East Roundup : Georgetown and SMU Romp; Temple, Loyola Escape With Victories

Defending national champion and top-ranked Georgetown got off to a flying start in defense of its NCAA title Thursday, defeating Lehigh, 68-43, in an East Regional first round-game at Hartford, Conn.

“I’m angry about some things I saw out there, but that’s good,” said Georgetown Coach John Thompson, whose team was outscored, 32-29, in the second half. “We would have won by 50 if I’d left my starters in during the second half.”

Reggie Williams and David Wingate led Georgetown with 14 points each.

The Engineers, 33-point underdogs and 90,000-to-1 shots to win the NCAA tournament, trailed, 39-11, at halftime.

Lehigh, the only team in the tournament with a losing record (12-19), was led by Mike Polaha with 20 points and Daren Queenan with 13.

In Thursday’s other first-round games at Hartford, Temple beat Virginia, SMU defeated Old Dominion and Loyola (Ill.) edged Iona.

Georgetown will face Temple in Saturday’s second round, while SMU will meet Loyola.

Temple 60, Virginia Tech 57--Forward Granger Hall scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Owls fought off a late comeback by Virginia Tech.

It was the fourth straight victory for Temple, now 25-5. Virginia Tech ended its season with a 20-9 record.

Guard Nate Blackwell scored 13 and forward Charles Rayne added 12 for Temple.

Virginia Tech was paced by Dell Curry, who got 13 points before fouling out with four seconds to go.

SMU 85, Old Dominion 68--Junior guard Carl Wright contributed 18 points and center Jon Koncak and forward Larry Davis each added 17 to help the Mustangs offset the hot shooting of Old Dominion’s Mark Davis.

Davis, a senior forward, scored a game-high 32 points on 14-of-22 shooting.

Old Dominion ended its season with a record of 19-12. With the victory, SMU raised its record to 23-9.

Koncak, SMU’s 7-foot Olympian, also grabbed a game-leading 15 rebounds.

The Mustangs led, 36-28, at the half.

Loyola 59, Iona 58--Iona’s Tony Hargraves missed a potential game-tying free throw with three seconds left, and Loyola (Ill.), led by Alfrederick Hughes’ 24 points, hung on for the first-round victory.

Loyola extended its winning streak to 18 games, the longest in the nation, while Iona (26-5) lost for the first time in six games.