Wildcats Too Awesome For Overmatched Griz

West

Too quick, too big, too athletic, too good.

The Kentucky Wildcats had the advantage in just about every area Thursday night, warming up for a run at a second national championship with a 92-54 rout of Montana.

Kentucky’s Cameron Mills came off the bench for his third consecutive career high with 19 points. Wayne Turner matched his career high with 19, and Ron Mercer added 16 for the Wildcats.

“There’s a reason they’ve won 31 games,” Montana coach Blaine Taylor said. “It’s an awfully good Kentucky team. All you have to say is defending champion and it has a ring to it.

“Yesterday we said kiddingly that our only advantage was I was a little taller than (Kentucky coach Rick) Pitino. I noticed out there today I wasn’t that much taller.”

Kentucky goes for its eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament victory Saturday against Iowa.

Iowa 73, Virginia 60

The Hawkeyes got 19 points from Guy Rucker and 17 from team leader Andrew Woolridge to beat the Cavaliers (18-13).

Iowa (22-9) never trailed and led by as many as 22 points in the second half before a late scoring spurt by Virginia’s Harold Deane cut the final margin.

It was the 10th first-round win for Iowa coach Tom Davis in as many NCAA Tournaments.

St. Joseph’s 75, Pacific 65

At times, St. Joseph’s looked like a team making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years. Fortunately for the Hawks, they were playing a team that hadn’t been there in 18 years.

St. Joseph’s (25-6) overcame some shabby rebounding, poor shooting and two technical fouls late in the game to beat Pacific (24-6).

The Hawks did it thanks to guards Rashid Bey and Arthur Davis, who became used to pressure playing on the streets of Philadelphia.

“They played in pickup games where some of the people on the sidelines were armed,” St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli said. “… In this game, at least they knew nobody had a gun. So they stepped up and made the shots.”

Davis had 17 of his 19 points in the second half and Bey scored 22 as the fourth-seeded Hawks advanced to a Saturday game against Boston College.

Boston College 73, Valparaiso 66

Danya Abrams scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Eagles overcome a 3-point barrage by Bryce Drew.

Drew, the coach’s sharpshooting son, scored 27 points, hitting 8 of 12 3-pointers for the Crusaders (24-7).

Bevan Thomas came off the bench to score 11 of his 16 points in the second half for Boston College (22-8).