UTEP dispatches Tulsa to gain C-USA final

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Culpepper scored 21 points and Arnett Moultrie added 18 to pace No. 25 UTEP to a 75-61 win over Tulsa in the semifinal round of the Conference USA Tournament at the BOK Center.

Christian Polk and Derrick Caracter chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the top-seeded Miners (26-5), whose current winning streak of 16 games has them ranked for the first time since 1992.

UTEP will next face the winner of the Southern Miss/Houston matchup.

Justin Hurtt tallied a game-high 22 points, while Jerome Jordan posted 11 points and 15 rebounds for fifth-seeded Golden Hurricane (23-11), who were coming off tourney wins over Rice and Marshall.

Polk scored on three straight possessions in the early going to give UTEP a 15-4 lead less than six minutes into the game.

The margin reached 35-19 after a pair of Moultrie buckets late in the opening half, which ended with six straight Tulsa points to make it a 10-point game.

Shortly after the break, Culpepper drained a three-pointer to spark a 7-0 run, as an overmatched Golden Hurricane club made just one field goal over the first six minutes of the second stanza.

Claude Britten's dunk capped the spurt to make it 49-29 with under 14 minutes left.

UTEP continued to lead by double-digits until Bryson Pope's layup finished off a 11-1 flurry to cut Tulsa's deficit to 69-61 with just over two minutes left.

That bucket proved Tulsa's last, as UTEP held on for the win.

Game Notes

The Miners swept a pair of meetings from the Hurricane during the regular season...UTEP forced 18 turnovers while committing 11...The Miners shot 51.9 percent from the floor, compared to 39.6 percent from Tulsa.

Trifectas NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Tennessee moves on in SEC Tournament
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.P. Prince scored 17 points and Wayne Chism added 16 and 15 rebounds, as No. 15 Tennessee dismissed the Ole Miss Rebels in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament with a 76-65 victory. Cameron Tatum had fou

<< Els moves ahead at rainy CA Championship
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ernie Els fired a six-under 66 on Friday to move in front after the second round of the WGC-CA Championship at a rainy TPC Blue Monster at Doral. Els, a three-time major winner, finished 36 holes at 10-under 1

<< Auburn dismisses Lebo
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Auburn University has dismissed its head men's basketball coach. The school announced on Friday that Jeff Lebo, who has helmed the program for the last six seasons, will no longer be behind the Tigers' bench.

<< Masoli, Embry the latest Ducks to enter guilty plea
Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - On Friday, the same day teammate LaMichael James was sentenced on a misdemeanor harassment charge, Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and wide receiver Garrett Embry pled guilty to charges of burglary. Masoli

<< Inter stunned by Catania
Catania, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Catania scored three times in the final 20 minutes of their 3-1 upset win over Inter Milan at the Angelo Massimino on Friday. Diego Milito scored in the 54th minute for Inter, but had his opener cance

Corliss Williamson takes over at Central Arkansas >>
Conway, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Central Arkansas has named former college and NBA standout Corliss Williamson as its next men's head basketball coach. Williamson, who enjoyed a fruitful 12-year NBA career, played his

Bucs ink LB Alston >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced the signing of linebacker Jon Alston on Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alston spent the last three seasons with Oakland. He recorded 23 tackles in

Redskins bring in RB Johnson >>
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins signed running back Larry Johnson on Friday. Terms of the deal were not announced, but a report in the Washington Post says the contract is for three years and a total of $12 million

Blake advances at BNP Paribas Open >>
Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former top-five American James Blake was an easy first-round winner Friday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters event. Blake cruised past Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-2

Chiefs sign veteran center Wiegmann >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs have signed veteran center Casey Wiegmann. The 14-year pro spent the last two seasons with Denver and started in all 32 regular season games. He has gone the last eight

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com