MEN’S EAST REGIONAL : Florida Gives Purdue a ‘Big Ten’ Whipping

If that’s all there is to the Big Ten, Dwayne Schintzius probably wouldn’t mind seeing more of it.

Florida’s 7-foot 2-inch freshman center matched a career high by scoring 21 points Sunday as the Gators surprised seventh-ranked Purdue, 85-66, in a second-round game of the East Regional.

“I heard so much about the Big Ten having physical teams but we just went out there and banged them before they banged us,” Schintzius said.

As a result, the Gators, making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament, upset the Big Ten co-champions and advanced to the regional semifinals Thursday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

They’ll meet 10th-ranked Syracuse, a 104-86 winner Sunday over Western Kentucky.

Florida (23-10) used a full-court press to tire Purdue, which was eliminated from the tournament by a Southeastern Conference representative for the third straight year.

“Once we applied pressure, we wore them down,” said Florida guard Andrew Moten.

Florida increased its two-point halftime lead to 54-46 with less than 13 minutes to go, then scored nine straight points, completing a 14-1 run, to make it 63-46 with 10:13 left.

With their reserves outscoring Purdue’s bench, 23-10, the Gators increased their lead to 22 points with 4:11 to play.

“They have great depth,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said of the Gators.

Florida outshot Purdue, 53.3% to 46.7%, and outrebounded the Boilermakers, 37-31.

“We let things happen instead of making them happen,” said Purdue guard Troy Lewis. “We got ourselves in a hole and could never dig out.”

Vernon Maxwell led Florida with 24 points, and Schintzius, who also had 6 assists and 4 rebounds, made 7 of 10 shots and 7 of 8 free throws.

“He was fabulous,” said Florida Coach Norm Sloan, who coached North Carolina State to the NCAA championship in 1974.

Melvin Jones came off the bench to score 12 points for Florida, making all six of his shots and taking down six rebounds.

Purdue (25-5) got 15 points each from Lewis and Everett Stephens and 14 from Todd Mitchell.

Doug Lee, who scored a career-high 29 points in Purdue’s first-round victory over Northeastern, had only four against Florida.

Syracuse 104, Western Kentucky 86--The Orangemen built on a two-point halftime lead by scoring a season-high 62 points in the second half on their home floor at the Carrier Dome.

Syracuse (28-6) scored the first seven points of the second half to move ahead, 49-40, before Western Kentucky’s Brett McNeal made a shot. The Orangemen then outscored the Hilltoppers, 8-1, to make it 57-43 with 15:06 left.

Syracuse, which got a game-high 27 points from Sherman Douglas, eventually built its lead to 23 points before clearing its bench.

After the game, several Syracuse players emptied a water cooler on Coach Jim Boeheim, who has been accused of being unable to win important games.

Syracuse had failed to make it beyond the second round three times in the last four years.

“To get the monkey off his back, we decided to wash it off,” said 6-11 center Rony Seikaly.

Boeheim told reporters: “There’s no monkey on my back. That’s only in your minds. I worry about each team and each game. I don’t worry about the past.”

Seikaly and Howard Triche scored 21 each apiece for the Orangemen, and Greg Monroe scored 20.

Reserve forward Bryan Asberry scored 22 points to lead Western Kentucky (29-9), which also got 20 from McNeal.