No. 15 Hokies open with rout
No. 15 Virginia Tech began its season with a resounding 87-59 victory Friday over GardnerWebb at Cassell Coliseum. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 21 points for the Hokies, who outscored the Runnin' Bulldogs 45-26 in the second half.
Saint Joseph’s 79, Old Dominion 64: The Hawks, led by Charlie Brown's 20 points, pulled away in the second half to beat ODU in Philadelphia.
The Monarchs fell to 1-1 despite Ahmad Caver's 25 points.
Longwood 63, Richmond 58: The Lancers (2-0) registered one of their most notable victories in school history, upending the Spiders (0-1) at Robins Center.
Isaiah Walton had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Longwood.
No. 8 North Carolina 116, Elon 67: The Tar Heels opened an in-state neighbor's arena by putting up some numbers that will be tough for other teams to surpass.
The Tar Heels (2-0) won behind 21 points apiece from Cameron Johnson and freshman Nassir Little.
American 78, George Mason 75, OT: Sa'eed Nelson scored 24 points, and his three-point play with 35 seconds left in overtime helped lift the Eagles to a season-opening win over the Patriots (0-2) in Fairfax.
Javon Greene's free throws broke a 70-all tie, and his layup with 1:43 to go made it 74-70 for George Mason. American closed to 74-73 on Marvin Bragg's 3-pointer, and Nelson's threepoint play put American up 76-75. George Mason missed three shots before the buzzer, and Sam Iorio's two free throws provided the final points.
James Madison 73, East Carolina 72: A buzzer-beating shot lifted the visiting Dukes (2-0).
No. 22 Clemson 71, N.C. Central 51: David Skara scored 16 points for the host Tigers, who grabbed a big lead early and held off the defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament champs.
Miami 83, Lehigh 62: Chris Lykes scored 22 points for the host Hurricanes in their season opener.
Pittsburgh 94, VMI 55: Pitt senior Jared Wilson-Frame came off the bench for 20 points as the host Panthers (2-0) won. Bubba Parham scored 16 for the Keydets (1-1).
Women
No. 6 Mississippi State 72, Virginia 44: Teaira McCowan had 12 points and 12 rebounds as MSU spoiled Tina Thompson's debut as Virginia's coach with a romp at John Paul Jones Arena.
Chloe Bibby added 13 points in the first half for the Bulldogs (2-0), who have been the NCAA runners-up the past two seasons. They came out like they have designs on doing it again, scoring 18 of the game's first 20 points, leading 45-17 by halftime and forcing 17 first-half turnovers.
Dominique Toussaint led Virginia (0-1) with 19 points. The Cavaliers were 4 for 15 from the field in the first quarter with eight turnovers, then 2 for 16 with nine turnovers in the second quarter. They outscored the Bulldogs 18-10 in the third quarter, exceeding their point total of the entire first half, but never got close.
Old Dominion 69, Norfolk State 53: Taylor Edwards had 15 points as the host Monarchs (1-0) beat the Spartans (0-1) in an intracity clash.
ODU led 17-6 after a quarter. NSU was within 49-43 before a 14-0 Monarchs run decided the outcome.
VCU 84, Longwood 55: Tera Reed's 15 points and Sydnei Archie's 13 guided the Rams (2-0) past the Lancers (0-1) at Siegel Center. An Education Day promotion attracted a crowd of 3,729, the second-largest in VCU women's history.
Longwood, beginning its first year with William and Mary alumna Rebecca Tillett as coach, got 14 points from Stephanie Guihon.
George Mason 78, Air Force 71: Sophomore Nicole CardanoHillary had 25 points and six assists as the Patriots (2-0) beat the host Falcons (1-1) in Colorado.
Fairfield 58, Richmond 40: Fairfield outscored the hosts 25-8 in the third quarter to win at Robins Center.
Sophomore point guard Alex Parson had 15 points and six rebounds for UR.