No. 3 Kentucky rolls past Lafayette

LEXINGTON, Kentucky: Kyle Wiltjer hit seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points, Alex Poythress added a career-high 22 and No. 3 Kentucky routed Lafayette 101-49 in its home opener Friday night.
The Wildcats (2-1) shot 65 percent from the field, including 11-of-19 shooting from 3-point range, and Wiltjer set the tone by hitting his first two to open the game. He finished 7 of 11 from behind the arc, including 5 of 8 in the second half.
Poythress followed up his 20-point effort in Tuesday night’s 75-68 loss to No. 9 Duke by hitting nine of 10 shots and grabbing five rebounds. That led a good night for Kentucky’s heralded freshmen class as Nerlens Noel added 15 points, Willie Cauley-Stein 14 and Archie Goodwin 13.
Tony Johnson scored 13 points for Lafayette (1-2).
Louisville 80 Samford 54: In Louisville, Kentucky, Russ Smith scored a game-high 18 points, Chane Behanan grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds and added 12 points and No. 2 Louisville routed Samford.
Behanan reached his career best in the first half with 13, outrebounding the Bulldogs (12) by himself.
Gorgui Dieng had 10 points and 13 rebounds while Wayne Blackshear added 13 points with five rebounds as the Cardinals (2-0) won the opener of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament that continues next week in the Bahamas.
Louisville never trailed in its first meeting against Samford (1-2), which was playing its highest ranked opponent since losing 79-54 to No. 1 and defending champion Florida in 2006.
Tim Williams’ 15 points and six rebounds led Samford. Raijon Kelly added 11 for the Bulldogs, who committed 21 turnovers.
Towson 75 Radford 67: In Richmond, Kentucky, Marcus Damas scored 21 points and Jerrelle Benimon had 19 to lead Towson to victory over Radford in the EKU/Comfort Suites Invitational.
Mike Burwell chipped in 10 points and Bilal Dixon grabbed 10 rebounds for the Tigers (1-1).
Javonte Green and Ya Ya Anderson scored 10 points apiece for Radford (1-2), and three players scored eight points — Rashun Davis, R.J. Price and Kion Brown.
Towson dominated Radford on the boards, outrebounding the Highlanders 43-24. The Tigers also had 10 steals.
Towson led 33-24 at the half, but pulled away to a 40-26 advantage with 16:49 to go. They led 66-50 with 5:10 left.
Towson allowed Radford to stay in the game with its poor free-throw shooting, managing only 42.9 percent (12 of 28), but Radford could get no closer than seven down the stretch.
Eastern Kentucky 85 Kennesaw State 71: In Richmond, Kentucky, Glenn Cosey scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half as Eastern Kentucky pulled away for an 85-71 nonconference victory over Kennesaw State.
The junior guard, who played two seasons at Columbus State Community College in Ohio, made two 3-pointers and a layup during an 14-7 run that gave the Colonels (2-0) a 50-41 lead with 12:43 left in the game.
Cosey added six points and Eric Stutz five during a late 11-4 run that stretched the lead to 85-66.
Markeith Cummings scored 22 points to lead the Owls (1-2), and Delbert Love scored 11 of his 12 points in the first half, which ended with Eastern Kentucky ahead 36-33 after eight lead changes.
The Colonels took advantage of 18 Kennesaw State turnovers while committing just 10 of their own.
The game was part of the Comfort Suites Invitational, a round-robin involving five teams.
Southern Miss 62 Georgia 60: In Athens, Georgia, Dwayne Davis’ breakaway layup with 31 seconds remaining in overtime off teammate Michael Craig’s steal gave Southern Miss a 62-60 victory over Georgia Thursday night.
Jerrold Brooks led the Golden Eagles (2-0) with 17 points, and Davis added 14. Southern Miss won its season-opener in overtime as well, beating Western Kentucky 67-64.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led Georgia (1-2) with 17 points, and Nemanja Djurisic added 12.
Georgia scored the first basket of the game on Vincent Williams’ 3-pointer, but the Golden Eagles scored the next 15 points, capped by Neil Watson’s breakaway layup. Southern Miss held the lead until the last 82 seconds.
With just over two minutes remaining in regulation, Georgia trailed 55-50 when the shot-clock buzzer sounded erroneously, stopping play. On the inbounds play, Djurisic hit his second 3-pointer. At 1:49, he tied the game 55-55 with a short jumper. Those were the last points of regulation.
Morehead State 101 Alice Lloyd 50: In Morehead, Kentucky, Milton Chavis scored 17 points, Chad Posthumus had 16 points and 9 rebounds, and Morehead State scored 60 second-half points en route to a 101-50 victory against Alice Lloyd on Thursday.
Cordell James also scored 16, Bakari Turner had 15, and Angelo Werner pulled down 11 rebounds for the Eagles (2-1) of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Tyler Rogers scored 14 points for Alice Lloyd (3-4), an NAIA school that competes in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Morehead State shot 50.6 percent from the field (41 for 81) and held Alice Lloyd to 30.9 percent (17 for 55). The Eagles won the rebound battle 57-28.
In the first half, Morehead State shot 42.1 percent from the field (16 of 38) to Alice Lloyd’s 25.9 percent (7 of 27) to take a 40-21 lead.