Arizona overcomes Drexel, 66
Robert Sabo/New York Daily NewsFor all the hype surrounding super frosh Aaron Gordon of Arizona and Jabari Parker of Duke entering this week's Preseason NIT Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden, the Wildcats demonstrated how they aren't one-dimensional in Wednesday's opening semifinal.
Gordon filled the stat sheet all right with 11 points and 13 rebounds, but the No. 5 Wildcats needed everything they could muster on the defensive end and the scoring of junior guard Nick Johnson to overcome a game Drexel team and former Rice product Chris Fouch, 66-62.
Johnson, Arizona's leading scorer on the season, finished with 20 points and 7-0 center Kaleb Tarczewski added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, who will face the winner of the Duke-Alabama semifinal in Friday night's championship.
Perhaps feeling a little East Coast drag, the Wildcats found themselves in a 19-point, first-half deficit thanks to Fouch, who scored 16 of his game-high 29 points in the opening half. Fouch, playing in his first game at the world's most famous arena since his high school days, made it his own Garden party in the first half, outscoring Arizona by himself with 14 points in the first 13 minutes.
Fouch is a sixth-year player after being granted a second medical redshirt when a broken ankle cut last season short for him after three games. A torn ACL prior forced him to miss his initial freshman season in 2008-09.
Arizona began to shake off the early sluggishness from the defensive end and it resulted in the Wildcats being able get in transition with their athletes, many times with Gordon pulling down a rebound and beginning the break on his own. Spearheaded by Nick Johnson's finishing touch, Arizona closed to within 29-20 at the half.
The Wildcats used that momentum in transition full throttle to open the second half on 13-2 run to take their first lead at 33-31. With the help of Fouch and Frantz Massenat, the Dragons didn't crumble. The next eight minutes saw as many as nine lead changes. It was foul trouble that eventually caught up with the Dragons. When 6-8 Dartaye Ruffin picked up his fourth foul at the 11:00 mark, Tarczewski found confidence in the post, scoring six points during an 11-4 run to put the Wildcats up for good.
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