NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Fairleigh Dickinson Turned Inside-Out by Purdue, 94-79 : Midwest Regional

Purdue’s bomb squad went to the pass instead and Melvin McCants detonated an explosive inside game for the No. 3 Boilermakers.

McCants scored a career-high 26 points, and the Boilermakers overpowered Fairleigh Dickinson, 94-79, Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional at South Bend, Ind.

“The idea was to get the ball inside to me and get them in foul trouble,” McCants said.

Damari Riddick scored 25 points for the Knights (23-7) but fouled out with 2:46 left. Fairleigh Dickinson played most of the second half without Jamie Latney, who picked up his third foul with 12:52 left in the first half. Latney scored 12 points, 6 under his average.

Eric Odom and Torsten Stein, who replaced Latney, also picked up three fouls each trying to stop Purdue’s inside game.

That left the middle open for the 6-foot 9-inch McCants, 6-7 Todd Mitchell and 6-9 Steve Scheffler, who combined for 26 first-half points, putting Purdue ahead, 41-28.

Fairleigh Dickinson never challenged in the second half as McCants scored 16 points and Purdue built leads of up to 22 points.

Purdue (28-3) set a school record for victories in one season.

Troy Lewis added 19 points for Purdue and Mitchell had 16.

Memphis State 75, Baylor 60--Rodney Douglas scored 22 points and triggered the Wildcats’ 20-2 spurt at the start of the second half that buried the Bears.

The Tigers (20-11) had a 33-30 halftime lead but used a fullcourt press to force Baylor (23-11) into several turnovers and scored the first 10 points of the second half--6 of the points by Douglas.

After a basket by Darryl Middleton, who scored 22 points for the Bears, Memphis State reeled off another 10-point surge for a 53-32 lead with 13:51 to go.

Middleton broke the Baylor single-season scoring record of 643 set by Vinnie Johnson in 1979. Middleton ended with 653 points as the Bears were eliminated in their first NCAA appearance since 1950.

Kansas State 66, LaSalle 53--Mitch Richmond scored 30 points and William Scott hit five three-pointers while scoring 17 points as the Wildcats snapped the Explorers’ 15-game winning streak.

Richmond also set a Kansas State season scoring record, breaking Bob Boozer’s mark of 691 set in 1958-59. Richmond has 711 points this season.

Kansas State (23-8) pulled away when Scott hit a three-pointer to make it 48-39 with 10:53 left, and Richmond scored seven straight points to give the Wildcats a 58-44 cushion.

Lionel Simmons scored 20 points for the Explorers (24-10).

DePaul 83, Wichita State 62--Stanley Brundy scored 26 points and Kevin Edwards added 21 as the Blue Demons trounced the Shockers.

Rod Strickland added 15 of his 19 points in the second half to help DePaul (22-7) win its eighth straight game.

Sasha Radunovich scored 18 points for the Shockers (20-10).