FORT WORTH, Texas – Matthew Mayer scored a career-high 22 points, including that punctuating half-ending dunk with a salute, as the top-seeded Bears opened the NCAA Tournament with an 85-49 victory over Norfolk State.
“I thought it was like a rebound or something, and then all of sudden the ball was just right in front of me,” Mayer said according to AP. “I was like, `Wow, that was great.´”
Jeremy Sochan did grab a rebound to start the play, and got credited with an assist on Mayer’s dunk.
“I didn´t really pass it to him, but I´ll take it. I´ll take it,” the pink-haired Sochan said with a chuckle.
After Joe Bryant tumbled to the floor when missing a layup, Sochan took a couple of dribbles while still in the lane.
Norfolk State’s Tyrese Jenkins then reached from behind and swatted the ball out of his hands – into the air past midcourt, where it bounced once to a breaking Mayer, who got past Terrance Jones for the dunk.
“First, I should have dumped it off to my big man, who was wide open. I fell, so I couldn´t really see what happened,” said Bryant, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year who had 15 points.
Freshman standout Sochan had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Bears (27-6), who had to travel less than 100 miles from their Waco campus for the East Region opener and first NCAA tourney game at Dickies Arena. They will play the North Carolina-Marquette winner in the second round Saturday.
Mayer, who finished 8-of-12 shooting with four 3s, directed a salute with his left hand toward the Spartans´ pep band after the dunk with the Bears up 43-27 at halftime.
Elsehwhere, Santiago Vescovi scored 18 points on six 3-pointers, and Tennessee pounded Longwood 88-56 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, showing exactly why it felt it deserved better than a No. 3 seed.
The Volunteers (27-7) shot 60% from the field and had four players score in double figures. Josiah-Jordan James had 17 points, and John Fulkerson finished with 15 on 7-for-8 shooting. Kennedy Chandler scored 13 and Zakai Ziegler finished with 10.
Next up for the Vols is 11th-seeded Michigan on Saturday. The Wolverines beat sixth-seeded Colorado State 75-63 in Thursday´s first game in Indianapolis.
“It’s really fun to play this way when you know everybody on the team is just focused on winning,” said Vescovi, who went 6 for 8 from deep and finished with seven assists. “It’s really fun when we start moving and everybody starts moving off the ball and on offense, too. That´s when we’re playing our best basketball.”
Tennessee wanted to show the NCAA Tournament selection committee it made a mistake by putting the Vols on the No. 3 line – even after snapping a 43-year conference tourney title drought.
Playing a first-time NCAA tourney team in front of a crowd largely dressed in bright orange, the Volunteers used their depth and defense to avoid a repeat of last year’s first-round exit against Oregon State in the very same venue.
Led by Vescovi, they shot 14 for 24 from deep while producing the program’s top regulation scoring total in NCAA play since a 121-86 victory over Long Beach State in 2007.
Longwood (26-7) never really had a chance to make it interesting.
“They’re very talented and they move so well without the ball,” said Lancers guard DeShaun Wade, who had 10 points.
“For a defense like us, where we try to switch everything, that was very difficult. But then you´ve also got to really fight for rebounds and on top of that they play pretty good defense. So it´s a pretty good team, all around.”
