Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - Locally, the hometown Villanova
Wildcats were obviously the main event of NCAA Tournament first round action
held at the Wachovia Center on Thursday.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats were intent on playing Goliath to American
University's Samson...At least for a half.
Villanova (27-7) recovered nicely and downed the senior-laden Eagles 80-67.
After two wretched games earlier in the day, Cinderella finally tried to show
her face in the form of the Patriot League champions during the first round of
the East Regional bracket.
The 14th-seeded Eagles (24-8), who had won 13 in a row coming in, gave No. 3
Villanova all it could handle, closing out the opening frame with a 9-0 run to
take a double-digit cushion, 41-31, after 20 minutes of basketball.
Derrick Mercer, an All-Patriot league guard, stung the Wildcats for 13 points
and three steals in the frame while his running mate, Garrison Carr, notched
12. Sharp-shooting center Brian Gilmore also struck twice from long range as
the Eagles finished a gaudy 8-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Dwayne Anderson and Dante Cunningham combined to shoot 9-of-12 for the
Wildcats in the first half for 23 points. The rest of the team finished a
miserable 3-of-11 and contributed just eight points, however. Star guard
Scottie Reynolds failed to scratch in the frame, going 0-for-2 from the floor
and turning it over three times.
Jay Wright likely painted the walls with some colorful language at halftime
and the sharp-dressed one even looked a little disheveled as he contemplated,
what would have been, a ridiculous upset.
The coach need not have worried. 'Nova played with much more energy in
the second half and put the shackles on Mercer and Carr. Midnight struck at
9:05 (et) for the AU version of Cinderella. That's when Reynolds deposited s
driving layup to even things at 55 with just under eight minutes to go.
Anderson was next with a three and Cunningham followed by getting great
position on the blocks for an easy bucket over the next few minutes. All of a
sudden Villanova led 60-55 and the Eagles were as good as plucked.
Cunningham finally sealed things with a turnaround jumper from the baseline
that made it 68-61 with 2 1/2 minutes to go.
Andreson and Cunningham both finished with 25 points apiece while Corey Fisher
had 11 off the bench. Reynolds finished with eight.
Carr dumped in 22 for AU while Mercer could manage just four points in the
second half and finished with 17 points.
"We knew they were a great team," Reynolds said after the game. "They've been
together for a while and have a lot of experience. We didn't take then
lightly; we tried to play 40 minutes, wear them down and fight back in the
second half."
The Wildcats, who are 9-0 all-time versus American, now move on to meet sixth-
seeded UCLA on Saturday. The Bruins capped Thursday's action by dispatching of
No. 11 VCU in a suprising tight-hnit affair, 65-62.
Eric Maynor had a chance to deadlock things and sent the game into overtime
but came up empty.
"I knew that I had (UCLA forward) Josh Shipp coming off that pick and I had to
get the shot off and the time was running down. Every time I am shooting the
ball, you know, I am not shooting to miss."
"I wiah I could have had it back," VCU coach Anthony Grant said of the final
possession. "UCLA did a great job of makig it a difficult shot. Unfortunately
for us, it didn't go in."
The most interesting affair of the day should have been the eight-nine game
that kicked things off at the Big House. Texas A&M faced off with Andy Reid's
favorite club, BYU, in a first round West Regional bracket game.
As expected, ninth-seeded A&M (24-9), led by senior forward Josh Carter and
junior guard David Sloan, was the more athletic team.
After Jackson Emery opened the game with a three for BYU (25-8), the Aggies
scored the next 11 points to establish control and never looked back from
there.
In fact, Texas A&M made their first 10 fields goals of the game before Derrick
Roland finally missed a three with 12:01 left in the half.
Texas A&M led by as many as 16 points in the first frame and took a 12-point
advantage into the locker room, 42-30.
BYU never made much of a push in the final frame as the Aggies pounded them on
the blocks.
Jimmer Fredette's running jumper cut the deficit under 10, 47-38, with just
over four minutes into the second half. But, Sloan responded with a lay-up and
Carter followed with a three to stem any momentum and make it a 52-38 contest.
Texas A&M cruised to the finish line from there en route to a rather easy
79-66 win.
"The game plan going in was inside-outside," Roland said. "We went inside and
that freed up the outside for the guards."
