Aggies, Wildcats Beaten...Butler Does It

UNDATED (AP) _ It was a tough night for a trio of top-25 men's basketball teams. <br/><br/>Zabian Dowdell scored a career-high 33 points to lead Virginia Tech to an 81-80 overtime win at 4th-ranked

Wednesday, February 14th 2007, 9:43 am

By: News On 6

UNDATED (AP) _ It was a tough night for a trio of top-25 men's basketball teams.

Zabian Dowdell scored a career-high 33 points to lead Virginia Tech to an 81-80 overtime win at 4th-ranked North Carolina. Wayne Ellington almost pulled out the victory for the Tar Heels by hitting a 3-point try, but the final buzzer sounded before he got the shot off.

The Tar Heels fell to 8-3 in the ACC, with two of those losses coming against the Hokies.

Jarrius Jackson hit a buzzer-beating jumper to give Texas Tech a 77-75 win over 6th-ranked Texas A&M on the Aggies' home court. Jackson finished with 31 points as the Red Raiders stopped a five-game losing streak.

#20 Kentucky was an 89-85 loser at Tennessee, behind Chris Lofton's 23 points. Lofton went 5-6 from the foul line in the final 30 seconds to help the Vols beat the Wildcats for only the second time in their last 12 meetings.

Butler and Southern Illinois were able to avoid upsets.

#13 Butler has a 22-game home winning streak after Mike Green scored a career-high 24 points in a 79-65 triumph over Florida Gulf Coast. A.J. Graves dropped in 22 points as the Bulldogs rebounded from Saturday's loss at Wright State.

Randal Falker scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as number-16 Southern Illinois topped Missouri State 51-47. The Salukis are 13-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference following their eighth straight win.