Arizona State races to early lead, beats Nevada 98-73

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — DJ Horne had 20 points andArizona State raced to a big halftime lead and scored the mostpoints ever in a First Four game, burying Nevada 98-73 on Wednesdaynight.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. — a Nevada transfer — scored 17 points asArizona State (23-12) led 53-26 at the half and then kept up thepressure on the way to the rout. The first-half output was a seasonhigh for Arizona State, which advanced as a No. 11 seed to face TCUin a West Region first-round game on Friday in Denver.

Arizona State hit 67.7% of its shots from the floor and forced10 turnovers in the first half, piling up a 22-2 run over eightminutes to pull away.

Will Baker scored 17 and Tre Coleman had 14 for the Wolf Pack(22-11). One of Nevada’s top players, Kenan Blackshear, picked upthree fouls early and sat on the bench for more than five minutesof the opening half. Averaging 14.4 per game, he was held to fourpoints.

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 84, TEXAS SOUTHERN 61

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Ansley Almonor scored 23 points andFairleigh Dickinson earned its first NCAA Tournament win in fourseasons.

Fairleigh Dickinson shot 50% and advanced to the East Region toplay top-seeded Purdue in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday.

Joe Munden Jr. scored 17 points, Demetre Roberts had 15, GrantSingleton finished with 13 and Sean Moore 10 for FairleighDickinson (20-15).

John Walker III led Texas Southern (14-21) with 22 points.Joirdon Karl Nicholas added 10.