Ottawa’s Shayok gives Virginia some spark

ORLANDO, FL A .• Defensiveminded Virginia showed it can play with a little offensive tempo, even using five guards to outpace UNC Wilmington.

London Perrantes scored 24 points, Ottawa’s Marial Shayok added a career- high 23 off the bench and No. 5 seed Virginia rallied from 15 points down to beat 12 th- seeded UNC Wilmington 76-71 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Perrantes scored 19 points in the second half as the Cavaliers (23-10) got their slow- paced offence going. His biggest bucket was a driving bank shot with 1:37 remaining, which put the Cavs up 71- 66.

UNCW (29- 6) wouldn’t go away, though. Chris Flemmings drained a 3- pointer from the elbow and then Devontae Cacok hit a layup to make it 73-71 with less than a minute to play. But Shayok answered on the other end, banking in a runner that gave the Cavs some breathing room in the closing seconds.

“I just wanted to provide energy off the slow start,” Shayok said. “Personally, I just didn’t want to go out like that, and I knew my teammates didn’t either. So I just wanted to come out and provide what I could on both ends and just bring a spark.”

In other first-round games Thursday: ❚ In Salt Lake City, Northwestern got its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory 68- 66 over Vanderbilt after Commodores guard Matthew Fisher- Davis inexplicably grabbed Wildcats guard Bryant McIntosh on purpose, sending McIntosh to the free throw line for the go-ahead points with 15 seconds left.

Riley LaChance made a layup with 18 seconds remaining in Thursday’s game to put the ninthseeded Commodores up by one after trailing by as many as 15.

But seconds after the in-bounds pass, Fisher-Davis reached out and grabbed McIntosh while he was in the backcourt. That put eighthseeded Northwestern in the double bonus, and McIntosh went to the line and calmly swished the free throws with 15 seconds left. ❚ In Milwaukee, Reggie Upshaw scored 19 points, Giddy Potts added 15 and Middle Tennessee took down another Big Ten team in the NCAA Tournament, beating Minnesota 81-72 on Thursday.

Twelfth- seeded Middle Tennessee proved it was no one-year wonder after upsetting Michigan State as a No. 15 seed last March.

The Blue Raiders ( 31- 4) instead played like seasoned NCAA veterans with the way they held off the No. 5 Gophers’ comeback attempt from a 17-point deficit in front of a loud and large contingent of Minnesota fans.