March 20, 2000

Box Score

By ROB MAADDI
Associated Press Writer

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Demetric Shaw doesn't care about starting, as long as he can be a big shot off the bench.

Shaw came in Monday to score 12 points as Kent advanced to the third round of the NIT with an 81-67 victory over Villanova.

Kent (23-7) plays at Penn State on Wednesday.

Kyrem Massey scored 17 points, John Whorton added 15 and Andrew Mitchell had 14 for Kent. Gary Buchanan led Villanova with 20 points and Jermaine Medley had 11.

Shaw scored eight straight points during a clinching run in the second half. He nailed a 3-pointer from the wing and sank a free throw to complete a 4-point play to give Kent its biggest lead of the second half, 65-53, with 9:50 left in the game.

"I felt I had a good look and I buried it," said Shaw, who had been a starter until injuring his ankle prior to the NIT. "On this team, it doesn't matter who starts. We have a lot of guys with the capability to score. We play an even number of minutes no matter who starts."

After trailing the entire game, Villanova got within three points for the first time since the opening minute. A steal by Buchanan and layup by Brooks Sales made the score 52-49 with 13:10 left in the game.

But Kent (23-7) pulled away with a 10-2 spurt minutes later as Shaw scored six in a row.

After Villanova cut it to 65-57, Shaw put back a miss to give Kent a 10-point lead with 5:06 left. Villanova (20-13) never got within single digits the rest of the game.

"We shot the ball as well as we could," Kent coach Gary Waters said. "We could see they were exhausted at the end, so we penetrated."

Kent took control early by pressing Villanova, leading to six straight turnovers and a 12-0 lead. Villanova, which committed four turnovers before finally getting the ball across halfcourt, took its first shot 2:27 into the game.

"We wanted to see if they can handle the press and when we saw they couldn't, we knew it would be a tough game for them," Waters said.

Villanova coach Steve Lappas said the press didn't surprise the Wildcats.

"We knew they'd come out and press," Lappas said. "That's all we talked about in practice. We practiced hard for three days. It's one thing to talk about it and another thing to do it."

Villanova got back in the game after its seventh turnover led to a 14-2 deficit by going on a 14-6 run. Buchanan scored eight straight points at one point for the Wildcats, including consecutive 3-pointers.

Buchanan had 14 points in the first half and finished 7-of-13, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Mitchell, who averages 9.6 points per game, had 12 in the first half for Kent.

"We came out slow and they capitalized on our mistakes," Buchanan said.

The Wildcats' two senior starters, Malik Allen and Brian Lynch, combined for 11 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Allen, Villanova's leading scorer at 14.3 points per game, was 4-of-10 for nine points. Lynch was 1-of-8 for two points.

"Malik is a great player and I realized that," said Whorton, who spent the night harassing Allen in he post. "I knew I had a personal challenge going against him and I did that."

Massey was 8-of-12 and Whorton was 7-of-8 as Kent shot 58 percent (33-of-57).

The teams combined for 35 turnovers, including 23 in the first half. Villanova had 18.

Massey made a spectacular defensive play after Buchanan stole the ball, drove the length of the court, and went up for a layup that would have cut the deficit to six with 8:00 left to play. Massey trailed Buchanan the entire way, leaped behind him and swatted the shot to a trailing teammate.