NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Duke Routs Richmond, 81-46

While most highly seeded teams have been struggling in the NCAA basketball tournament, Duke won its first-round game with ease, beating Richmond, 81-46, Friday at the Omni.

The third-seeded Blue Devils outshot the shorter Spiders, 53.4% to 31.3%, and outrebounded them, 46-33, giving Coach Mike Krzyzewski his 300th major college victory.

“Obviously, they were too big, too talented, too deep and we just didn’t belong on the same floor with them today,” said Richmond Coach Dick Tarrant, whose tallest starter is 6 feet 5. “They took us out of everything we tried to do. They’re a tremendous team to make us look that inept.

“We couldn’t in any way, shape or form match them in size or talent. Their second team probably would have beaten us.”

Duke (25-8) was led by 6-10 reserve center Alaa Abdelnaby, who scored 22 points, made nine of 14 shots, took down 12 rebounds and blocked three shots in 22 minutes in his first game of the season as a non-starter. Guard Phil Henderson had 19 points, five assists and six steals.

“I never felt that at any point in the game did our intensity wane,” Krzyzewski said. “It was high throughout. In the second half, there was incredible intensity. We just played very well.”

Said Abdelnaby of the Blue Devils, who ended the regular season by losing four of five games against Atlantic Coast Conference competition: “We realized that part of what was missing was enthusiasm and intensity.”

Richmond ended the season with a 22-10 record.

St. John’s 81, Temple 65--The Redmen used a balanced offense and took advantage of the Owls’ poor shooting.

St. John’s (24-9) took control in the last 10 minutes of the first half, outscoring the cold-shooting Owls (23-5) and opening a 35-17 halftime lead. Temple made only 28% of its shots in the first half.

“We showed evidence of being a very young club,” said Temple Coach John Chaney, whose starting lineup included two freshmen and two sophomores. “You have to establish a success pattern for young players early in the game if you expect them to stay in the game.

“And what happened was, we experienced poor play and the players got down on themselves. You can call it fright, you can call it anxiety, you can call it frustration, or it could be all of the above.”

Said St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca: “That was probably the best first half we played all season.”

St. John’s made 60.5% of its shots and got 18 points from forward Malik Sealy, 17 points and six assists from guard Boo Harvey, 16 points from guard Jason Buchanan and 14 points from center Robert Werdann.

“You always look good when the ball goes into the basket,” Carnesecca said.

Nobody looked better in the second half than Temple guard Mark Macon, who kept the Owls close by scoring 27 of his 32 points and making nine of 13 shots, including five of six three-point shots.

But Temple (20-11) never got closer than 10 points.

Kansas 79, Robert Morris 71--The second-seeded Jayhawks fought off a determined effort by the Colonials, who never led but never trailed by more than 14 points in keeping the game close.

“Last year, we were out in Boise and we sat in the locker room after losing by 34 points to Arizona and we vowed it would never happen again,” said Coach Jarrett Durham of the Colonials, who lost to Arizona, 94-60, in a first-round game last March. “We were going to make some noise. We came close, but Kansas is a fine team. They play well together.”

Kansas (30-4) was led by Rick Calloway, who made nine of 10 shots, four of four free throws and scored 22 points. Kevin Pritchard had 13 points and nine assists and Mark Randall, Jeff Gueldner and Mike Maddox each scored 10 points for the Jayhawks, who made 60% of their shots.

Andre Boyd scored 17 points and Ricky Cannon scored 13 for the 15th-seeded Colonials, who ended the season with a 22-8 record.