NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : These Tigers Are Too Short to Stop Hoyas

The sight of Georgetown’s 7-foot-2 Dikembe Mutombo was intimidating enough to the Texas Southern players. His 18 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots were too much.

“David met Goliath, but he certainly didn’t have his slingshot ready today,” Texas Southern Coach Robert Moreland said after a 70-52 loss to the Hoyas in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional at Indianapolis.

The cold-shooting Tigers, unable to go inside against the taller Hoyas, made only 27% of their shots against the nation’s best defense. They attempted 33 three-point shots and made only seven.

“We were more conscious of their big people inside,” Moreland said. “We were just throwing it up there. We weren’t shooting right.”

Mark Tillmon led Georgetown with 22 points as the Hoyas (24-6), seeded third in the regional, advanced to Sunday’s second round at the Hoosier Dome against Xavier, which beat Kansas State, 87-79.

Mutombo, five inches taller than the tallest Texas Southern player, dominated the inside, along with 6-10 Alonzo Mourning, who had 12 points and eight rebounds. The Hoyas, who led the nation in defensive field goal percentage, had a nine-point lead at halftime, extended it to 18 points in the second half and coasted the rest of the way.

“We didn’t defend him all day,” Moreland said of Mutombo. “How do you keep him from getting the ball inside when you jump as high as you can and he stretches and catches it?”

Of Mutombo, Georgetown Coach John Thompson said: “He was going well. I thought he was very active, and he was getting on the boards. With their jump shooters, he had a hand in their face. He has come on.”

The Tigers (19-12), the 14th-seeded team, were led by Fred West with 17 points.

Three baskets by Mutombo early in the second half helped Georgetown to a 12-point lead. The Hoyas took their first 18-point lead at 61-43 after two consecutive baskets by Mourning and a basket and free throw by Tillmon with slightly more than four minutes to go. The Hoyas’ final 10 points came on free throws.

No. 25 Xavier 87, Kansas State 79--The Musketeers won it at the free-throw line, making 37 of 43 foul shots, as they held off the Wildcats to advance to the second round for only the second time in seven tournament appearances.

Xavier (27-4) missed the front end of a one-and-one twice in the final minute, but clinched the victory when Jamie Gladden made two free throws with 16 seconds left for an 85-79 lead and Tyrone Hill added two more with seven seconds to go.

Hill scored 29 points, including 17 on free throws, to lead Xavier.

Steve Henson had 35 points for Kansas State (17-15) and led a comeback that cut a 15-point deficit to three when he made his sixth three-point basket with 4:11 left.

The Musketeers, who made 72% of their foul shots during the season, made one basket and 16 free throws in the final seven minutes. Hill made 17 of 18 free throws, six of 12 shots from the field, and had 14 rebounds.

Texas 100, Georgia 88--Travis Mays scored a career-high 44 points and tied NCAA tournament records by making 23 of 27 foul shots to lead the Longhorns.

Mays, a 6-foot-2 guard, also became the Southwest Conference’s all-time leading scorer. He raised his total to 2,211 points, breaking Terry Teagle’s record of 2,189 at Baylor.

Texas (22-8) advanced to Sunday’s second round against Purdue, which beat Northeast Louisiana.

Mays, who was 10 for 18 from the field, made 16 consecutive free throws. He tied the record of 23 free throws set by Bob Carney of Bradley in 1954 and also tied the record of 27 attempts set by Navy’s David Robinson against Syracuse in 1986.

Georgia (20-9) took a 41-40 lead at halftime and traded the lead eight times in the first four minutes of the second half. There were three more ties before a basket by Lance Blanks put the Longhorns ahead for good.

Mays scored the next 10 Texas points, all on free throws, helping the Longhorns take a 77-69 lead. Texas built its biggest lead at 86-73, and Georgia never got came closer than seven after that.

Georgia was led by senior Alec Kessler, whose 33 points gave him 1,788 for his career, breaking the school record of 1,777 set by Vern Fleming in 1984.

No. 10 Purdue 75, Northeast Louisiana 63--Stephen Scheffler became the NCAA’s all-time leader in field goal percentage and Woody Austin made three consecutive jump shots during a key second-half run as the Boilermakers beat the Indians.

Scheffler scored 23 points on seven for 11 shooting. The 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior center went into the game with a .695 career percentage and needed to make five field goals to meet the NCAA standard of 400. Steve Johnson of Oregon State held the previous mark of .678 and Scheffler ended the game at .694, having made 402 of 579 attempts.

Scheffler scored seven points during the run. He put the Boilermakers (22-8) ahead to stay at 38-36 with 17:48 left and Austin followed with his first jumper.

Phillip Craig, who led the Indians (22-8) with 17, followed with a basket, but the Southland Conference champions then went scoreless for more than four minutes.