Santa Clara Rocks Terps

West Region

The 28 points and 12 assists were incidental. Steve Nash’s most important work occurred 75 feet away from the basket.

Nash foiled Maryland’s tenacious press with his dribbling brilliance, often weaving through three-man traps and leading Santa Clara to a 91-79 win Friday with pinpoint passing and 3-point shooting.

By breaking through the press, Nash allowed the West Coast Conference regular season co-champion Broncos to get into their beloved half-court offense.

“It wasn’t that easy. It took me a while,” said Nash, who struggled for a few minutes before solving the press. “Once you break that first trap, it’s open sailing.”

Marlon Garnett added 18 points for Santa Clara, which broke open a close game with a 14-0 run midway through the second half.

Nash missed his first free throw, then hit 17 straight.

“He’s a little different than most guys in the ACC who look for their shot more,” said Maryland’s Duane Simpkins. “He’s very smart. He drives to the hoop, gets bumped and goes to the line.”

Santa Clara 91, Maryland 79

Santa Clara (20-8) - Sedlock 0-3 0-0 0, Dunne 4-6 5-6 14, Graves 4-7 4-4 12, Nash 4-8 17-18 28, Garnett 5-12 5-7 18, Zurek 4-8 3-4 11, Von Buchwaldt 0-0 0-0 0, Anderson 3-6 0-2 8, Pierce 0-2 0-0 0, Hofmann 0-0 0-0 0, Coleman 0-0 0-0 0, Willett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 34-41 91.

Maryland (17-13) - Hipp 1-3 1-2 3, Booth 2-9 2-6 6, Ekezie 2-2 0-0 4, Simpkins 4-14 1-2 10, Rhodes 11-22 3-4 27, Stokes 0-0 0-1 0, Profit 4-9 0-0 9, Lucas 1-6 0-0 3, Elliott 5-9 2-2 13, Jasikevicius 1-2 0-1 3, Raydo 0-0 1-2 1, Fields 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 31-76 10-22 79.

Halftime-SC 35, Maryland 31. 3-Point goals-SC 9-19 (Nash 3-4, Garnett 3-7, Anderson 2-4, Dunne 1-1, Sedlock 0-1, Zurek 0-2), Maryland 7-29 (Rhodes 2-7, Jasikevicius 1-1, Profit 1-3, Elliott 1-3, Lucas 1-5, Simpkins 1-6, Hipp 0-2, Booth 0-2). Fouled out-Ekezie. Rebounds-SC 38 (Dunne 9), Maryland 45 (Rhodes 9). Assists-SC 20 (Nash 12), Maryland 14 (Simpkins 4). Total fouls-SC 19, Maryland 31. A-NA.

Iowa 81, George Washington 79

Russ Millard made two free throws with 3 seconds remaining and the sixth-seeded Hawkeyes overcame a 17-point, second-half deficit to beat the Colonials.

Iowa trailed 73-56 with 8:21 remaining and 75-62 with 5:15 left.

Jess Settles and Millard sparked a 17-2 run and Iowa took a 79-77 lead on Andre Woolridge’s 15-foot jumper with 1:16 to play. The Colonials tied it on two free throws by Vaughn Jones with :42.6 left.

Millard rebounded Woolridge’s missed baseline jumper and called timeout with 5.9 seconds left. He then took an inbounds pass and was fouled driving to the basket before making his game-winning free throws to cap a 20-point night.

George Washington (21-8) - Brade 2-4 0-0 4, Jones 6-9 3-6 15, Koul 7-9 2-4 16, Rogers 6-13 1-2 14, Evans 8-17 2-6 24, Mescherikov 3-10 0-1 6, Green 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-62 8-19 79.

Iowa (23-8) - Murray 5-6 4-6 14, Settles 8-17 4-6 21, Millard 7-10 2-2 20, Woolridge 4-12 3-5 11, Glasper 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Kingsbury 5-13 1-1 14, Koch 0-1 0-0 0, Bowen 0-1 1-2 1, Helmers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-60 15-22 81.

