Quick Hitters
Balanced K-State beats Wake Forest in First Four
DAYTON, Ohio — Kamau Stokes scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half of a wide-open game on Tuesday night, and Kansas State’s balance was the difference as the Wildcats pulled away to a 95-88 victory over Wake Forest in the First Four.
Eleventh-seeded K-State (2113) got its first NCAA Tournament win in five years and a trip to play No. 6 Cincinnati on Friday in Sacramento as part of the South Regional.
In a matchup of two versatile offenses, the Wildcats had the most options and hot shooters. Wesley Iwundu added 24 points, and D.J. Johnson scored 18.
Wake Forest (19-14) couldn’t keep up during its first NCAA Tournament game in seven years. The Demon Deacons scored 90 points nine times during the season, but couldn’t match the Wildcats as they shot 66 percent from the field.
John Collins led Wake Forest with 26 points and nine rebounds.
Mount St. Mary’s edges New Orleans in battle of 16s
DAYTON, Ohio — Diminutive point guard Junior Robinson scored 23 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 1:27 to play, and Mount St. Mary’s held on for a 67-66 victory over New Orleans on Tuesday night in the opening game of the First Four.
Robinson, the smallest player in Division I at 5-foot-5, carried the Mountaineers (20-15) to only their second NCAA Tournament win.
They’ll head to Buffalo to play defending national champion and top overall seed Villanova in the East Regional on Thursday.
Mount St. Mary’s led most of the way, but New Orleans (20-12) pulled off a comeback befitting its resurgent season. The Privateers had a chance for a final shot, but Erik Thomas’ inbound pass with 2.6 seconds left was off target and stolen by the Mountaineers’ Chris Wray to clinch it.
Tuesday’s baseball game between Kofa and Gila Ridge left both coaches frustrated after the conclusion, perhaps highlighting the differences between the two programs.
Junior right-hander Nick Rehkopf threw a completegame, two-hit shutout for the Kings in their 2-0 win against the Hawks at Gila Ridge.
“I’m so happy for him,” Kofa coach Richy Leon said. “He threw the heck out of the baseball.”
It was the best performance of the year so far for Rehkopf, who entered the game having surrendered six runs over 6 2/3 innings in two appearances.
Rehkopf missed his sophomore season due to arm issues, but stayed with the team and rehabbed in order to pitch in 2017.
His outing was efficient, as he needed only 84 pitches to throw seven innings. He struck out seven batters.
“We knew we could kind of extend him a little bit,” Leon said. “We weren’t tinkering with the 90s or 100s (pitch counts), but we had another guy ready if that was going to be the case. But he was able to finish it out.”
Apart from Rehkopf’s outing and the fact that the Kings (3-1 AIA) won the game, Leon came away disappointed with the team’s execution.
Attention to detail and an ability to create opportunities for runs through smallball and clutch hitting, Kofa’s calling card for years, did not show up Tuesday.
“It’s just the execution side; we have not been good this year, and we pride ourselves on doing that from the beginning,” Leon said. “That’s our identity and we just have not done it.”
Kofa went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and had eight men left on base. The two runs scored were from a sacrifice fly by Enrique Porchas to score Juan Cortez, who tripled, in the first inning. The second came in the seventh, when a Gila Ridge error on