NCAA First Four: Arizona State’s big first half buries Nevada; Fairleigh Dickinson beats Texas Southern
Nevada #Nevada
DJ Horne had 20 points and Arizona State raced to a big halftime lead and scored the most points ever in a First Four game, burying Nevada 98-73 on Wednesday night.
Desmond Cambridge Jr. — a Nevada transfer — scored 17 points as Arizona State (23-12) led 53-26 at the half and then kept up the pressure on the way to the rout.
The first-half output was a season high for Arizona State, which advanced as a No. 11 seed to face TCU in a West Region first-round game on Friday in Denver.
Arizona State hit 67.7% of its shots from the floor and forced 10 turnovers in the first half, piling up a 22-2 run over eight minutes to pull away, meanwhile keeping the pressure on and forcing the Wolf Pack to the perimeter.
Will Baker scored 17 and Tre Coleman had 14 for the Wolf Pack (22-11). One of Nevada’s top players, Kenan Blackshear, picked up three fouls early and sat on the bech for more than five minutes of the opening half. Averaging 14.4 per game, he was held to four points.
Fairleigh Dickinson 84, Texas Southern 61 
Ansley Almonor scored 23 points and Fairleigh Dickinson beat Texas Southern 84-61 Wednesday night to earn its first NCAA Tournament win in four seasons.
The Knights held a 14-2 lead after a 12-0 run in the opening 3:29 and didn’t never gave up the lead. Grant Singleton scored seven points during a 19-6 run in which the Knights led by as many as 18 points at the end of the first half.
Jordan Gilliam made a jumper that got Texas Southern as close as 10 points with 10:01 left in the second half. The Tigers shot 42% and went 1 for 17 from 3-point distance.
Fairleigh Dickinson shot 50% and made 11 3’s to advance to the East Region and play top-seeded Purdue in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday.
“Our press got us going, and then our half-court defense was excellent. We shared the ball. We played unselfish,” Fairleigh Dickinson coach Tobin Anderson said. “When you play that well, life’s pretty easy, so I thought we played very, very well.”
Joe Munden Jr. scored 17 points, Demetre Roberts had 15, Singleton finished with 13 and Sean Moore 10 for Fairleigh Dickinson (20-15).
John Walker III led Texas Southern (14-21) with 22 points. Joirdon Karl Nicholas added 10.
“Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough to overcome those guys and their 3-point shooting tonight,” Texas Southern coach Johnny Jones said.
Women’s NCAA First FourMississippi State 70, Illinois 56 
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jessika Carter had 22 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, Anastasia Hayes added 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Mississippi State beat Illinois 70-56 on Wednesday night to begin the NCAA Tournament in a First Four game.
Mississippi State (21-10) advances to the field of 64 to take on No. 6 seed Creighton. The Bulldogs improved to 14-3 in the NCAA Tournament since the 2016-17 season.
Freshman Debreasha Powe scored four points during Mississippi State’s 11-2 run to begin the third quarter for a 42-32 lead. The Bulldogs extended it to 52-38 at the end of the quarter after shooting 53%. Kourtney Weber sank a 3-pointer to cap a 9-1 run to begin the fourth quarter for a 61-39 lead.
After Mississippi State’s lead was cut to 12 points with 4:19 left, Carter scored four straight points to reach 20-plus for the sixth time this season.
JerKaila Jordan also scored 11 points for Mississippi State. Weber finished with eight points.
Carter scored 10 points in the first half to help build a 31-30 lead. Makira Cook scored 11 points for Illinois, which shot 48% from the field but didn’t attempt a free throw compared to Mississippi State’s 10 of 12.
Cook, averaging 18.2 points per game, scored 21 points and Genesis Bryant added 17 for Illinois (22-10), which had one of the best turnarounds in the country after finishing last season with a record of 7-20. Illinois’ first free throws of the game came with 5:35 left in the third quarter.
The Illini were making their eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament, the first since 2003.
Sacred Heart 57, Southern 47 
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Kelsey Wood had her second double-double of the season, Ny’Ceara Pryor had 11 points, eight rebounds and a career-high 10 assists and Sacred Heart won its first NCAA Tournament game with a 57-47 victory over Southern on Wednesday night in the First Four.
Sacred Heart (19-13), which has won six games in a row, plays fifth-ranked and top-seeded Stanford in the first round Friday.
Wood finished with 10 points and a season-high tying 11 rebounds and Olivia Tucker added 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting, 1 of 10 from 3-point range, for the Pioneers.
Genovea Johnson, the only Southern player to score in double figures, finished with 13 points.
Tucker and Sierra Johnson made back-to-back baskets in the lane before Pryor added a layup that gave Sacred Heart its first lead at 18-16 with 6:28 left in the second quarter and the Jaguars trailed the rest of the way. Tucker hit a 3-pointer and Wood made two free throws before Pryor scored the final four points in a 9-0 spurt to close the first half that made it 33-20 and Sacred Heart led by double figures until the closing seconds.
The Jaguars (18-15) had won five games in a row and nine of their last 10.
Pryor, who led Northeast Conference in scoring at 18.2 points per game this season, became the first player in conference history to earn player of the year, defensive player of the year and rookie of the year in the same season. The 5-foot-3 guard, who was selected to all-NEC first team and the conference’s all-rookie team, went into the game leading the nation in steals per game (3.9) and steals overall (120). She finished with two steals against Southern.
Raven White scored seven points as the Jaguars jumped to a 14-4 lead midway through the first quarter. Sacred Heart made just two of its first 11 field-goal attempts before Amelia Wood made back-to-back 3-pointers 27 seconds apart to spark an 8-0 spurt before the Pioneers went into the second quarter trailing by four.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.