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 7669 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, longrange attack for Vermont (277), 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 6153, 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.

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.

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.

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.

MICHIGAN 74, MONTANA 55

DES MOINES, Iowa — Charles Matthews had 22 points and 10 rebounds in his best performance since coming back from injury, and No. 2 seed Michigan put away Montana early.

Ignas Brazdeikis added 14 points and 7 rebounds, and Jon Teske had 11 points and 9 boards for the Wolverines, who led by as many as 27 points in the second half.

The Wolverines (29-6) are in the round of 32 for the third consecutive year. They’ll play Florida on Saturday.

Sayeed Pridgett led Montana (26-9) with 17 points.

BAYLOR 78, SYRACUSE 69

SALT LAKE CITY — Makai Mason scored 22 points and Baylor set a school NCAA Tournament record with 16 three-pointers to beat Syracuse.

The ninth-seeded Bears (20-13) found gaps in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, mostly by getting the ball into the high post or driving and kicking out. Baylor nearly matched the school tournament record of 11 three-pointers in the first half (10) and made 16 of 34 overall.

Baylor shot 54 percent and slowed Syracuse’s three-point barrage in the second half to earn a shot at top-seeded Gonzaga on Saturday.