Tarheels Limp to 65-44 Win, Purdue Boils Ill.-Chicago

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--North Carolina may be inexperienced and a little ragged on offense, but the 10th-ranked Tar Heels still have one thing you can't teach--height.

"I would say their size basically overwhelmed us," Florida International coach Shakey Rodriguez said last night after his team lost to the Tar Heels 65-44 in the opening round of the Preseason NIT. Florida International shot only 29 percent from the field.

Ademola Okulaja scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds to lead the Tar Heels.

The Golden Panthers (2-1) were playing their third game in four days and wore down against the deep Tar Heels (2-0), who will play host to Georgia on Wednesday night in the second round.

No. 15 Purdue 77, III.-Chicago 61

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.--Jaraan Cornell scored 23 points to lead No. 15 Purdue past Illinois-Chicago 77-61 last night in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.

Purdue (2-0) led from start to finish, taking command with a 22-7 lead in the opening 10 minutes when the Flames (0-1) missed 13 of 16 shots from the field.

The Boilermakers will play host to Gonzaga, which beat Memphis 88-73, in the second round tomorrow.

Bryant Notree topped Illinois-Chicago with 24 points.

Only poor free throw shooting kept the Boilermakers from turning the game into a bigger rout. Purdue made only 15 of 33 free throws.

No. 23 UMass 87, Niagara 73

AMHERST, Mass.--No. 23 Massachusetts won its season opener, but it wasn't pretty.

Monty Mack scored 24 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Minutemen beat Niagara 87-73 last night in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.

The Minutemen will play St. John's in a second-round game tomorrow.

Niagara (1-1) kept it close during the first half, but UMass opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take control.

Alvin Young and Terry Edwards led Niagara with 18 points apiece.

Lari Ketner had 16 points and nine rebounds for UMass.

No. 24 Clemson 66, Stetson 39

CLEMSON, S.C.--No. 24 Clemson opened the second half with a 20-0 run and went on to beat Stetson 66-39 last night.

Terrell McIntyre scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half for Clemson (2-0). Johnny Miller added 13 points, and Harold Jamison grabbed 11 rebounds for the Tigers.

Garrett Davis scored 11 points for Stetson (0-2), which shot only 25 percent from the field.

The Tigers led by only one point at halftime, but scored 20 straight points at the start of the second half to break the game open.

The six-minute spurt started with a three-pointer by Andrius Jurkunas and ended with a free throw by Adam Allenspach.

McIntyre made two free throws with 29 seconds remaining in the first half to give the Tigers their slim halftime lead.

St. John's 105, N.C.-Asheville 50

NEW YORK--The Mike Jarvis era at St. John's got off to an impressive start last night and the former George Washington coach enjoyed every second of it.

The Red Storm beat North Carolina Asheville 105-50 in the opening round of the Preseason NIT in Jarvis' first game as coach at St. John's after eight seasons in Washington, D.C.