NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Midwest Regional at Lincoln, Neb. : Vanderbilt Turns Back Utah State

Utah State Coach Rod Tueller said he expected Vanderbilt center Will Perdue to give his team problems Friday. What he didn’t expect was a career-best game from 6-foot 8-inch forward Frank Kornet.

Kornet set career highs with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the Commodores’ 80-77 victory over Utah State in the first round of the Midwest Regional at Lincoln, Neb.

“I think Kornet was a key factor for them,” Tueller said. “He probably got away from us more than we thought he would.”

The Commodores (19-10) advanced to Sunday’s second round where they will play second-seeded Pitt, which beat Eastern Michigan, 108-90.

Utah State, champion of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament, ended its season at 21-10.

Kornet combined with the 7-foot Perdue to control the game inside. Perdue scored 20 points--14 in the first half--and had 11 rebounds as Vandy won the battle of the boards, 47-34.

Vanderbilt led by 14 at one point in the first half and three times took 11-point leads after intermission before Utah State pulled within a basket with 32 seconds left. But Vanderbilt hung on as Derrick Wilcox and Barry Goheen each converted one-and-ones.

The workhorses for Utah State were Jeff Anderson and Kevin Nixon, who scored 18 and 15 points--all in the second half.

After Goheen’s jumper with 14:32 left put the Commodores ahead, 49-38, Anderson got hot, scoring 12 of the Aggies’ points in an 16-4 spurt that gave them a 54-53 lead with 9 minutes remaining.

Kornet, whose previous highs were 17 points and 9 rebounds, answered with 6 points and Goheen scored 5 as the Commodores took control again, going ahead 72-63 with 2:21 left.

A three-pointer by Reid Newey made it 74-72 with 32 seconds left, but that was as close as Utah State would get.

Pitt 108, E. Michigan 90--Charles Smith scored 31 points and sparked an 11-6 run midway through the second half to lead the Panthers into the second round.

Smith vaulted over the 2,000 career mark with 16 first-half points and finished the game with a career total of 2,024, only 9 short of the school record set by Clyde Vaughn in 1980-84.

Eastern Michigan ended its season at 22-8 as Pitt (24-6) snapped the Hurons’ seven-game winning streak.

Lorenzo Neely had 16 points and Brad Soucie 17, including 15 on five three-point bombs, by halftime to help Eastern Michigan stay with Pitt early.

“You’d never know these guys had never played in an NCAA tournament from the way they played today,” Eastern Michigan Coach Ben Braun said. “We’re talking about a sophomore (Soucie) and a freshman (Neely).”

Soucie finished with 26 points, while Neely wound up with 20. “We knew they had a couple of outside shooters, but we didn’t think they had that many of them that could shoot that well,” Pitt Coach Paul Evans said.

Pitt, which had lost three of its previous seven games, never led by more than three until an 11-2 spurt was sparked by a stuff shot and free throw from Smith in the final two minutes of the half.

However, Pitt’s 48-42 advantage again was trimmed to three, 52-49, at intermission by two Neely baskets and a free throw by Hugh Smith.

Joining Smith in double figures for Pitt were Demetreus Gore with 24 and Jerome Lane with 22.