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RALEIGH, N.C. -- After turning Tobacco Road into "Raleigh Top," Tennessee is headed to the round of 16. Tennessee denied Mercer a second straight upset in decidedly one-sided fashion, routing the Bears 83-63 in the third round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday night behind 17 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds for Jarnell Stokes. Josh Richardson had a career-high 26 points and Antonio Barton had 18 for the 11th-seeded Vols (24-12), who are making the most of their first tournament appearance since 2011. "NIT two straight years, I guess thats what youd call starting from the bottom," Stokes said. "A lot of people doubted us, and that just makes the ride much better." The Tennessee band had plenty of chances to blare their beloved "Rocky Top" during this rout, which followed the same script as their 19-point thumping of Massachusetts two days earlier: The Voles outrebounded Mercer 41-19 to keep the Southeastern Conference perfect in the tournament. They joined Florida and Kentucky in the regional semifinals -- the first time three SEC teams made it that far since 2007. "Ive been hearing that the SEC has been a football conference for a long time but I dont know how you can still say that when youve got three SEC schools in the Sweet 16," Tennessee guard Jordan McRae said. Tennessee will face second-seeded Michigan (27-8) in a Midwest Regional semifinal Friday night in Indianapolis. Stokes broke his 2-day-old school tournament record for rebounds. Langston Hall had 15 points to lead the 14th-seeded Bears (27-9). They knocked off Duke in the signature upset of the tournament but couldnt answer Tennessees size. "I think hopefully by the time (reality) sets in, well all be able to put a smile on and realize that what weve been able to do at our school, and for the city, has been phenomenal," forward Jakob Gollon said. "Its kind of hard to see right now." Mercer trailed by double figures for the entire second half before the Bears threatened another fantastic finish. They had the ball down 12 with about 2 1/2 minutes left when Gollon -- one of the heroes of the Duke upset two days earlier -- threw the ball away in the lane, then fouled out a few seconds later. McRae hit two free throws, and Richardson added a fast-break layup to push the Tennessee lead to 77-61 with 1 1/2 minutes left. McRae finished with 13 points for the Volunteers, who have won eight of nine with the only loss coming to the top-ranked Gators in the SEC tournament. They are in the round of 16 for the fourth time in eight years, and the third team to go from the First Four to the Sweet 16 since the introduction of the extra round in 2011. They also got a bit of payback: Mercer ended Tennessees season last year with a 75-67 win in the first round of the NIT. Ike Nwamu scored 12 points, Anthony White Jr. had 11 and big man Daniel Coursey added 10 for Mercer, the plucky Atlantic Sun Conference school trying to match Florida Gulf Coasts run last year to the regional semifinals. The Bears drew a perfect matchup for their first game -- and couldnt have had a worse one for their second. "Any time we have Jeronne (Maymon) and Jarnell wearing Tennessee orange," McRae said, "we always feel like we have the advantage." They were bigger, more experienced and more precise than a Duke team loaded with high school All-Americans and a leaky defence, carving them up down the stretch in a 78-71 victory that ranks among the top upsets in the history of the tournament. Mercer starts five seniors and has seven on the roster -- but the Bears were down one with 6-foot-11 Monty Brown out with a possible concussion. Even with him, a Tennessee team with Stokes -- who set the schools short-lived tournament record with 14 rebounds in that 86-67 rout of UMass -- was going to be a challenge. Without him, it was nearly impossible. "Its hard to match up with them, but at the end of the day, mainly it was probably my fault towards the end," Coursey said. "They had a lot of rebounds, and I should have boxed them out." Tennessee never trailed and held a 24-4 rebounding advantage in the first half. Richardson scored 10 straight points midway for the Volunteers to turn a tight game into a double-figure lead. His 3 from the right wing made it 29-18 with 6 1/2 minutes left. Meanwhile, Stokes and Maymon effectively turned Mercer into a jump-shooting team: The Bears managed just one offensive rebound in the first half and didnt attempt their first free throw until there was just 8:40 left. Ben Powers Jersey . -- Craig Anderson has quite a record against his former team, the Florida Panthers. Miles Boykin Jersey . New York (16-9-8) took over first place in the Eastern Conference and has the best record in the league with one game remaining. Houstons five-game unbeaten streak was snapped, and the Dynamo (13-11-9) are sixth in the East with one game remaining. http://www.ravensrookiestore.com/Ravens-Hayden-Hurst-Jersey/. With