No. 3 Duke suffers second straight defeat, falling to N.C. State

? Clifford Crawford scored 21 points Wednesday night and Julius Hodge added 18 as North Carolina State snapped a 13-game losing streak to No. 3 Duke with an 80-71 victory.

The Blue Devils (12-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) were the nation’s top-ranked team a week ago, but lost their second straight conference game for the first time since 1997. Duke lost to No. 12 Maryland by 15 points on Saturday.

Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek was 1-15 against Duke in his career — his only win coming in the 1997 ACC tournament. But the Wolfpack (10-4, 3-1) pulled off the stunner with some clutch outside shooting and Crawford’s overall play.

Crawford came in 3-for-12 from three-point range this season, but the senior guard was 4-of-5 from long range in this one, and his defense in the second half on Duke three-point ace J.J. Redick was key.

Redick burned the Wolfpack with 20 first-half points, but was held to four in the second half as Duke faded down the stretch.

No. 1 Arizona 71, ASU 63

Tucson, Ariz. — Jason Gardner scored 19 points to lead Arizona, which nearly blew a 26-point second-half lead. Arizona State trailed by 20 points at halftime and was down 51-25 with 14:26 to play, but the Sun Devils (12-6, 4-3 Pac-10 Conference) outscored Arizona 31-10 over a 9:14 span to cut the lead to 61-56 with 5:09 to play. After missing five straight free throws, the Wildcats (14-1, 7-0) finally put the game away at the foul line. Gardner was 6-for-6 at the line over the final 2:49.

No. 5 Florida 87, Vandy 75

Gainesville, Fla. — David Lee had 22 points and Florida extended its winning streak to 12 games. The Gators (16-2, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) are off to the best start in school history.

No. 8 Kentucky 67, No. 24 Auburn 51

Lexington, Ky. — Gerald Fitch scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half and Keith Bogans and Jules Camara each added 13 for Kentucky (14-3, 4-0 Southeastern Conference), which won its eighth straight. Marco Killingsworth scored 19 points to lead the Tigers (15-3, 4-1), who had a nine-game winning streak snapped.

No. 9 Louisville 71, DePaul 43

Louisville, Ky. — Reece Gaines scored 14 points and the Cardinals (13-1, 5-0 Conference USA) won their 12th straight.

No. 12 Maryland 81, North Carolina 66

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Drew Nicholas scored 20 points and Steve Blake added 17 for the Terrapins (11-4, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).

No. 18 Illinois 75, Purdue 62

Champaign, Ill. — Brian Cook scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half as Illinois snapped the Boilermakers’ six-game winning streak.

No. 19 Georgia 81, Tenn. 76

Athens, Ga. — Jarvis Hayes scored 10 straight points for the Bulldogs in overtime.

No. 22 Miss. State 64, South Carolina 48

Starkville, Miss. — Mario Austin scored 18 points for the Bulldogs (11-4, 1-3 Southeastern Conference).