Halftime-Iowa 37, GW 36. 3-Point goals-GW 7-17 (Evans 6-11, Rogers 1-5, Jones 0-1), Iowa 8-15 (Millard 4-6, Kingsbury 3-8, Settles 1-1). Fouled out-Koul. Rebounds-GW 25 (Mescherikov 7), Iowa 47 (Settles 15). Assists-GW 22 (Rogers 10), Iowa 19 (Woolridge 7). Total fouls-GW 22, Iowa 14. A-NA.

Kansas 92, S. Carolina St. 54

Riled by trash talk, the Jayhawks answered with a show of power and speed, gobbling up rebounds and steals, blocking shots with ridiculous ease and crushing the Bulldogs.

South Carolina State had thought it was faster than Kansas.

“Slow?” said Jayhawks coach Roy Williams. “I don’t know if I’d agree that Jacque (Vaughn) is slow.”

Jerod Haase had 17 points for Kansas.

South Carolina State (22-8) - Patterson 4-20 3-5 11, Burns 4-8 1-1 9, Brown 3-8 0-0 6, Blakney 6-15 1-3 15, Fernandez 4-13 2-3 12, Wesson 0-2 0-0 0, Joyner 0-7 1-2 1, B.McGowens 0-1 0-0 0, Waller 0-0 0-2 0, Dixon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-75 8-16 54.

Kansas (27-4) - Pierce 4-10 6-6 15, LaFrentz 4-8 1-2 9, Pollard 4-4 1-2 9, Vaughn 2-3 1-1 5, Haase 5-6 3-4 17, Robertson 3-4 2-2 8, B.Williams 1-3 0-0 2, Pearson 5-10 0-0 10, Pugh 3-5 1-2 8, Rayford 1-2 0-0 2, Thomas 1-4 0-0 2, Ransom 0-0 0-0 0, Whatley 0-1 0-0 0, McGrath 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 35-63 15-19 92.

Halftime-Kansas 44, S.C. State 21. 3-Point goals-S.C. State 4-13 (Blakney 2-3, Fernandez 2-6, Patterson 0-2, Burns 0-2), Kansas 7-19 (Haase 4-5, Pugh 1-2, McGrath 1-2, Pierce 1-4, Robertson 0-1, Whatley 0-1, Rayford 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Pearson 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-S.C. State 42 (Patterson 10), Kansas 48 (Pollard 9). Assists-S.C. State 7 (Burns 3), Kansas 32 (Vaughn 12). Total fouls-S.C. State 13, Kansas 16. A-10,728.

Arizona 90, Valparaiso 51

Michael Dickerson scored 22 and Miles Simon had 18 in what turned into a layup drill for the Wildcats.

Arizona, which played the final 12 minutes with most of its starters on the bench, led by as many as 45 points in the second half. The Wildcats are 16-0 this season when they score at least 80 points.

Valparaiso (21-11) - Allison 5-15 0-0 10, Bi.Jenkins 0-2 0-0 0, Ensminger 3-8 6-8 12, Sykes 0-3 0-0 0, Drew 6-16 4-4 19, Bilcinskas 2-2 0-1 4, Artis 2-6 0-0 4, Brunes 0-0 0-0 0, AbdulJabbar 0-0 0-2 0, Dick 0-0 0-0 0, Bo.Jenkins 1-1 0-0 2, Phifer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-54 10-15 51.

Arizona (25-6) - McLean 1-5 1-2 3, Williams 6-8 1-2 14, Davis 4-6 0-0 8, Simon 8-10 1-1 18, Geary 3-6 0-0 9, Dickerson 9-12 2-2 22, Terry 4-5 0-0 11, Bramlett 1-5 0-0 2, Eafon 0-3 0-0 0, Harris 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 37-62 6-9 90.

Halftime-Arizona 51, Valparaiso 15. 3-Point goals-Valparaiso 3-15 (Drew 3-9, Phifer 0-1, Artis 0-1, Allison 0-2, Sykes 0-2), Arizona 10-21 (Terry 3-3, Geary 3-5, Dickerson 2-4, Williams 1-2, Simon 1-3, Eafon 0-1, McLean 0-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Valparaiso 25 (Ensminger 10), Arizona 37 (Bramlett 8). Assists-Valparaiso 11 (Drew 4), Arizona 26 (Geary 8). Total fouls- Valparaiso 15, Arizona 18. A-12,462.