Bryan Davis finished with a season-high 21 points and nine rebounds for the
Aggies, who outscored BYU 38-22 in the paint and beat the Cougars for the
second straight year in the first round of the tourney.
"They were a little bit undersized and we got Chin (center Chinemelu Elonu)
and B.D. (Davis) going which was really big for us," Texas A&M forward Nathan
Walkup said. "They were both big on the boards and scored a lot which was
great for us."
Sloan contributed 14 points, seven assists and six boards. Elonu netted eight
points and 10 rebounds as Texas A&M recorded its fourth straight NCAA
Tournament first round victory.
Lee Cummard had 17 points and six assists for the Cougars, and Fredette
posted a team-high 18 points as BYU lost its seventh straight first round
tourney game.
"We jumped on them early and they came back last year," Walkup said. "This
year, we made sure our defense locked them down and didn't let them get going
at all. We were in control the whole game."
"It's really tough," BYU center Chris Miles said of losing to Texas A&M for
the second straight year. "They got up and hit all their shots early and then
it was about 15 points the entire game. They weren't easy shots so you so you
have to give them credit for making big plays."
Texas A&M advanced to meet top-ranked UConn on Saturday. The Huskies dominated
the 16th-seeded Chattanooga Mocs in the second game of the day despite the
absence of coach Jim Calhoun.
Calhoun, who was feeling ill, was admitted to the Hospital at the University
of Pennsylvania for observation and is listed in good condition.
"I have been feeling lousy for the past several days and this morning talked
to (UConn director of sports medicine) Dr. (Jeff) Anderson about it," Calhoun
said in a statement. "He recommended that I not coach in the game today and
stay back in the hotel.
"As the day went on, he suggested that we go over to the hospital to have some
testing done. Fortunately those tests have all gone well and I am feeling much
better. I will stay the night as a precaution and anticipate being checked
again in the morning and being able to leave the hospital at that time."
Associate head coach George Blaney took over the reigns for the Huskies (28-4)
but any chance of Cinderella showing up in Philly since Calhoun was absent
quickly dissipated.
Keyron Sheard opened the game by picking the pocket of A.J. Price and igniting
the quickly growing crowd with a fastbreak lay-up. Moments later, Nicchaeus
Doaks deposited his own layup and Chattanooga led 8-6.
That was the last lead the Mocs would enjoy. Chattanooga (18-17), which
reached the Big Dance by downing College of Charleston to win its 10th SoCon
tourney title, was down by as many as 30 points in the opening half and
trailed by a 48-20 margin at intermission.
The Mocs managed to keep it close until midway through the opening half. After
Jeremy Saffore stuck a hook shot to make it a 17-15 game, UConn ripped off a
14-0 spurt to take total control. Price buried three consecutive threes
during the burst as the Huskies opened up a 31-15 edge.
"I was just thinking about knocking one down," Price said. I'm a rhythm
shooter and the shots started going down for me."
Things continued to go south from there for the Mocs as Price had a total of
four three-pointers in the stanza on his way to 17 points. Chattanooga,
meanwhile, was a miserable 7-of-33 from the field in the frame and just 1-
of-10 from beyond the arc. The damage would have been even greater but
UConn was just 12-of-23 from the charity stripe.
The second half was just glorified garbage time as the Huskies opened the
stanza with a 15-0 run en route to tattooing Chattanooga, earning a 103-47
win, the largest scoring differential in NCAA Tournament history.
Stanley Robinson led UConn with 24 points and seven rebounds, while Price
finished with 20. Hasheem Thabeet also had 20 points along with 13 boards and
Jeff Adrien finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds.
"Coach Calhoun prepared them for this kind of performance," Blaney said. "He
teaches them how to work."
It is not known if Calhoun will mentor the Huskies against the Aggies on
Saturday.
"He was upbeat about everything," Price said when asked what Calhoun told his
team. "We look forward to having him back."
Kevin Goffney was the only Mocs player in double figures with 15 points as
Chattanooga managed to shot just 25.8 percent from the field. Doaks added nine
and Chris Early came off the bench to score eight points. Philly native Khalil
Hartwell finished with five points and six rebounds.
"We couldn't shoot the ball or stop them inside," Early said.
"This is a great confidence boost," Price added . "We know Saturday (against
Texas A&M) is going to be a tougher test."
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