Washington State survives scare

Washington State center Aron Baynes jams the ball against Portland State. Baynes scored 23 points on 9-for-9 shooting in the Cougars' 72-60 victory Sunday in Pullman, Wash.

? Washington State hit 65 percent of its shots from the floor, 72 percent in the first half, yet barely hung on to beat unheralded Portland State on Sunday night.

That fact had coach Tony Bennett shaking his head after Portland State stayed close virtually the entire game. WSU pulled away in the final minutes for a 72-60 victory.

“When you shoot that kind of percentage, you should not be in that close of a game,” Bennett said. “Our offense bailed us out. We were not stopping them.”

Aron Baynes scored 23 points, including six slam dunks, and grabbed nine rebounds on his 21st birthday to keep the Cougars ahead. He made all nine of his field-goal attempts.

No. 5 Georgetown 87, Jacksonville 55

Washington – Freshman Austin Freeman scored 15 points, and Georgetown shot a season-high 59 percent.

Chris Wright and DaJuan Summers both added 14 points for the Hoyas, who improved to 7-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

No. 25 Villanova 101, Temple 93

Philadelphia – Scottie Reynolds scored 27 points, and Villanova made it a record 13 straight victories against their Big 5 intra-city rivals.

Mark Tyndale scored 24 points, and Dionte Christmas added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Owls, the last Big 5 team to beat Villanova back on Dec. 4, 2004.