Ottawa’s Shayok provides spark for Virginia
ORLANDO, FLA. The defensiveminded Virginia Cavaliers showed they can play with a little offensive tempo, even using five guards to outpace UNC Wilmington.
London Perrantes scored 24 points, Ottawa’s Marial Shayok added a career-high 23 off the bench and No. 5 seed Virginia rallied from 15 points down to beat 12th-seeded UNC Wilmington 76-71 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Perrantes scored 19 points in the second half as the Cavaliers got their slow-paced offence going. His biggest bucket was a driving bank shot with 1:37 remaining, which put the Cavs up 71-66.
But UNCW wouldn’t go away. Chris Flemmings drained a three-pointer from the elbow and then Devontae Cacok hit a layup to make it 73-71 with less than a minute to play. But Shayok answered on the other end, banking in a runner that gave the Cavs some breathing room in the closing seconds.
“I just wanted to provide energy off the slow start,” Shayok said. “Personally, I just didn’t want to go out like that, and I knew my teammates didn’t either. So I just wanted to come out and provide what I could on both ends and just bring a spark.”
In other first-round games: In Salt Lake City, Northwestern ■ got its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory 68-66 over Vanderbilt after Commodores guard Matthew Fisher-Davis inexplicably grabbed Wildcats guard Bryant McIntosh, sending McIntosh to the free throw line for the go-ahead points with 15 seconds left.
McIntosh went to the line and calmly swished the free throws with 15 seconds left.
In Milwaukee, Reggie ■
Upshaw scored 19 points, Giddy Potts added 15 and Middle Tennessee took down another Big Ten team in the NCAA Tournament, beating Minnesota 81-72 on Thursday.
The No. 12 Blue Raiders played like seasoned veterans, holding off the No. 5 Gophers’ comeback attempt from a 17-point deficit.
In Buffalo, N.Y., Donte DiVin■ cenzo scored 21 points and NCAA Tournament top seed Villanova shook off a slow start and stumbled forward in the East region with a 76-56 victory over No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s.
The Wildcats weren’t themselves for much of the first half before they opened the second half with a 21-6 run to take the first step toward defending their championship. Since the NCAA went to seeding in 1985, No. 1 seeds are 130-0 against No. 16s.
In Salt Lake City, Jordan ■
Mathews scored 16 points to help West Region top seed Gonzaga slowly pull away from South Dakota State for a 66-46 victory.
The Jackrabbits led for the first 17 minutes of Thursday’s game and stayed in range for most of the game.