2011 NCAA Tournament: #1 Pitt and #2 San Diego State roll while #5 Vanderbilt is upset
By Paul Jordan
#1 PITT 74 #16 UNC ASHEVILLE 51
So there were other basketball games today?
Well, the number one seed Pitt Panthers were having none of the upset bug and last second heroics that have dominated the early portion of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The Panthers pulled away from a game UNC Asheville squad to post a 74-51 win in their opening game of the tournament. But it was not quite as easy as it looked.
The Bulldogs were down just 30-25 at the half and had cut the lead to three points early in the second stanza. that is when Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs took over and scored 20 of his game high 26 points in the second half. UNC-A’s Matt Dickey hit a pair of FT’s to make the score 32-29 Pitt, but Gibbs scored five straight points for the Panthers to lead a surge that gave the Panthers a 10 point lead. Then, a Gibbs trey with 9:05 remaining put Pitt up 53-39 and that was pretty much the nail in the coffin.
Pitt also hit 8 3-pointers and outrebounded UNC-A 44-24 to key the rout. Pitt advances to meet Butler on Saturday.
#12 RICHMOND 69 #5 VANDERBILT 66
Kevin Anderson was not going to be denied today. The senior from Atlanta had three big baskets in the final 8:00 of his Richmond Spiders NCAA matchup against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Each time, Anderson’s basket increased a one point lead to a three point lead. The last jumper with :19 left, gave Richmond a 68-65 lead. But Anderson did not stop there. He grabbed a key rebound off a Festus Ezeli missed FT and
It looked like Vanderbilt would roll easily in the first half as John Jenkins was on. His three pointer with 5:54 left in the first half gave the Commodores a 29-18 lead with 5:56 remaining, but the Commodores could not hold on. Kevin Anderson and Cedrick Lindsay hit three pointers and Vanderbilt saw their lead cut to 35-32 at the half. Vanderbilt built their lead in the second half up to nine points at 48-39, but Richmond’s Justin Harper hit a trey and it was a dogfight from there on out.
Anderson hit back to back treys to tie and then give Richmond the lead for good at 54-51 and Vandy was forced to play from behind. Vandy coach Kevin Stallings will take a bit of heat for his decision to put the game in the hands of Lance Goulbourne down the stretch rather than SEC Player of the Year John Jenkins or Festus Ezeli. Both Jenkins and Ezeli scored 21 points for the Commodores while Anderson had 25 points. The loss was inexcusable for Vandy as they outrebounded Richmond 39-23, but credit goes to the Spiders who refused to say die.
Richmond survives to face fellow Cinderella team, #13 seeded Morehead State, who knocked off #4 Louisville.
#2 SD STATE 68 #15 NO. COLORADO 50
Kawhi Leonard had 21 points and 10 rebounds as the San Diego State Aztecs avoided losing their eight straight tourney game despite a tougher than expected game against Northern Colorado. The Bears hung with the Aztecs for the first 15:00 or so of the game behind the play of Devon Beitzel. His three pointer knotted the score at 20 with 5:40 left in the half. SD State then started to pull away, going on a 10-0 run, fueled by treys from Billy White and Chase Tapley. Colorado State fought back though, and closed the halftime gap to 30-24.
Beitzel kept the Bears in the game in the second half all by himself, nailing three treys and keeping the Bears to within 38-35 with 14:16 remaining. Then SDSU turned up the pressure and won the game with their defense. The Aztecs held Norther Colorado scoreless for the next seven minutes or so and blew the game open with a 13-0 run that made the score 51-35. The Bears went almost 13:00 before someone other than Beitzel scored and that kind of lapse against San Diego State was a death knell.
Beitzel had 25 points for the Bears, who had a valiant showing. Chase Tapley had 14 points for the Aztecs who outrebounded Northern Colorado 42-31. San Diego State advances to face Temple on Saturday.
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