11/18/2016

No. 10 Arizona Routs Sacred Heart 95-65

11/18/2016 | AP

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Lauri Markkanen scored 22 points to lead six Arizona players in double figures and the No. 10 Wildcats routed overmatched Sacred Heart 95-65 on Friday night.

Fellow freshman Rawle Alkins added 18 points for the Wildcats (3-0). They led by as many as 25 points in the first half and 39 in the second.

Arizona's Dusan Ristic had 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.

Quincy McKnight had 22 points and Joseph Lopez 15 for the Pioneers (1-2).

The game was part of the Las Vegas Invitational, as is Monday night's game against Northern Colorado. The Wildcats move on to Las Vegas to play Santa Clara next Thursday.

If a team plays four games in a tournament, it gets an extra game on its schedule.

The much bigger, quicker Wildcats never trailed and turned the game into a blowout in a hurry.

A pair of Arizona newcomers got the McKale Center crowd rocking with some high-flying plays.

In consecutive plays, freshman Kobi Simmons had a backcourt steal and two-handed dunk and junior college transfer Keanu Pinder knocked the ball away in Sacred Heart's backcourt and got the dunk on a lob pass from Parker Jackson-Cartwright at the other end, and Arizona led 43-18 with 4:17 left in the first half.

Ristic had 10 rebounds in the first half, one shy of his career-best for a game. The Wildcats led 49-25 at the break.

PAC-12 POUNDINGS

It was the first meeting between the schools and the first for Sacred Heart against a Pac-12 team since playing Washington on Dec. 22, 2004. The Pioneers lost that one 114-55.

The Wildcats pounded a Northeast Conference team for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

They beat Bryant 100-60 in the 2011-12 season, Farleigh-Dickenson 100-50 in 2013-14 and Mount St. Mary's 78-55 in 2014-15.