COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Villanova Downs Seton Hall in Big East Opener

Kerry Kittles scored 25 points and Jonathan Haynes had 21 points and six assists as No. 24 Villanova defeated Seton Hall, 98-75, in a Big East opener Monday night.

Alvin Williams added 20 points and eight assists for the Wildcats (4-1). Jason Lawson added 18 points for the Wildcats, who shot 60%. Danny Hurley had 13 points and Donnell Williams 12 for Seton Hall (2-2).

“Offensively, that’s as well as we can play,” Villanova Coach Steve Lappas said. “But defensively, the first half was as poorly as we can play.”

No. 4 Kansas 91, Coppin State 69--Jerod Haase scored a career-high 22 points and Raef LaFrentz added 16 as the Jayhawks shot 57% and made 12 three-point shots to win at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas (3-0), which defeated then-No. 1 Massachusetts on Saturday at Anaheim, was 12 of 21 from three-point range and pulled away early in the second half.

Haase, a transfer from California, scored the first nine points for the Jayhawks on three consecutive three-point baskets as Kansas opened a 13-5 lead. Coppin State (0-3) countered with a 10-1 run led by seven of Stephen Stewart’s 14 points.

No. 11 Maryland 102, Maryland Baltimore County 77--Joe Smith broke a two-game slump with 20 points and Exree Hipp also scored 20 as the Terrapins cruised at College Park, Md.

Maryland (5-1) led by as many as 35 in the second half en route to its 32nd consecutive nonconference home victory. Keith Booth had 16 points and Smith had 12 rebounds as Maryland topped the 100-point mark for the second game in a row.

No. 23 Michigan 87, Detroit 76--Ray Jackson scored six of his 20 points down the stretch and the Wolverines held off a late rally at Ann Arbor, Mich.

It was the first home game for Michigan (4-2).

No. 25 Wake Forest 74, Canisius 60--Ricardo Peral had 19 points and eight rebounds and Randolph Childress scored 18 as the Demon Deacons won at Buffalo, N.Y. Peral, a sophomore forward from Valladolid, Spain, was averaging 3.0 points a game, but stepped up in response to Childress’ public challenge to his teammates after an 81-70 loss to Florida on Saturday.

Peral’s three-point shot with 5:57 left put Wake Forest (3-1) ahead, 58-43, and all but ended the Golden Griffin’s hopes.

OTHER GAMES

Felipe Lopez did not disappoint in his Big East Conference debut, scoring 23 points as St. John’s opened a 23-point first-half lead before holding off Pittsburgh for an 88-83 victory at Pittsburgh. Lopez, probably the most publicized Big East recruit since Patrick Ewing, used his acrobatic spin moves and a succession of steals to key first-half runs of 17-0 and 19-6 that put the Red Storm up, 48-23. . . . Kiwane Garris scored 15 points, including two late free throws, to help Illinois to a 76-69 victory over Kansas State at Manhattan, Kan. . . . Louisville’s Tick Rogers scored seven points and Alvin Sims had five during a 22-4 first-half run as the Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak with a 108-76 victory over Western Carolina at Louisville.

Jerald Honeycutt scored seven of his 27 points in overtime to lead Tulane (4-1) to an 85-80 victory over Old Dominion at New Orleans. . . . H Waldman scored 22 points to lead St. Louis to a 72-65 victory over Southern Illinois at Carbondale, Ill. . . . Georgia Southwestern defeated Claflin College, 50-18, after officials called the game at Americus, Ga., with 16:19 left because of a wet floor. Said Bill Nicholson, sports information director: “It was kind of like a film over the floor.”