Arizona Banks on Gardner

In a lineup loaded with freshmen, Arizona juniors Jason Gardner and Rick Anderson stood tall against Valparaiso.

Gardner rallied the 14th-ranked Wildcats with a late four-point play and Anderson was tough inside as Arizona (8-3) avoided an upset by defeating Valparaiso, 74-70, to win the Bank One Fiesta Bowl Classic on Sunday at Tucson, Ariz.

Gardner was fouled by Milo Stovall while making a 21-foot basket with 1:28 left, and the free throw gave the Wildcats a 71-68 lead.

Stovall missed a jumper with 16 seconds to go, and Anderson got the rebound. Raitis Grafs fouled out trying to get the ball from Anderson, who made one free throw.

Antonio Falu made a layup with 3.5 seconds remaining, and Gardner made two technical free throws when Valparaiso called a timeout without having any left.

Gardner finished with 19 points and Anderson had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Falu had a career-high 22 points for the Crusaders (10-4).

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No. 3 Florida 107, Belmont 55--Brett Nelson had 19 points and Udonis Haslem added 18 at Gainesville, Fla., and the Gators (11-1) tied a school record with their 10th consecutive victory.

Florida put together runs of 14-0, 12-0 and 23-0 to take a 63-20 halftime lead.

Wes Burtner had 23 points for Belmont (5-6), which has lost twice this season against ranked opponents.

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No. 4 Virginia 112, Grambling State 67--Travis Watson had 17 points and every Virginia player scored at Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia (9-0) blew out the Tigers with a 19-0 run in the first half.

Nick Hall led Grambling (3-8) with 19 points.

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No. 8 Maryland 72, North Carolina State 65--Maryland went eight minutes without a field goal in the second half at Raleigh, N.C., but held on in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Juan Dixon led the Terrapins (10-2) with 21 points.

Anthony Grundy scored 18 points for the Wolfpack (10-3).

The teams combined for 57 fouls and 81 free throws.

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No. 18 Syracuse 83, Buffalo 62--Preston Shumpert scored 22 points for the Orangemen (11-2) at Syracuse, N.Y., in a game delayed one day because of heavy snowfall in western New York.

Buffalo (6-5) lost for the third time in four games. Darcel Williams led the Bulls with 24 points.

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No. 24 Miami 71, St. Francis (Pa.) 48--John Salmons scored 21 points at Miami to help the Hurricanes complete their first undefeated nonconference schedule.

The Hurricanes (13-0) have the second-longest winning streak in school history.

Miami opens its Big East schedule Wednesday at Georgetown.

St. Francis (2-7) did not score a field goal in the final seven minutes.

Reiner Mougnol led St. Francis with 13 points.