By Monty Phan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Moscow Dynamo weren't even supposed to show up. Rumor had it that the team's players had trouble with their visas, but they were just rumors. No, the Dynamo had a much bigger problem Ä namely, an American express.
Express freight train, that is. In Saturday's exhibition game, the Arizona men's basketball team ran, dunked, passed, rebounded, and basically stormed its way to a 67-15 score over the Russian club Ä at halftime. And as if the 52-point lead wasn't enough, the home team actually built on it, winning 120-60 when the final buzzer mercifully sounded.
But let's be fair, here. It wasn't like the men from Red Square could possibly have been at their best. They had barely been in Tucson for 12 hours after a 30-hour flight that arrived at 1:15 in the morning. In fact, the Wildcats themselves were under the impression they were going to play an Australian team until Saturday morning, when Coach Lute Olson found out the Russians were in town from assistant coach Jim Rosborough.
Well, at least the Dynamo could use jet lag as an excuse because, to put it bluntly, they never had a chance.
Arizona scored the first 25 points of the game, meaning the fans, in their usual tradition of standing until the opposing team scores, didn't end up sitting down until over seven minutes into the game.
"That was something you can probably expect from our team, explosive starts," UA guard Miles Simon said. "We have so many scorers and with the defense that we play, I think we're capable of getting off to starts like that every game."
But the Arizona didn't let up. After sinking one of two free throws Ä awarded to Moscow after Arizona guard Miles Simon was called for hanging on the rim Ä that made the score 35-11, the Wildcats went on another run of 13-0.
Everyone who played scored at least five points, including five players in double figures. Although Muscovite Vladimir Trunov was the game's high scorer (he had 18 points), there were three Wildcat starters with 17: Ray Owes, Joseph Blair and Damon Stoudamire.
The other two double digit scorers came from the bench in the form of Joe McLean and Mike Dickerson, with 12 and 13 points, respectively. Throw in Simon's 10 assists, Marty Barmentloo's seven rebounds, and Kelley's six rebounds, and you've got a pretty solid day from the reserves.
"When (the coaches) go to the bench, there's going to be some players that come off and still keep up the level of intensity, put a lot of points on the board," guard Reggie Geary said. "Actually, some of the guys coming off the bench are better scorers than the starters."
Looking ahead, Arizona starts the season Thursday against Minnesota in the Great Alaska Shootout.