College Basketball: Top-ranked Orange put away Seton Hall

Fab Melo had 12 points and 10 blocks, both career highs, and No. 1 Syracuse stifled visiting Seton Hall at every turn in a 75-49 victory Wednesday night in the Big East opener for both teams.

Syracuse (14-0 overall) gained control with a staunch defensive performance in the opening half in building a 34-15 lead.

Melo, who had his first career double-double, pulled in seven rebounds.

Dion Waiters had 15 points and Brandon Triche added 11 for Syracuse, which won easily despite a subpar performance by leading scorer Kris Joseph.

Kentucky 86, Lamar 64 - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 18 points and No. 3 Kentucky beat visiting Lamar in the Wildcats' final game before facing No. 4 Louisville.

Kentucky (12-1) opened the game on an 11-2 run and maintained its first-half lead because of its free throw shooting. The Wildcats were 14 of 17 from the foul line in the first half and finished 27 of 33 overall.

Georgetown 71, Louisville 68 - Markel Starks scored 16 of his career-high 20 points in the second half, and No. 12 Georgetown snapped No. 4 Louisville's 20-game home winning streak in the Big East opener for both teams.

Ohio State 87, Northwestern 54 - Northwestern is known for its precise, patterned offense and sticky defense.

Both were abandoned against No. 2 Ohio State.

Eastern 83, Husson 78 -

The Eastern Eagles defeated the Husson Eagles on the opening day of the Big Easy Challenge in Westwego, La.

Eastern's Alex Nelson led all players with 20 points, and for the fifth game this season, Eastern had four players scoring in double digits. Collin Whipple had 14, Mike Donatoni added 13, and Martin Soaries contributed 10.

Eastern will play the University of Massachusetts-Boston Beacons (3-6) at noon Thursday.

Penn State Abington 83, York 73 - Penn State Abington, led by Mike Marvin with 24 points, defeated its host in the York College Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament. Mike Colacci chipped in with 23 points for Abington (3-5). Abington will face the winner of Hartwick vs. Delaware Valley for the championship Thursday at 3 p.m.

Lehigh 76, St. Peter's 67 - C.J. McCollum notched a double-double, scoring 22 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, to lead Lehigh over St. Peter's in Jersey City, N.J.

Holden Greiner added 19 points and Gabe Knutson 10 for the Mountain Hawks (10-4), who rebounded after dropping their last game to No. 16 Michigan State, 90-81 on Thursday.

Lafayette 69, Monmouth 54 - Jim Mower scored 19 points, and Lafayette used a strong three-point shooting performance to defeat Monmouth in a nonconference game in Easton, Pa.

Mower was 5 of 9 from three-point range for the Leopards (5-7), including two in a span of 1:13 in the first half after the Hawks (2-11) had scored nine straight points to cut Lafayette's lead to 24-20.

Three-pointers by Levi Giese, Nick Petkovich, and Seth Hinrichs in the opening 3:39 of the second half helped Lafayette increase its lead to 44-28, and it never led by fewer than 13 points after that.

Joey Ptasinski scored 11 points for Lafayette, including 3 of 5 on three-pointers, and Hinrichs had 10 points.

Ramapo 83, Ursinus 58 - Playing for the first time since Dec. 10, Ursinus dropped its first game in the D3Hoops.com Classic to Ramapo (9-3) in Las Vegas.

The Bears (3-8) were led by junior forward Jon Ward, who had 13 points, with sophomore guard Pat Vasturia adding 11. Sophomore point guard Jesse Krasna had 11 points.

Hartwick 82, Delaware Valley 68 - Delaware Valley College's Jeremy Beckett and Hartwick College's Jared Suderly each had 34 points and 12 rebounds, but it was the Hawks that came away with the victory in the opening round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament at York College.