Scoop Jardine sparked a deciding rally with three-pointers on consecutive possessions in the closing minutes, and No. 2 Syracuse defeated Connecticut 85-67 yesterday in the Big East.

Jardine had a season-high 21 points as Syracuse (25-1, 12-1) earned its fifth consecutive victory since losing its only game of the season at Notre Dame.

Connecticut trailed the entire second half but closed to 63-61 on a free throw by Tyler Olander with 6:26 left.

Jardine then hit two three-pointers as the Orange closed the game with a 19-3 surge. Jeremy Lamb scored 18 points for Connecticut (15-9, 5-7), which has lost six of seven.

The crowd of 33,430 was the largest of the season and fourth-largest in Carrier Dome history.

Top 25 highlights

No. 1 Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 63 — Doron Lamb hit a three-pointer with 3:18 left to put Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats (25-1, 11-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated Vanderbilt (17-8, 6-4) for their 17th straight victory.

Kentucky held off a furious charge by scoring the final eight points of the game. Vanderbilt led 63-61 with 4:08 left on a three-pointer by Brad Tinsley. The Commodores didn’t score again and ended a four-game home winning streak over No. 1 teams.

No. 5 North Carolina 70, No. 19 Virginia — Tyler Zeller had 25 points and nine rebounds to power North Carolina (21-4, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) past Virginia (19-5, 6-4).

Harrison Barnes added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who blew the game open with a 22-5 run that started early in the second half.

No. 7 Kansas 81, Oklahoma State 66 — Jeff Withey and Thomas Robinson each had double-doubles for Kansas (20-5, 10-2 Big 12) in a victory over Oklahoma State (12-13, 5-7).

Withey had 18 points and a career-best 20 rebounds, and Robinson had 24 points and 14 rebounds.

Tennessee 75, No. 8 Florida 70 — Trae Golden scored 17 points, Jeronne Maymon added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Tennessee (13-12, 5-5 SEC) defeated Florida (19-6, 7-3).

Skylar McBee had 13 points for Tennessee, which ended Florida’s 19-game home winning streak.

No. 10 Duke 73, Maryland 55 — Miles Plumlee had 13 points and a career-high 22 rebounds, and Duke (21-4, 8-2 ACC) pulled away to defeat Maryland (14-10, 4-6).

No. 14 UNLV 65, No. 13 San Diego State 63 — Mike Moser scored 19 points and made a key steal that sent UNLV (22-4, 6-2 Mountain West) past San Diego State (20-4, 6-2).

No. 15 Florida State 64, Miami 59 — Bernard James scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, and Florida State (17-7, 8-2 ACC) defeated Miami (15-8, 6-4).

Wichita State 89, No. 17 Creighton 68 — Joe Ragland scored 24 points, Ben Smith tied a career high with 22 and Wichita State (22-4, 13-2) defeated Creighton (21-5, 11-4) in the Missouri Valley Conference.

No. 24 Louisville 77, West Virginia 74 — Kyle Kuric had 17 points for Louisville (20-5, 8-4 Big East), which scored 13 of the game’s final 16 points to defeat West Virginia (16-10, 6-7).

Big Ten highlight

Penn State 67, Nebraska 51 — Tim Frazier had 23 points and 10 rebounds as Penn State (11-15, 3-10 Big Ten) ended a five-game losing streak and defeated Nebraska (11-13, 3-10).