'Cat fight on Maui
Associated Press
Kentucky's Allen Edwards dunks over George Washington's Yegor Mescheriakov.
Arizona and Kentucky tangle in a rematch of last year's national championship game
By Al Chase
Star-BulletinLAHAINA - The rematch of last year's NCAA championship basketball game between the Wildcats - winner Arizona and runner-up Kentucky - in today's semifinal round of the Maui Invitational is difficult to figure based on yesterday's performances. Talent-laden and No. 1-ranked Arizona simply wore down Boston College, 99-69, while No. 8 Kentucky, with just as much talent, steadily built a lead for three quarters in a rough and ragged contest to defeat George Washington, 70-55.
Today's other semifinal has Duke (3-0) meeting Missouri (2-0). Consolation games this morning matched Chaminade (0-2) against DePaul (1-1) and Boston College (2-1) meeting George Washington (3-1).
Chaminade's Stanley Martin's attempt at a game-winning 3-pointer from midcourt went in, rattled around and came out and DePaul hung on to defeat the Silverswords, 57-55, in a consolation bracket game today at the Maui Invitational. 'Swords lose today
The Blue Demons (2-1) were led by Thomas Cooper and Jermaine Watts, who each scored 14 points. Darnell Clavon led the Silverswords (0-3) with 19 points. Martin finished with 11 points and Roman Rivera added 10 for DePaul.
Chaminade plays the loser of today's Boston College-George Washington game tomorrow at 9 a.m. DePaul plays the winner of that game at 11.
Sophomore guard Mike Bibby, who led Arizona with 22 points and seven assists, said of the Kentucky game, "We don't care who we play. We'll just come out and play hard. We just try not to let each other down."
"Everyone has their own expectations of what we should do and we can't worry about what anyone else thinks," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said.
Kentucky coach Tubby Smith was quick to point out that there have been some changes from last season.
"We're a new team, it's a new year and a new coaching staff; a first for me," said Smith, who replaced Rick Pitino as the Wildcats' head coach.
"It will be interesting to see what will transpire. I have a lot of respect for Lute Olson and his young men."
But a couple of Kentucky players, who were in the national championship game last year, have other ideas.
Wayne Turner, who had 16 points in Kentucky's victory over George Washington, said, "It's a good opportunity to play those guys again. They've got most of their guys back, while we're a totally different team. We'll just concentrate on our game and see what happens.
Added Jeff Sheppard, "Arizona and Kentucky have had some memorable games - here four years ago and the championship game.
"We'll both play hard and see what happens. We're both Wildcats."
At that juncture, Smith chimed in, "Yeah, it will be a real 'Cat fight."
Arizona 99, Boston College 69: The Eagles played the Wildcats tough in the first half with Antonio Granger's 3-pointer from just inside half court at the buzzer leaving Boston College down by seven, 45-38.
Arizona quickly upped the margin to 18 points in the first three minutes of the third quarter as Bibby and Michael Dickerson, who finished with 17 points, hit treys and Miles Simon scored five points.
The closest the Eagles could get after that was 13 points.
Granger, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, paced Boston College with 21 points.
The Eagles just couldn't stop the guard play of the Wildcats, especially the uncanny passing of Bibby or Simon, who constantly hit Arizona's big men for easy buckets.
"I was pleased in the first half, but we got lazy as a team in the second half," Boston College coach Al Skinner said.
"It was a case of depth versus lack of depth. We started three freshmen. The heat (in the gym) and the effort we used to overcome their full-court pressure in the first half wore us down."
"I thought BC did a great job of coming at us in the first half, but we felt our bench was deeper and that it would get to them," Olson said.
George Washington hit just 3-of-16 field goal attempts in the quarter and missed all three free throws.
Turner and Sheppard were the only Wildcats in double figures with 16 and 10 points, respectively. But six other players had six or more points for coach Tubby Smith.
Shawnta Rogers, the Colonials' 5-4 guard, led all scorers with 15 points despite front lines for both teams that average 6-8 even when subs were made.
The 6-foot-8, 245 pounder scored 14 points in the first half and finished with 23 to lead six Blue Devils in double figures.
Darnell Clavon scored 21 points to pace the host Silverswords.
"I was pleased with our team," Krzyzewski said.
"The biggest concern was adjusting to a 9 a.m. game. We played well most of the time, but didn't tighten up on defense when we got the big lead against a very good Chaminade team.
"We have very good talent, but we are very young," Krzyzewski added. "We gained experience in this game because the two players who are hurt (Chris Carrawell and Nate James) would have played a lot."
Both teams are coming off losing seasons and the rebuilding still is in progress. The game, played deliberately by the Blue Demons and sometimes at a faster pace by Missouri, had 30 turnovers and numerous missed shots.
John Woods paced the Tigers with 11 points while DePaul's Jermaine Watts had a game-high 19.
