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Christmas Lights Up Tennessee

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - Temple students dressed for an upset, wearing Santa Claus hats and white beards and some even held signs that read "Merry Christmas!"

Dionte Christmas, the reason for all the marketing puns, went out and showed the Temple faithful 'tis might be the season to be jolly. He made them all forget about waiting for presents under the tree to celebrate. Each of his big baskets were reasons the fans could carouse on the court.

Christmas scored a season-high 35 points, including three straight 3-pointers during a game-changing stretch that helped Temple upset No. 8 Tennessee 88-72 on Saturday.

Owls fans stormed the court in a wild celebration for Coach Fran Dunphy's biggest win in three seasons.

"We played about as good as we could play," Dunphy said. "Everything just came together."

Christmas delivered with a sensational second half when he hit six of his seven 3-pointers for the Owls (5-3). He made 10 baskets in the second half, holding back the nipping Volunteers and turning this into a rout.

"I didn't think I'd get the looks I got today," Christmas said. "I usually don't get that many good looks. Fortunately, I was knocking them down."

Tennessee (6-2) never led in the game, but cut the deficit to four midway through the second half. Christmas then hit three 3s that stretched the lead to 15 points.

Sergio Olmos had five blocks and a career-high 19 points for Temple.

Hoyas Get Past Memphis In OT

WASHINGTON - Chris Wright made a spin move at halfcourt late in overtime, then finished his drive with a layup in heavy traffic to cap a game-long swarm of intense, physical basketball as No. 19 Georgetown beat No. 17 Memphis 79-70.
DaJuan Summers had 21 points and seven rebounds, Austin Freeman scored 18 points, and Wright had 14 for the Hoyas (7-1), who outscored Memphis 10-4 in the extra period to run their home winning streak to 26 games.

The Hoyas led 71-70 when Wright made his layup with 1:05 to play. Georgetown then finished off the victory with free throws in the final minute and a last-second heave.

Shawn Taggart had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Tyreke Evans scored 20 points for the Tigers (5-2).

NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 100,

ORAL ROBERTS 84

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Tyler Hansbrough had 26 points and nine rebounds to help top-ranked North Carolina (9-0) beat Oral Roberts (2-7).

Deon Thompson added 22 points for the Tar Heels, who shot 59 percent to take a 20-point halftime lead.

NO. 3 PITTSBURGH 91,

UMBC 56

PITTSBURGH - Sam Young had 19 points and No. 3 Pittsburgh improved to 10-0 for the sixth consecutive season with victory over UMBC (5-4).

The Panthers have won their first 10 games during each of Jamie Dixon's six seasons as head coach.

NO. 5 OKLAHOMA 70,

UTAH 52

NORMAN, Okla. - Austin Johnson scored 14 points and No. 5 Oklahoma (10-0) overcame Blake Griffin's early foul trouble to beat Utah (5-4).

NO. 6 TEXAS 81, TEXAS ST. 73

AUSTIN, Texas - A.J. Abrams scored 30 points, giving No. 6 Texas the cushion it needed down the stretch, and the Longhorns (8-1) pulled away to beat Texas State (3-5).

NO. 9 LOUISVILLE 94,

AUSTIN PEAY 75

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Preston Knowles scored a career-high 21 points, including 12 during a decisive run in the second half, and No. 9 Louisville (6-1) pulled away from Austin Peay (5-3).

NO. 10 XAVIER 76,

CINCINNATI 66

CINCINNATI - Derrick Brown had 20 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out on a technical, and No. 10 Xavier (9-0) remained unbeaten with the roughest win of them all, a victory over Cincinnati (6-2) that featured six technicals.

NO. 12 NOTRE DAME 74,

BOSTON U. 67

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Luke Harangody had 23 points and 15 rebounds and No. 12 Notre Dame (7-2) finished with a 10-1 run to beat Boston University (5-4), extending its home winning streak to 41 games.

NO. 13 SYRACUSE 79,

LONG BEACH ST. 55

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Arinze Onuaku matched his season high with 19 points, Eric Devendorf added 13 points and five assists, and No. 13 Syracuse (9-0) beat Long Beach State (4-5).

NO. 14 PURDUE 76,

INDIANA ST. 62

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Robbie Hummel scored 20 of his career-high 25 points in the second half, and No. 14 Purdue (8-2) beat Indiana State (1-8).

NO. 16 UCLA 72, DEPAUL 54

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Josh Shipp and Jrue Holiday scored 14 points each and No. 16 UCLA (6-2) routed DePaul (4-4) in the John R. Wooden Classic, giving Coach Ben Howland his 300th career victory.

NO. 18 MICHIGAN ST. 118,

ALCORN ST. 60

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Chris Allen had 20 points and Kalin Lucas added 16 to lead No. 18 Michigan State (6-2) to victory over Alcorn State (2-7).

NO. 21 OHIO ST. 54,

BUTLER 51

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Evan Turner scored 14 points, including the go-ahead basket, to lead No. 21 Ohio State (6-0) past Butler (5-1), surviving a late rally by the Bulldogs.

NO. 22 BAYLOR 90,

PRAIRIE VIEW 63

WACO, Texas - Henry Dugat scored eight consecutive points in just over a minute midway through the first half to finally push No. 22 Baylor (8-1) ahead of Prairie View (3-6), and the Bears went on to victory in their first home game in three weeks.

NO. 23 DAVIDSON 100,

CHATTANOOGA 95

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Stephen Curry scored 41 points and No. 23 Davidson (8-1) held off Chattanooga (1-6) in the Southern Conference opener for both teams.

NO. 24 MARQUETTE 69,

IPFW 50

MILWAUKEE - Jerel McNeal went on another second-half scoring spree, powering No. 24 Marquette (8-1) past Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne (4-6).

MASSACHUSETTS 61,

NO. 25 KANSAS 60

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Ricky Harris had 18 points, Chris Lowe added 12 and Massachusetts (3-6) used a stingy defense to hold off No. 25 Kansas (7-2).

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