Tillie leads No. 17 Gonzaga over Utah State
SPOKANE, Wash. — Killian Tillie scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds as No. 17 Gonzaga beat Utah State 79-66 on Saturday night.
Corey Kispert and Silas Melson each scored 12 points for Gonzaga (3-0), which lost to North Carolina in the NCAA title game last season.
Sam Merrill scored 19 points for Utah State (2-2), which shot 39 percent in the game.
The Aggies played without guard Koby McEwen, a preseason all-Mountain West selection, because of an ankle injury.
Utah State made five 3-pointers, three by Merrill, to take an early 17-11 lead.
Gonzaga went on a 9-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Zach Norvell Jr., to take a 20-18 lead.
The Aggies went ahead 39-31 with 5:22 left in the first, but did not make another field goal in the half. Gonzaga outscored them 14-3 to take a 45-42 lead at halftime.
This is the sixth meeting of the programs, but the first since 1970.
NO. 19 PURDUE 106, FAIRFIELD 64
In West Lafayette, Ind., No. 19 Purdue had a first half to remember.
Dakota Mathias, Vince Edwards and P.J Thompson combined for 46 points in the opening 20 minutes and the Boilermakers made 13 of 18 3-point attempts in the half on the way to a victory over Fairfield.
Mathias, Edwards and Thompson — all seniors — were a collective 13 of 15 from beyond the arc during the first 20 minutes when the Boilermakers (4-0) built a commanding 58-28 lead against the previously unbeaten Stags (2-1).
Purdue finished with a schoolrecord 19 3-pointers.
At the half, Mathias had 18 points, Edwards 16 and Thompson 12. Mathias finished with a game-best 23 points, while Vince Edwards had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Carsen Edwards scored 18 points with six assists and Thompson finished with 12 points.
“We have a lot of potential with our offense, the way we shoot the ball,” Mathias said. “It shows in our shooting numbers.”
Vince Edwards had 11 points during the game’s first 6:35.
“I was open for my first shot, and I just kept going back there to the corner,” Edwards said. “Credit my teammates for feeding me. Everybody fed off it, and we got hot.”
Fairfield, which entered allowing only 62 points a game, gave up four less than that in the first half.
Purdue shot 51.4 percent from the field (38 of 74), including 19 of 31 from 3-point range (61.3 percent). The Boilermakers outrebounded the error-prone Stags 42-34. Fairfield was guilty of 22 turnovers, which led to 28 Purdue points.
The Boilermakers are 4-0 for the ninth time in coach Matt Painter’s 13 seasons at his alma mater.
Last year’s team — led by current Portland Trail Blazer Caleb Swanigan — began 11-0 and won the Big Ten regular-season championship.
NO. 20 NORTHWESTERN 82, LA SALLE 74
In Uncasville, Conn., Bryant McIntosh and his Northwestern teammates put forth a strong defensive effort in the first half to help them beat La Salle.
McIntosh scored 21 points and Scottie Lindsey added 20 to lead the No. 20 Wildcats to a win over La Salle in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.
“In the first half we came out ready to play,” said McIntosh, who hit five 3-pointers and had seven assists. “We really defended and held them to 24 points.”
The Wildcats (3-1) advance to play Texas Tech in Sunday’s championship. Northwestern has not won an in-season tournament since the 2013 South Padre Island Invitational.
Derek Pardon added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats. Aaron Falzon chipped in 11 points.
NO. 22 SETON HALL 82, NJIT 53
In Newark, N.J., Kevin Willard has more than very three talented seniors on No. 22 Seton Hall. His young kids are starting to step up.
Senior Desi Rodriguez scored 19 points and Seton Hall used an 18-2 second-half run to shake off pesky NJIT and post a victory.
Sophomore Myles Powell added 13 points for the Pirates (4-0), Myles Cale had 11 and fellow freshman big man Sando Mamukelashvili added 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots on a day that Willard decided to give senior center Angel Delgado some rest after he tweaked a calf in the second half.
Senior Khadeen Carrington added nine points as the Pirates beat NJIT for the sixth time in as many games. The big surprise was Delgado being held to five points and two rebounds in 16 minutes, playing only 2 minutes in the second half.
“He has logged a lot of minutes already,” Willard said of Delgado, who led the nation in rebounding last season. “He’s a workhorse, so I kind of gave him the night off, which he deserves.”
Abdul Lewis had 10 points and five rebounds to lead the Highlanders (1-2), who drew within 39-35 after scoring the first five points of the second half. Chris Jenkins added nine points for NJIT, which is winless in 15 games at the Prudential Center, which is about a mile from its campus.
NJIT, now 1-22 against Big East schools, made Seton Hall work for this one despite never leading in the game. They were tied at 10 early, and got within 33-30 late in the first half before Seton Hall scored the final six points, two on fast breaks by Powell.
NO. 24 WEST VIRGINIA 111, MORGAN ST. 48
In Morgantown, W.Va., West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was wondering whether his team would regain its energy before the tough part of the schedule.
That problem was solved as Daxter Miles scored a career-high 32 points to lead the 24th-ranked Mountaineers over Morgan State.
The Mountaineers (2-1) had control from the start, opening the game with a 14-3 run, rebounding from a sloppy start against American on Wednesday.
WVU finished the game shooting 45 of 77 (58 percent) from the field.