Cole leads SJU over La Salle to get to 2-0
Vince Cole posted 19 points as St. John’s defeated La Salle 82-65 on Thursday.
“(Cole) has played with poise and can get buckets, he is a scorer,” said Johnnie’s coach Mike Anderson. “He can create his own shot, you saw him get in the lane and just pull-up, shooting teardrops and then on defense, I have seen him get more in-tune with what we are doing and just remember this is only game two.
“He comes with a reputation of a guy that is a big-time scorer, but what I am liking now is his poise, decision-making with passing, and he is finding his way and that is big for this basketball team.”
Marcellus Earlington added 14 points, Greg Williams Jr. had 13 points and Dylan Addae-Wusu 10 for St. John’s (2-0).
GONZAGA TOPS KANSAS
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Drew Timme scored 25 points, Jalen Suggs added 24 and Corey Kispert had 23 to help No. 1 Gonzaga beat
No. 6 Kansas 102-90 in the season opener for both teams.
The Bulldogs built a double-digit lead in the first half at the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off, then saw the Jayhawks tie it twice in the second half before putting them away. Gonzaga went on a 22-7 run to go up 96-78.
Suggs, who got in foul trouble in the first half, scored 17 of his 24 in the second half.
WEST VIRGINIA WINS
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Derek Culver had 23 points and 15 rebounds to help No. 15 West Virginia beat VCU 78-66 on Thursday in the Bad Boys Mowers Crossover Classic semifinals.
“I try to play hard on the defensive end and the offense was just going to follow,” Culver said. “I just ended up getting in there and playing hard.”
West Virginia (2-0) will face Western Kentucky in the final Friday.
MARADONA FUNERAL
BUENOS AIRES — Soccer superstar Diego Maradona was buried Thursday in a private ceremony attended by only two dozen people — a stark contrast to earlier in the day when tens of thousands of weeping fans filed past his coffin for hours in an observance that mixed head-ofstate-like honors with the chaos of a rowdy stadium.
Only family members and close friends were permitted at Jardin Bella Vista cemetery for the final religious ceremony and burial of Maradona next to the graves of his parents, Dalma and Diego.
Fans waving Argentine flags had gathered along roads as Maradona’s funeral car drove by under heavy security. Many tried to touch the vehicle whenever it was stopped by traffic.
The earlier viewing at the Argentine presidential mansion was halted shortly before 6 p.m., 12 hours after it started, as Maradona’s family wished and the body of the Argentine icon was taken away for burial, frustrating many who were waiting to pay their respects and causing new tensions at the gates of the cemetery.
Fans, some draped in the national flag, sang soccer anthems as they formed a line that stretched more than 20 blocks from the Plaza de Mayo, where Argentines gathered to celebrate the Maradona-led triumph in the 1986 World Cup.
But with the time for viewing the coffin at the presidential palace drawing short, police moved to cut off the back end of the crowd, enraging fans who hurled rocks and other objects at officers, who responded with rubber bullets.
The crowd overwhelmed organizers and the violence resulted in injuries and arrests, which led Maradona’s family to end the public visitation. The casket was placed in a car that carried the former footballer’s name on a paperboard by the window.
Desperate to say goodbye, Maradona’s fans climbed on the fences of the presidential mansion as if they were in a soccer stadium, while firefighters worked to clear the ground.
“Diego is not dead, Diego lives in the people,” people chanted as the coffin was taken to a cemetery outside Buenos Aires. The motorcade, accompanied by police, was followed on a local highway by dozens of honking cars and motorcycles.
Hundreds of fans blocked entry to the cemetery before the arrival of Maradona’s casket, dancing and chanting as police moved in to open a way. The crowd continued making noise after the final ceremony began.
Maradona died Wednesday of a heart attack in a house outside Buenos Aires where he had been recovering from a brain operation Nov. 3.