Hokies manage to hold off Illinois

Virginia Tech waited 11 years to get back to the NCAA tournament. Then it took the Hokies more than 39 minutes to find a way to stick around.

Deron Washington’s banked runner in the final minute Friday night helped Virginia Tech rally from a 13-point deficit with just over eight minutes left and beat Illinois, 54-52, in a first-round game at Columbus, Ohio.

“It kind of reflects who we are,” Coach Seth Greenberg said. “We don’t shoot it the straightest, we make easy things difficult. But we just keep on going. We have a resiliency about us.”

Illinois (23-12) led by 10 with just over four minutes left, but didn’t score during the final 4:28 as the Hokies had the last 12 points.

The fifth-seeded Hokies (24-11) pulled to within two at 52-50, with Washington making a three-point basket, Coleman Collins making two free throws and Washington making another three-pointer with 2:25 left.

While the 12th-seeded Fighting Illini continued to have problems at the offensive end, the Hokies suddenly had all the answers.

“It’s an understatement to say we’re disappointed,” Illini Coach Bruce Weber said. “But it’s kind of typical of our season. We’ve led in something like eight or nine of our 12 losses, but just couldn’t finish the game.”

Kentucky 67, Villanova 58 -- Randolph Morris finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the eighth-seeded Wildcats (22-11) powered past ninth-seeded Villanova at Chicago to advance to the second round for the 16th consecutive year.

Scottie Reynolds, the Big East rookie of the year, came up big for Villanova (22-11) in his first NCAA tournament appearance with 23 points.

Villanova went more than seven minutes without scoring in the first half, allowing Kentucky to climb back into the lead. Villanova managed only one basket during a nine-minute span early in the second half, and that’s when Kentucky took control for good.

Kansas 107, Niagara 67 -- No first-round exit this time. The fastbreaking and top-seeded Jayhawks took care of that early, running out to a 25-point halftime lead and routing the Purple Eagles at Chicago.

Sent to the sidelines by first-round losses against Bucknell and Bradley the last two seasons, Kansas (31-4) was too fast, too deep and too talented for the Purple Eagles.

And when they weren’t running for points, Coach Bill Self’s Jayhawks were sinking shots from long range with ease in winning their 12th consecutive game. They were 13 for 22 on three-pointers, while Niagara made only two of 19.

When Mario Chalmers made two three-point baskets and Russell Robinson made another to open the second half, the Jayhawks had a 61-33 lead. It went to 81-40 with 10 minutes left after a steal and fastbreak basket by Chalmers.

Niagara (23-12), which beat Florida A&M;, 77-69, in Tuesday night’s play-in game at Dayton, had a 12-game winning streak end.

Southern Illinois 61, Holy Cross 51 -- Letting their gritty defense do the work, the Salukis (28-6) beat the Crusaders at Columbus, Ohio, to match their team record for wins.

Holy Cross (25-9) struggled against a switching, trapping defense that challenged every shot and never seemed to slow down. It wasn’t all defense for the Salukis. Reserve forward Tony Boyle scored a career-high 14 points in the second half, including one banked-in free throw.,

Holy Cross remained in a tournament rut. The Crusaders won the national championship in 1947 but haven’t won a tournament game since 1953, dropping their last nine.