St. Louis Bests UMass 51-46

March 13, 1998 / 4:55 PM EST / CBS/AP

After 35 minutes of struggling, Larry Hughes started living up to the hype.

The Saint Louis guard, touted as one of the country's best freshmen, scored his team's final nine points Friday to lead the 10th-seeded Billikens to a 51-46 victory over No. 7 seed Massachusetts in the first round of the South Regional.

It was a clunker of a game, but it was good enough to advance Saint Louis (22-10) to the second round against second-seeded Kentucky, an 82-67 winner over South Carolina State earlier in the day.

UMass coach Bruiser Flint lost in the first round for the second straight year. The Minutemen (21-11) haven't won an NCAA tournament game since the 1996 team, coached by John Calapari, advanced to the Final Four.

Dogged consistently by the UMass defense, Hughes finished with 18 points on 6-for-17 shooting, but Saint Louis' persistence in trying to get him the ball finally started paying off late.

He came off two picks to hit a 3-pointer with 4:50 left to give the Billikens a 45-44 lead. On the next possession, he converted a 3-on-1 fast break with a dunk.

After a UMass basket, he hit back-to-back shots, both difficult spinners, to give Saint Louis a 51-46 lead.

Meanwhile, the Minutemen missed their final seven shots of the game. Walking off the court, UMass guard Charlton Clarke disgustedly flipped the ball underhanded toward the basket. It went in, just a cruel joke after a 29 percent shooting night.

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