FSU tops Vermont sharpshooters

HARTFORD, Conn. — Florida State got a first-round scare from sharp-shooting Vermont.

In the end, the Seminoles were just too long and too strong for the upset-minded Catamounts.

Mfiondu Kabengele had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Florida State withstood a barrage of three-pointers from 13th-seeded Vermont in a 76-69 victory Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA West Regional.

Terance Mann added 19 points for the fourth-seeded Seminoles (28-7), who were tied with the Catamounts at halftime but pulled away late.

“I thought we exercised physicality, the quality of our depth, our athleticism and strength in the second half, getting the ball to Mfiondu,” said FSU Coach Leonard Hamilton. “I thought he was a little bit bigger, stronger and taller.”

Anthony Lamb had 16 points to lead a balanced, long-range attack for Vermont (27-7), which lost for the first time in seven games. Three Catamounts — Stef Smith, Ernie Duncan and Ben Shungu — each finished with 15 points.

The America East champions went small — no starter stood over 6-foot-6 — and stayed close by hitting 16 of 32 three-point attempts. The Seminoles countered by wearing out Vermont down low, outscoring the Catamounts 30-14 in the paint. Vermont had just seven baskets from inside the arc.

A dunk by Kabengele gave Florida State a 50-45 lead with nine minutes left, part of a 6-0 run that put the Seminoles ahead for good. Another by the 6-10 sophomore made it 61-53, and the cheers of Vermont fans, who made the four-hour drive south from Burlington, gave way to the tomahawk chop from behind Florida State’s bench.

Florida State led by 12 with just over a minute left and withstood a late run by Vermont.

Vermont, which outrebounded Florida State 20-18 in the first half, was outmuscled underneath and lost the rebounding battle 21-13 in the second.

Coach John Becker said his team got tired.

“I think when the kid [Kabengele] stepped through a triple team and dunked it, it was kind of telling that we were wearing down,” he said.

MURRAY STATE 83, MARQUETTE 64

HARTFORD, Conn. — Ja Morant recorded the ninth triple-double in the NCAA Tournament since 1987 as Murray State trounced fifth-seeded Marquette.

Murray State continued a trend of a No. 12 seed winning at least one game in all but three tournaments since 2001 — including last year’s — but this looked nothing like an upset.

Morant had 17 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds as he sliced through Marquette and showed the Racers (284) were better in every way than their opponent from the Big East.

The game was billed as a showcase of two of the nation’s best point guards and Morant and Markus Howard delivered plenty of highlights. Howard scored 16 in the first half on a mix of threes off screens and hard drives to the hoop and finished with 26 points for Marquette (24-10).

FLORIDA 70, NEVADA 61

DES MOINES, Iowa — Florida nearly squandered a double-digit lead before finally stopping a Nevada comeback and pulling off an upset.

Kevarrius Hayes scored 16 points, Jalen Hudson added 15 and the 10th-seeded Gators won their tournament opener for the third consecutive year.

Andrew Nembhard, whose last-second shot beat LSU in the SEC Tournament last week, drove to the basket for a layup with 1 ½ minutes left and Florida scored the last seven points after the seventh-seeded Wolf Pack had rallied from down 18 to cut the deficit to just two points.

Cody Martin scored 23 points and twin brother Caleb Martin had 19 for the Wolf Pack (29-5). The two combined for 28 of their team’s 33 points in the second half of the West Region matchup.

GONZAGA 87, FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 49

SALT LAKE CITY — The Gonzaga Bulldogs gave Fairleigh Dickinson a wire-to-wire thumping in a game that looked every bit as lopsided as most of the 1-vs.-16 contests since 1985, when the bracket was expanded to 64 teams.

Rui Hachimura led Gonzaga (31-3) with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Gonzaga led by 10 after the first 4:12, by 20 after 10:25 and by 53-17 at halftime.

By the time Gonzaga turned it over when Josh Perkins tried flipping a nolook pass backward to Killian Tillie, Coach Mark Few looked barely awake — sitting in his chair, cheek cupped in his hand. The Bulldogs led 70-34.