The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE 2013 Battle 4 Atlantis opened yesterday at Atlantis’ Imperial Arena with the Kansas Jayhawks and Villanova Wildcats advancing to the semifinals with wins in the opening session.

The pair will meet in tonight’s evening session at 8:30pm.

Villanova Wildcats - 94 

USC Trojans - 79

Ryan Arcidiacono opened the 2013 Battle 4 Atlantis with a three-pointer for the first points of the tournament and his hot shooting in the first half helped spark the Villanova Wildcats to the opening win.

Arcidiacono scored all of his 14 points on 6-8 shooting, 2-3 from three-point range, in the first half to lead the Wildcats to a quarterfinal in the first game of the tournament.

The Wildcats’ 94 points set a new tournament single game scoring record.

James Bell led the Wildcats with 17 points, Darrun Hilliard added 16 points, Dylan Ennis finished with 14 points in his season debut and JayVaughn Pinkston chipped in with 12 points off the bench.

Pe’Shon Howard led the Trojans with 23 points, Byron Wesley added 15 points and 10 rebounds and Roschon Prince finished with 13 points.

The Wildcats remained undefeated and improved to 5-0 while USC fell to 4-2.

The Trojans trailed by as much as nine in the first  half, but went on an 8-0 run to trim the deficit to one (27-26) at the 6:33 mark on a Howard free throw.

The Wildcats would respond with a run that would put the game away.

After bell made a jumper and Daniel Ochefu followed with a pair at the line, Arcidiacono made three jumpers , on consecutive possessions, the third of which gave Villanova their first double figure lead (38-28).

The Wildcats took a 48-37 lead at the half. Wildcats’ head coach Jay Wright said he was pleased with his team’s depth and noted that Ennis made a definite change in the rotation in his debut.

“I thought our depth was a factor tonight, I liked that,” Wright said. “He’s got an intangible that is really valuable and it’s energy. As a student, teammate and person Dylan’s got great energy. I thought he really did a great job, especially in the second half. He made some great passes and some good defensive plays. It was really nice to have him back.”

Following a dynamic performance by The Royal Bahamas Police Force marching band, Villanova opened with much of the same in the second half and went on an 18-6 run to put the game away for good.

On a possession indicative of the theme of the game, the Trojans had a good defensive series, forcing the Wildcats into a bad shot as the shot clock buzzer sounded, but Bell was able to swoop in for the tip in and give his team a 21-point lead (77-56) with 6:38 left to play. “I’m proud of our team, we played hard today, we just didn’t play well enough,” USC head coach Mark Enfield said. “We give them all the credit in the world, they played an excellent basketball game today and they’re very good.”

USC will face Wake Forest in the consolation round.

Kansas Jayhawks - 87

Wake Forest - 78

Ineffective for the first half and much of the second half, Andrew Wiggins came on late to help the second ranked Kansas Jayhawks fend off a late rally from Wake Forest.

Wiggins finished with a team high 17 points, 12 in the second half as the Jayhawks pulled away late to advance to the semifinals.

With Wiggins and the remaining Jayhawk starters on the bench for a  pivotal second half stretch, it was the Kansas bench, led by freshmen Frank Mason and Joel Embiid, that kept the Jayhawks ahead.

Mason finished with 13 points and Embiid added 10 points and six rebounds to help Kansas outscore the Wake Forest bench 31-17.

Cody Miller-McIntyre led the Demon Deacons with a game high 26 points, 20 in the second half, while Tyler Cavanaugh added 11 points and Madison Jones and Coron Williams each finished with 10.

Kansas played a dominant first half and led 40-26 at intermission, looking well on their way to the second route of the afternoon.

Wake Forest opened the second half on a 16-6 run and trimmed the deficit to just four.

Miller-McIntyre and Devin Thomas accounted for the final 10 points of the run and the Kansas led 46-42 at the 14:10 mark.

After both teams exchanged turnovers, Mason followed with the biggest shot of the game, a three- pointer at the top of the key to give Kansas a seven-point lead and send the Jayhawk faithful of 2,000 fans into a frenzy.

Kansas maintained a double digit margin and another Wake Forest run was halted when they picked up three technical fouls in less than a minute.

After Cavanaugh was whistled for taunting, Thomas was ejected when he picked up two technicals with 7:28 left to play.

Conner Frankamp made three of the four in his trip at the line to regain a 64-52 lead for Kansas.

When the Jayhawks starters re-entered the game, Wiggins made an immediate impact with a three- pointer from the wing on his first possession.

The Demon Deacons’ final run saw Miller-McIntyre score eight in a row to trim the deficit to five with less than two minutes to play, but the Jayhawks would protect their 77-72 lead down the stretch.

Wayne Selden Jr followed with a runner in the lane and Kansas was able to close out the game at the line.

With roughly 30 seconds left to play, the overwhelming Jayhawk crowd started the familiar “Rock Chalk” chant as they moved to 5-0 on the season.

Wake Forest suffered their first loss of the year and fell to 5-1. They will face USC in the consolation round.