No. 1 Kansas holds off Mich. St.
INDIANAPOLIS >> Quentin Grimes scored
21 points in his college debut and Dedric Lawson added 20 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 1 Kansas past No.
10 Michigan State 92-87 in the seasonopening Champions Classic on Tuesday.
The Jayhawks won their third straight in one of college basketball’s premier events.
Michigan State was led by Joshua Langford with 18 points and Kenny Goins with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Spartans are now 4-21 all-time against No. 1 teams.
The game pitted two power-conference preseason favorites against each other, and the finish was every bit as intriguing as expected.
After Kansas was in control for most of the game, the Spartans frantically trimmed a 10-point deficit to 90-87 with
34 seconds left. They had a chance to make it a two-point game when Devon Dotson missed the second of two free throws with 15 seconds left.
But Cassius Winston missed a layup for Michigan State, Kansas grabbed the rebound and Grimes sealed it by making 1 of 2 free throws.
It sure didn’t look like it would be so close after Kansas withstood Michigan State’s early 3-point flurry.
The Jayhawks went on a 13-3 run midway through the first half to turn an 1816 lead into a 30-17 advantage, extended the lead to 44-27 and never let the Spartans get closer than seven until the final minutes.
SYRACUSE 66, EASTERN WASHINGTON 34 >> Oshae Brissett had 20 points and eight rebounds, No. 16 Syracuse held Eastern Washington to 22 percent shooting, and the Orange overpowered the Eagles in the season opener for both teams.
The Eagles’ output was the lowest since the Carrier Dome opened in 1980.
Eight players scored for Syracuse, which played without starting point guard Frank Howard. Bourama Sidibe and Tyus Battle each had eight, while Marek Dolezaj, Jalen Carey and Elijah Hughes had seven apiece.
Tyler Kidd led the Eagles with nine points. Jack Perry, the Eagles leading
3-point shooter a year ago, had three points and shot 1 of 4 from 3.
Syracuse scored 33 points off 19 Eastern Washington turnovers. The Eagles were no match for the Orange, with no player taller than 6-foot-7.
Both teams were cold from 3. Syracuse, which ranked last in 3-point shooting in the ACC last season, hit 3 of 17 while the Orange defense held the Eagles to 6 of 35.
The game was tied at 5 when Syracuse went on a 23-5 run to end the first half with a 28-10 lead. Never threatened, the Orange continued to dominate with an
18-3 blitz to start the second. CLEMSON 100, CITADEL 80 >> Marcquise Reed had 20 points and a career-high
13 rebounds as No. 22 Clemson beat The Citadel 100-80 and reached 100 points for the first time in nine years Tuesday night.
The Tigers (1-0) last hit the century mark in a 102-66 win over Winthrop in November 2009. They reached triple digits for the first time in coach Brad Brownell’s nine seasons on the way to their 34th straight season-opening win.
Reed led six Tigers in double figures and posted his fourth career double-double. Shelton Mitchell and Aamir Simms scored 16 points each, Elijah Thomas had 15, Clyde Trapp 13 and David Skara
11.
VIRGINIA 73, TOWSON 42 >> Ty Jerome scored 20 points and De’Andre Hunter had 13 and 10 rebounds as No. 5 Virginia beat Towson.
Jerome made six 3-pointers for the Cavaliers (1-0), who were playing for the first time since they made history by becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16seed in the NCAA Tournament. That 74-54 loss to UMBC last March, they insisted leading into the opener, was the furthest thing from their mind.
Tobias Howard made three 3-pointers and led Towson (0-1) with 10 points and Brian Fobbs had nine. The Tigers had long spells without a field goal in each half and finished shooting 31.7 percent
(13-41). They also missed 15 of 27 free throws (46.7 percent) and turned the ball over 14 times while forcing just five by the Cavaliers.
Jerome was hot from the start for Virginia. He scored 11 in the first half and took a seat early having made 6 of
9 3-point shots and adding four assists. He was joined with an early night off by Hunter, who played just 26 minutes and watched as Tony Bennett emptied his bench by the midpoint of the second half.