Arizona tops Texas Southern, 93-72
Arizona 93, Texas Southern 72: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored a career-high 23 points and collected 10 rebounds and freshman Stanley Johnson matched his season best of 22 points as the second-seeded Wildcats cruised past the No. 15 seed Tigers in NCAA Tournament round of 64 play at Portland, Ore.
Brandon Ashley scored 14 points and Kaleb Tarczewski added 13 for Arizona (32-3), which will play either VCU or Ohio State on Saturday. T.J. McConnell contributed 12 points, four assists and four steals as the Wildcats shot 60.4 percent from the field.
Madarious Gibbs scored 15 points and Chris Thomas added 13 for Texas Southern (22-13). Deverell Biggs and Tonnie Collier added 10 points apiece.
The Wildcats controlled play throughout and built on a 21-point halftime lead as a layup by Elliott Pitts made it 66-39 with 14:28 remaining. Gibbs’ layup brought the Tigers within 18 points with 9:41 left before Arizona pushed the lead to 91-65 on two free throws by Ashley with 2:57 remaining.
The Wildcats never trailed and had an early 15-2 edge and increased it to 33-15 on Hollis-Jefferson’s layup with 6:12 remaining in the first half. Collier’s 3-pointer moved Texas Southern within 16 with 2:56 left before Arizona took a 54-33 lead into the break.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Arizona had 12 offensive rebounds while possessing a 35-19 edge on the boards. … Johnson was 4-of-5 from 3-point range. … The Wildcats were 24-of-27 from the free-throw line, while Texas Southern was 19-of-30.
