Colleges

Ray's vision clear: Villanova moving on

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published March 18, 2006

Villanova guard Allan Ray's vision wasn't just fine, it might have been a bit too good.

Instead of looking for his shot, Ray, just a week removed from a horrifying poke to his right eye that left his status for the NCAA Tournament unclear for days, passed the ball more than coach Jay Wright liked in the opening half Friday against Monmouth.

"I wanted him to shoot more," Wright said. "Believe it or not, he's unselfish."

Ray, held out for about two minutes to start the second half, got the message and shot it more and he led the top-seeded Wildcats to a hard-fought 58-45 win against No. 16 Monmouth in front of an announced crowd of 19,990 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

The Wildcats (26-4) play Arizona, which routed Wisconsin earlier, on Sunday for a trip to Minneapolis and the Sweet 16.

"It felt pretty good just to get back into a rhythm," said Ray, who had a game-high 19 points, hitting 5 of 12 3-pointers.

"It's incredible," Wright said of the performance. "We all saw that, we were all there. For that kid to go out and play like that, it's not just shoot the ball as well as he did, he did a lot of other things well defensively. I'm just amazed. ... It's a miracle, that's all I can say."

Despite an uncharacteristically poor-shooting game, Monmouth's matchup zone, a long layoff, the pressure of playing at home as a No. 1 seed and trying to avoid a historic upset, the Wildcats opened up a 17-point second-half lead.

But the Hawks (19-15), the Northeast Conference tournament champions who beat Hampton in Tuesday's play-in game, rallied and cut the deficit to 47-40 with 6:28 left.

The pocket of Hawks' fans rose to cheer.

On the opposite side of the arena, so too did the large contingent of Villanova fans.

"It was definitely the loudest atmosphere I've ever been in," said Monmouth senior point guard Tyler Azzarelli, the former Plant star who had 11 points, five assists and five rebounds. "From the beginning of the game, we thought we had a chance and at that moment, I think we all kind of looked at each other and in unspoken words were like, "We can do this.' "

But junior forward Dejan Delic missed a 3-pointer and Villanova answered with five straight points to all but seal the win.

NO. 8 ARIZONA 94, NO. 9 WISCONSIN 75: Wildcats junior point guard Mustafa Shakur, a Philadelphia native, had looked forward to playing at home and he made the most of it.

He scored 17 and had a game-high nine assists, five rebounds and two steals to help the Wildcats take control from the opening tip in their most complete offensive and defensive performance.

"A lot of people (from my neighborhood) don't have the opportunity to do things I'm doing right now, so it's a big thing for me and my community," said Shakur, who rustled up about 44 tickets for family and friends.

"Over the last month and a half, Mustafa has played the way great point guards play," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "He ran his team. He backed it out when the advantage wasn't there. He attacked the rim when he saw the opportunity to attack it."

Shakur's play set the tone as the Wildcats (20-12) scored the game's first eight points, opened up a 24-point lead late in the half and didn't let Wisconsin (19-12) get closer than 11 the rest of the way.

NO. 2 OHIO ST. 70, NO. 15 DAVIDSON 62: Ohio State had four trips to the NCAA Tournament erased last week. Ron Lewis made this one count.

Stung by the NCAA punishment, Ohio State regrouped in its opener in Dayton, Ohio, behind an excellent performance by Lewis. He was in the middle of almost every play during a second-half surge over relentless Davidson.

"I told these guys after the game that the greatest words you can hear in college basketball are "Ohio State advances,' and that's what we've done," coach Thad Matta said.

The teams met in the first round of the tournament four years ago, with Ohio State winning 69-64 - the last appearance by either team. The NCAA ruled last week that Ohio State must erase all references to that game, plus all others from the 1998-99 through 2001-2002 seasons, for using an ineligible player under Jim O'Brien.

Lewis came off the bench to score 16 of his 19 in the second half. Early in the second half, the Bowling Green transfer stole a pass and Terence Dials, the Big Ten's player of the year, scored at the other end.

After two Davidson misses, Lewis assisted as Dials scored inside to cap a 10-0 run and give the Buckeyes (26-5) a 42-35 lead with 11 minutes left.

The Wildcats (20-11), who led 29-25 at halftime, never got closer than three after that. Ian Johnson led them with 26 points (matching his career high) and 10 rebounds.

NO.7 GEORGETOWN 54, NO. 10 NORTHERN IOWA 49: Roy Hibbert scored 17 and Georgetown relied on its clampdown defense for its first NCAA victory in five years.

"The first game, I think we got the jitters out," said Ashanti Cook, who had two free throws and a clinching dunk in the closing seconds in Dayton. "Now it's time to play basketball. We're not here to participate, we're here to win the whole thing."

Hibbert went 8-of-10 from the field and had nine rebounds before fouling out with 1:11 to go for the Hoyas (22-9) and set the tone inside on defense as the Panthers (23-10) opened the second half in a 2-of-18 shooting slump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Last modified March 18, 2006, 02:30:29]