the players association in the midst of meetings in Las Vegas, a vote will be held on Friday to decide the CFLPAs presidency and other executive positions. Jonathan Ogden Ravens Jersey . The attacking midfielder arrives on a free transfer from Spains Malaga. The 28-year-old joins Scottish striker Kenny Miller and Argentine midfielder Matias Laba as designated players on the Whitecaps roster. Baltimore Ravens Jerseys . Auld made 37 saves in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. It was Ottawas first game without starter Anderson, who is out indefinitely after cutting his hand Wednesday night, and it was evident the team wasnt sure how to deal with the change in goal.MOSCOW - The Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League saw itself as the oil-rich rival to the NHL, offering a tempting, if less prestigious, alternative to playing in North America.As the league planned to expand as far as Britain, the money on offer even attracted Russian stars like Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov, who walked out on lucrative NHL deals to return home.Then came the crash of the ruble this week.The financial crisis has threatened the plans of players like former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Curtis Sanford, who came to Russia to save for his retirement.Its just really happened all of a sudden, the 35-year-old Sanford told The Associated Press. These are some things that you dont expect when you sign a contract. Right now, you just have to ride the rolls of how its going and hopefully it stabilizes and gets better.The ruble had been sliding against the dollar for most of the year against the backdrop of low oil prices and economic sanctions against Russia, but went into freefall Monday and Tuesday. Following a slight recovery, it has still lost almost half of its value against the dollar this year.With KHL rules stipulating ruble-only contracts, that is bad news for the many U.S., Canadian and European imports on the rosters of the leagues 22 Russian teams. Russias economic woes are starting to spread into neighbouring nations like Belarus and Kazakhstan, potentially shrinking the incomes for players on KHL teams there.Some players have already started to rebel. Revealing that he had not been paid for three months at Russian club Yugra Khanty-Mansiisk, except small amounts to buy food, forward Ilari Melart told the Ilta Sanomat newspaper in his native Finland that he was not in Siberia for charity.Another Finn, goaltender Mikko Koskinen, was accused by Russian media earlier this month of having refused to play for Sibir Novosibirsk because his ruble salary had dropped. Koskinen, who denies the claims, was traded to SKA St. Petersburg two days later.For the first time since the league was founded in 2008, KHL management has been forrced to deny the league could collapse.ddddddddddddThe leagues financial situation is stable and were looking calmly at the current economic situation. The season will be finished as planned, league president Dmitry Chernyshenko told local media after meeting with club heads Thursday. He also dismissed rumours the league could enforce across-the-board pay cuts for players.Chernyshenko, who led the organizing committee of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, did suggest that some clubs could be removed from the league if they lacked the money to function properly.There are completely clear criteria for taking part in the league, including financial guarantees, he said. Well demand . that the financial guarantees are provided and not just that some pieces of paper are handed in.Smaller KHL teams like Yugra, which depend on the generosity of benefactors in Russian regional government and state-run companies, have long struggled financially. Delays in paying players have been common in recent years, but have reportedly increased this season as government budgets come under strain and Russian state oil and gas companies struggle with low prices for their products.Without large-scale subsidies, many clubs could become financially unstable. Compared to players wages, income from ticket sales and TV rights is typically far from enough to keep a club viable. Despite posting league-record crowds last season and reaching the KHLs Gagarin Cup finals, Czech team Lev Prague withdrew from the league for financial reasons in July.Sanford, who tends goal for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, says he has received all his pay on time. Regardless of what happens to the ruble, Sanford will be heading back to Canada soon. He plans to retire at the end of the season and acknowledges that the falling currency is playing on his mind.My wife and I, we try to do our best with how we save and how we use our money, Sanford said. Weve done pretty good concerning that and obviously well have to try and do even better for the foreseeable future and just try and hope things work out. ' ' '