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NCAA Midwest: Louisville dismantles NC A&T


Associated Press


Wichita State's Chadrack Lufile (0) and Pittsburgh's Steven Adams (13) go after a rebound Salt Lake City on Thursday.

Associated Press


Louisville's Luke Hancock (11) and Tim Henderson (15) celebrate against the North Carolina A&T on Thursday in Lexington, Ky.

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NCAA headquarters

Friday, March 22, 2013


LEXINGTON, Ky. - Pay attention, No. 1s. This is how it's done.

Russ Smith scored 23 points and set a Louisville NCAA tournament record with a career-high eight steals, and Peyton Siva had eight assists as the Cardinals demolished North Carolina A&T 79-48 on Thursday night. Louisville finished with a season-high 20 steals as it forced the Aggies into 27 turnovers.

It was the 11th straight win for the Cardinals (30-5).

No 16th seed has ever beaten a No. 1 and, unlike that Southern-Gonzaga squeaker that ended shortly before the Aggies and Cardinals tipped off, this one was never even a contest.

Oh, the Cardinals let A&T (20-17) hang around for a few minutes, giving the small handful of Aggies fans enough time to take photos of the scoreboard while the margin was still respectable. (OK, it was 6-4.)

Once Louisville stepped on the gas, however, this one was done.

The Cardinals silenced whatever questions there might have been about them deserving the No. 1 overall seed with a performance as impressive as it was unrelenting. Louisville shot better than 57 percent, and the only players who didn't score were the benchwarmers who came in at the end of the game.

And where to even begin with those guards.

Siva and Smith are arguably the best tandem in the country and, if they continue playing like this, Louisville will have a good shot at improving on last year's trip to the Final Four.

With the game already out of hand, Siva and Smith combined for a 13-0 run that put Louisville up 67-37.

Memphis 54, Saint Mary's 52

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Down by five points with only a few seconds remaining, Matthew Dellavedova and Saint Mary's nearly pulled off an NCAA tournament upset for the ages.

Instead, the senior star's last-second shot sailed long, and sixth-seeded Memphis moved on to the next round.

Dellavedova's 3-pointer from the right wing missed everything as time expired, allowing the Tigers to escape. Memphis led by 15 in the first half but nearly gave the game away in the final seconds.

With Memphis (31-4) ahead 54-49, Eividas Petrulis banked in a 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds to play. The Tigers then lost the ball when the Gaels' Jordan Giusti deflected the inbound pass off Joe Jackson of the Tigers and out of bounds.

Saint Mary's (28-7) was out of timeouts but had a chance to regroup while officials reviewed the previous sequence. It didn't matter. Dellavedova, the career leader in scoring for Saint Mary's, was able to get a shot off, but it didn't come close to going in.

D.J. Stephens had nine points and eight blocks for Memphis, and Jackson had 14 points and seven assists. Brad Waldow scored 17 points to lead Saint Mary's. Dellavedova had 10 points, seven assists and six turnovers in 40 minutes.

Michigan State 65, Valparaiso 54

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Derrick Nix had 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to help power the third-seeded Spartans past 14th-seeded Valparaiso.

The Spartans went on a 26-5 run in the first half to take control.

Michigan State (26-8) will play Memphis on Saturday when Spartans coach Tom Izzo will be shooting for a spot in the round of 16 for the fifth time in six years.

The Crusaders (26-8) were no match for Michigan State in their first NCAA tournament in nine years, just as they weren't as a first-round loser in 2000 to the eventual champion Spartans.

Former Hidden Valley High School standout Ben Boggs had a team-high 15 points for Valparaiso in his final college game.

Oregon 68, Oklahoma State 55

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Damyean Dotson scored 17 points and Arsalan Kazemi added 11 points and 17 rebounds to help the 12th-seeded Ducks extend a run that began in the Pac-12 tournament by beating the fifth-seeded Sooners.

Dominic Artis scored 13 points and helped frustrate Oklahoma State star freshman Marcus Smart on the defensive end to give the Ducks (27-8) their first tournament win in six years.

Oregon advanced to play fourth-seeded St Louis (27-6) on Saturday.

Smart came into the game with the hype of a top NBA prospect but was held to 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting for the Cowboys (24-9).

Saint Louis 64, New Mexico St. 44

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dwayne Evans scored 24 points, Cody Ellis added 12 points and fourth-seeded Saint Louis overwhelmed the Aggies.

Playing through the death of Rick Majerus in December, Saint Louis reached another mark for its late coach. The Billikens (28-6) eclipsed the 1988-89 team's school record of 27 victories.

Evans shot 11 of 16 and finished a point shy of his career best to propel Saint Louis past 7-foot-5 New Mexico State freshman Sim Bhullar. The Billikens held Bhullar to four points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

Bandja Sy had 17 points and nine rebounds for the 13th-seeded Aggies (24-11), who shot just 28 percent from the field.