Associated Press ADVERTISING Associated Press LAHAINA, MAUI— No. 11 Gonzaga relieved the frustrations of its first loss with its highest scoring game of the year. Sam Dower Jr. and Gerard Coleman scored 19 points each as the Bulldogs cruised to
Associated Press
LAHAINA, MAUI— No. 11 Gonzaga relieved the frustrations of its first loss with its highest scoring game of the year.
Sam Dower Jr. and Gerard Coleman scored 19 points each as the Bulldogs cruised to an easy 113-81 win over Division II Chaminade on Tuesday in the Maui Invitational.
Przemek Karnowski had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Kevin Pangos and Kyle Dranginis had 18 points each. Gary Bell Jr. had 16 and Drew Barham had 11.
Only one other player even attempted a shot for Gonzaga — David Stockton hit his only jumper.
“Today was about responding and we needed to respond — we were obviously very disappointed after last night and the way we played some aspects of the game,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “This was about kind of looking inside yourself and stepping up against a team that can kind of frustrate you.”
Gonzaga shot nearly 70 percent from the field — 74.2 percent in the first half. The Bulldogs made 13 of 23 3-pointers (56.5 percent).
“Seventy percent. I don’t know what our school record is, but that’s gotta be pretty close,” Few said. “It is not easy to shoot the basketball like we did today.”
The Bulldogs (5-1) took control midway through the first half with an 11-point run that included two layups by Coleman and another by Karnowski.
Coleman scored six more points during a 13-point run in the second half that gave Gonzaga a 31-point lead at 83-52 with less than 11 minutes left.
“You can’t get down — it’s a long season and our team just tried to respond,” Pangos said. “It’ll be the same thing tomorrow, we just have to really play as a team.”
Lee Bailey led Chaminade (2-2) with 29 points. Tyree Harrison scored 10 points, mostly on free throws.
Gonzaga was looking to bounce back from an upset loss on Monday night to unranked Dayton, a game the Bulldogs led by 16 points in the first half. The loss came the same day Gonzaga moved two spots up in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Gonzaga will play Arkansas on Wednesday in the Maui tournament’s fifth-place game. Chaminade will play Minnesota in the event’s seventh-place game.
“I guess there’s a reason why they are ranked No. 11 in the country,” Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird said. “They have got some skilled shooters, that’s for sure and it’s tough to play against a team like that.”
Christophe Varidel had eight points one day after falling one point shy of a tournament scoring record with 42 points. After tying a tournament record with 10 3-pointers on Monday, Varidel took only three 3-point shots on Tuesday, making one.
“We did some different things, face-guarded him in certain situations,” Pangos said.
CANCUN, Mexico — Traevon Jackson scored 16 points, Frank Kaminsky added 12 and unbeaten Wisconsin fended off a Saint Louis surge to reach the finals of the Cancun Challenge.
Kaminsky added eight rebounds and four blocks for the Badgers (7-0). Jackson helped squash a second-half spurt by Saint Louis (5-1) that made it a five-point game with 1:10 to play.
Wisconsin will play West Virginia in the championship game Wednesday.
The Badgers are off to their best start under coach Bo Ryan. They had not opened a season with seven consecutive wins since starting 11-0 in 1993-94.
Robe Loe led the reigning Atlantic 10 Conference champion Billikens with 15 points. Austin McBroom had 14 and Dwayne Evans added 12.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ron Baker scored 23 points, making six straight free throws down the stretch, and Wichita State held off BYU in the title game of the CBE Classic.
Fred VanVleet and Cleanthony Early added 12 points each for the Shockers (7-0), who trailed by two at halftime but used hustle and physical play inside to wear down the Cougars.
Wichita State was clinging to a 68-62 lead when Baker was popped by BYU’s Nate Austin, who was given a flagrent-2 foul and ejected from the game. Baker made both free throws with 45.3 seconds left, and then two more when he was fouled with just more than 30 seconds remaining.
The Cougars (5-2) were then hit with a technical foul on their bench for protesting a series of calls, and Baker tacked on two more free throws to put the game out of reach.
It was the second in-season tournament the Shockers have won since the 1963-64 season. They captured the Cancun Challenge before their Final Four run last season.
Matt Carlino had 21 points for the Cougars, who missed a series of 3-pointers in the closing minutes that could have changed the outcome.
HARTFORD, Conn. — DeAndre Daniels had 21 points and eight rebounds to help Connecticut remain undefeated with a win over Loyola, Md.
Ryan Boatright added 13 points and eight boards for the Huskies (7-0). Lasan Kromah, a transfer from George Washington, chipped in a season-high 12 points.
Dylon Cormier had 23 points for Loyola (4-1). The senior guard had been averaging just under 30 per game.
A 3-pointer by Cormier early in the second half cut what had been a 15-point UConn lead to 38-35.
Kromah gave the Huskies some breathing room, hitting a 3-pointer, then stealing the ball and going in for a layup that put them up 61-50. A 3-pointer by Daniels closed the 10-2 run and gave UConn a 14-point lead.
The Greyhounds cut the lead to nine late, but couldn’t get closer.
