SALT LAKE CITY _ Kansas' Lawson-led basketball team is one win away from assuring a spot in next week's Midwest Regional Sweet 16 at the Sprint Center, the Jayhawks' home-away-from-home.
Dedric Lawson scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and his brother K.J. Lawson added 13 points, two off his season high, in 23 minutes as No. 4 seed Kansas blasted No. 13 seed Northeastern 87-53 in a first-round NCAA Tournament game on Thursday afternoon at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
KU's victory sets up a second-round contest against No. 5 seed Auburn, a 78-77 winner over No. 12 seed New Mexico State in Friday's first game in Salt Lake City.
The winner of Saturday's Kansas-Auburn game will advance to Kansas City. Regional semifinal games will be played March 29 with the final set for March 31 at Sprint Center.
Devon Dotson contributed 18 points with four rebounds and two assists and for the Jayhawks (26-9), who knocked off the Huskies (23-11) of the Colonial Athletic Association.
Leading scorer Vasa Pusica scored just seven points on 2 of 13 shooting (2 of 6 from 3) for Northeastern, which, as advertised, attempted a batch of 3-point shots. In all, the Huskies hit 6 of 28 3s to KU's 8 of 22.
Jordan Roland was the only Huskies player in double figures. He scored 12 points on 2 of 8 3-point shooting.
Northeastern opened by hitting 3 of its first 6 3-pointers, but made just 2 of its next 11 and KU led at halftime, 37-25.
NU scored the first five points of the second half and it was 37-30 with 17:05 left.
After a Bill Self timeout, KU went on an 18-2 run to open a 55-32 advantage at 11:07.
Dedric Lawson, who had 16 points the first half, had five straight points in the run _ points that followed a 3 by Quentin Grimes, who would not score again. He scored three points on 1 of 6 shooting (1 of 5 from 3).
Also, K.J. Lawson, who had four points in the first half, had four more in that run, which effectively put away Northeastern.
Dedric Lawson scored 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting (2 of 4 3s) and grabbed seven rebounds in 16 productive first-stanza minutes. K.J. scored four points while playing more than usual (10 minutes) in the half. Also, Dotson had nine points and Mitch Lightfoot four rebounds and a block in seven minutes in the half.
Standout Northeastern senior guard Pusica missed 7 of 8 shots and had three points in 17 minutes the first half. Roland had eight points on 2 of 5 3-point shooting. Overall, NU hit 8 of 31 shots the first half for 25.8 percent. KU was 15 of 34 for 44.1 percent. The Jayhawks were 2 of 12 from 3.
KU led by just a point, 20-19, with 7:55 left in the half. An 11-0 run provided some separation and KU led, 31-19, at 4:03. Dedric Lawson had five points, KJ four _ including a nice bank shot off a move in the lane _ and Dotson two in the run.
It was 9-9 early, however KU did open an 18-11 lead at 11:34. Northeastern immediately cut it to 20-19.
