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Miami’s Hemsley Has Hot Hand

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From Associated Press

The Miami Hurricanes’ Johnny Hemsley felt right at home in his first game at the FleetCenter in the first round of East Regional on Friday.

“Yesterday in the shootaround I told one of my teammates that these were the kind of rims I like and I shot pretty well. I had no idea I would have this kind of night,” said Hemsley after setting a school record with nine three-point baskets and a career-high 31 points to lead No. 2-seeded Miami to a 75-54 victory over No. 15-seeded Lafayette.

“It’s a great feeling to have this kind of game in this caliber of game. “It just felt great to get our first NCAA win.”

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Miami (23-6) had lost in its other tournament appearances in 1960 and last year to UCLA.

Hemsley missed only three attempts from three-point range and, after his career-high seventh early in the second half, he turned to the crowd and gave an imitation of Michael Jordan’s famous shrug when he couldn’t miss from long range in the NBA playoffs.

“A tournament game, a full house, that’s what you live for,” Hemsley said. “When you play well in a packed gym, it’s a great feeling.”

Hemsley finished two shy of the NCAA tournament record for three-point baskets set by Jeff Fryer of Loyola Marymount against Michigan in the second round in 1990. Hemsley did break the school record of eight set by Samarr Logan in 1990.

Lafayette (22-8) was making its second NCAA appearance and first since 1957.

Purdue 58, Texas 54--Low-scoring sophomore forward Cameron Stephens made a jumper with 4.8 seconds remaining as No. 10-seeded Boilermakers (20-10) overcame a strong game by the No. 7-seeded Lornhorns’ 7-foot Chris Mihm.

Stephens, averaging 3.3 points, took a pass from Tony Mayfield and, with Mihm jumping out at him in the right corner, made only his second basket of the game.

Texas’ Gabe Muoneke then threw the inbounds pass off teammate Kris Clack and Mayfield, after being fouled, finished the scoring with two free throws with 4.1 seconds left.

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Brian Cardinal intercepted another inbounds pass by Muoneke and threw the ball toward the ceiling as time ran out. Purdue plays Miami Sunday. Texas finished 19-13.

Cincinnati 72, George Mason 48--The No. 14-seeded Patriots claimed they were a mirror image of the No. 3-seeded Bearcats but only seemed to have a glass jaw in getting knocked out in the first round.

Cincinnati (27-5) led only 15-11 after the first 10 minutes before taking control with a 26-6 run.

“I don’t know if we intimidated them right away because no one scored, but then we jumped on them and forced them out of their game,” said forward Pete Mickeal, who led Cincinnati with 18 points.

George Mason (19-11) shot a season-low 27.3% and leading scorer George Evans, the 28-year-old Gulf War veteran and Colonial Athletic Association player of the year, was scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting. Evans was averaging 17.8 points.

Said George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga: “Defensively they put tremendous pressure on you to make shots whether it’s inside or outside. As a player you feel someone is attacking you and you rush. Not having been here before, I don’t think we knew how to respond.”

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It was the second NCAA appearance George Mason, which lost in the first round to Indiana in 1989. Cincinnati has won five consecutive first-round games.

Temple 61, Kent 54--The No. 6-seeded Owls reached the second round for the three time in five years by disposing of the jittery No. 11-seeded Golden Flashes but will run into a familiar obstacle Sunday--Cincinnati. The Bearcats eliminated Temple in the tournament in 1995 and 1996.

“It’s a ballclub that I really respect,” said Temple Coach John Chaney. “They play with a great deal of confidence bordering on arrogance.”

Kent (23-7) seemed to lose confidence as it missed three layups to start the game.

“You’ve got young kids on the sideline watching that and they see your best players missing layups and missing free throws, it brings a little fear factor to them,” said Kent Coach Gary Waters said.

Temple (22-10) turned up its pressure defense during a 17-2 run to take a 50-33 with 10:22 remaining.

Kent managed to cut the deficit to 59-54 when Nate Meers made his third consecutive three-point basket with 31 seconds left. The Golden Flashes’ fate was sealed four seconds later when Rasheed Brokenborough made two free throws.

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Brokenborough had 15 points as did point guard Pepe Sanchez, who had no turnovers in playing the entire game.

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