biruta matched his career-high with 21 points for Rutgers, which was within two points four times from the 8:45 mark until there was 3:08 to play.
NO. 5 DUKE 75, BOSTON COLLEGE 50
BOSTON (AP) - Seth Curry scored 18 points and Duke didn't need another late rally as it cruised past Boston College behind a smothering defense.
The Blue Devils had erased a 20-point deficit in the final 11 1/2 minutes to beat North Carolina State 78-73 on Thursday night. Eight days earlier, they had come back from 10 points down with 2 1/2 minutes left to beat North Carolina 85-84.
But against BC, Duke went ahead for good on a layup by Austin Rivers midway through the first half, 15-13, led 30-21 at intermission and stretched that to 28 points midway through the second half.
Duke (23-4, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) pulled into a tie for the conference lead with North Carolina and Florida State.
NO. 7 MICHIGAN ST. 76, PURDUE 62
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Draymond Green had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Austin Thornton scored a career-high 17 points to lead Michigan State past short-handed Purdue.
By winning their second straight in West Lafayette and sweeping the Boilermakers this season, the Spartans (22-5, 11-3 Big Ten) took a one-game lead in the conference title chase.
Purdue (17-10, 7-7) had a three-game winning streak snapped. Robbie Hummel scored 24 points to lead the Boilermakers, who played without starting guard Kelsey Barlow and swingman D.J. Byrd. Both were disciplined after a Friday night incident outside a local bar.
After taking a 38-35 halftime lead, Purdue started the second half by going 1 of 23 from the field and Michigan State took control with a 27-8 run.
NO. 15 WISCONSIN 65, PENN ST. 55
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Josh Gasser scored 15 points and Wisconsin held off Penn State to win for the eighth time in 10 games.
Jared Berggren added 13 points, and Ryan Evans and Jordan Taylor scored 11 each for the Badgers (20-7, 9-5 Big Ten), who maintained their grip on fourth place in the conference.
Tim Frazier scored 20 points for the Nittany Lions (12-16, 4-11), who used a 17-2 run in the second half to cut the lead to 51-46 with 5:49 remaining. That's as close as it would get, as Berggren hit a pair of 3-pointers to help Wisconsin close with a 14-9 run.
Penn State, which came in riding its first two-game win streak since Dec. 18-21, has not won in Madison since 1995, a span of 15 games.
IOWA 78, NO. 18 INDIANA 66
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Matt Gaten scored a career-high 30 points and Iowa snapped Indiana's three-game winning streak.
Melsahn Basabe had 13 points for the Hawkeyes (14-13, 6-8 Big Ten), who beat the Hoosiers in Iowa City for the seventh time in eight tries.
Iowa jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead and pushed it to 52-33 midway through the second half. Indiana closed to 10, but Gatens responded with four crucial 3s to guide the Hawkeyes to the easy victory.
Freshman Cody Zeller had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Victor Oladipo added 15 points for Indiana (20-7, 8-7), which is now just a game over .500 in the Big Ten.