Cincinnati » Down by six points with 12 minutes to go, third-ranked Syracuse knew it was time for some shutdown defense. The Orange nearly pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

Syracuse held Cincinnati to one field goal over the final 12 minutes on Sunday, extending the best start in school history with a 71-54 victory, its 10th in a row.

Syracuse (23-1, 10-1 Big East) closed the game with a 28-5 run that featured Kris Joseph's two pivotal 3-pointers and a lot of good defense. The Bearcats (14-9, 5-6) managed only one field goal and three free throws after pulling ahead 49-43 with 12:26 left.

Shutdown defense indeed.

"It comes down to the last 10 minutes," said Joseph, who finished with 17 points. "The last 10 minutes is crunch time. For us, it's just playing great defense. We've seen everything. When we get on a run and get ahead, there's not a lot of teams that can come back."

Andy Rautins led the Orange with 20 points, helping Syracuse get through another game when its top scorer wasn't at his best.

Wes Johnson, who fell hard in Syracuse's win over Providence on Tuesday, was back in the starting lineup but played only 23 minutes. The forward took only three shots and had five points.

Johnson, a forward who averages a team-high 16.7 points, played only three minutes in the second half against Providence after he was fouled while going for a lob pass and hit the court hard. He was sore and missed practice during the week.

"My body wasn't as loose as I wish it was," Johnson said. "It's better than it was the day after the Providence game."

Johnson is a key component in an offense that is scoring 82.5 points a game, second-best in the league. But he was on the bench down the stretch on Sunday, letting his teammates take over.

No. 18. Ohio State 68, Iowa 58 » Evan Turner stayed up late on Saturday night, watching Michigan State lose to turn the Big Ten race into a free-for all.

Then he got up early on Sunday to make sure No. 13 Ohio State stayed in the mix.

Turner matched his career high with 32 points, leading the Buckeyes past Iowa 68-58 on Sunday and stretching the their Big Ten winning streak to seven straight.

"We got here at 7:45 in the morning," Turner said after the rare Ohio State game with a noon tip-off. "We caught the Michigan State versus Illinois game last night, so we were up kind of late. We came out and competed and got the job done."

Every time that Ohio State needed a big basket, Turner had a part in it. He also had five assists and seven rebounds.

"You probably saw about what he is," Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. "It's not unique to us, what happened. He's tough to contain."

Buckeyes coach Thad Matta was asked if Turner is the best player in the nation.

"If there's one out there better than him, then I look forward to seeing him," Matta said.