Arizona defeats Belmont 81-64 in NCAA Tournament
Reporter: Evyn Murray, Sports Assistant
Note: NCAA restrictions prevent us from posting game hilites on our website but attached is our post-game coverage.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Mark Lyons scored 23 points and the sixth-seeded Arizona Wildcats rolled past No. 11 seed Belmont 81-64 Thursday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats (26-7) used their huge size advantage to shut down the Bruins (26-7), who are 0-6 in tourney games.
Arizona held a 44-18 edge on the boards, outscored Belmont 36-18 in the paint, blocked five shots and outshot the Bruins from 3-point range.
"I thought from our perspective, our players really locked in on what we were trying to do. They played great defense, especially in the first half. And then as the game wore on, we really got the ball inside," said Sean Miller at the press conference after the game.
The Wildcats made 9 of 17 3-pointers, including a critical one from Solomon Hill with 4:40 remaining to stop an 11-2 Belmont run, and shot 57 percent overall.
Bruins guard Ian Clark entered shooting better than 46 percent from 3-point range but was 3 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Kerron Johnson led Belmont with 22 points and Clark finished with 21.
Kevin Parrom, Kaleb Tarczewski and Nick Johnson added 12 points each for Arizona.
"We're very excited to still be in the tournament. It's very difficult to make the NCAA Tournament, and it's even more difficult to advance," said Miller.
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