ROUNDUP
Cavaliers Bow Out To Cardinal In the NIT
Monmouth center John Bunch dunks on Hampton defender Bruce Brown during the second half.
(Matt Sullivan - Reuters)
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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Chris Hernandez had 14 points in Stanford's easy 65-49 win over visiting Virginia last night in an opening-round game in the National Invitation Tournament.
Dan Grunfeld added 12 points and Matt Haryasz had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinal. Stanford (16-13) next travels to play Missouri State (20-8) on Friday.
The Cardinal dominated Virginia (15-15) throughout, leading by as many as 19 en route to its most lopsided win since a 58-34 victory over Princeton on Dec. 21. Stanford forced Virginia into 15 turnovers while holding the Cavaliers to a season low in points.
Stanford's offense, which struggled against pressuring defenses in late-season losses to UCLA and Arizona, had no problems against Virginia's soft zone. The Cardinal shot 57 percent in the first half and 49 percent for the game.
Nine players scored for Stanford, eight in the first half when the Cardinal jumped to a 36-23 lead.
Conversely, Virginia shot just 32 percent in the first half and went through two long scoring droughts. Stanford took advantage and went on runs of 17-3 and 13-4 to take control.
ยท MONMOUTH MOVES ON: Chris Kenny made six three-pointers and 7-foot-2 center John Bunch entertained the crowd with his bulk and his blocks during Monmouth's 71-49 victory over Hampton in the NCAA tournament play-in game in Dayton, Ohio.
The 16th-seeded Hawks (19-14) moved on to Philadelphia to play No. 1 seed Villanova on Friday.
Even if they don't spring a monumental upset, the Northeast Conference champions have already had a breakthrough tournament. The Hawks hadn't come close to winning any of their three previous NCAA appearances.
Monmouth lost by 24 points to Marquette in 1996, by 43 points to No. 1 seed Duke in 2001 and by 33 points to Mississippi State in 2004. The conference hadn't even won an NCAA tournament game since 1983.
"The big difference is I feel like a winner," said Kenny, who played on the 2004 team. "We got crushed against Mississippi State. I'm on cloud nine right now and I'm going to stay there for a while."
