Bradley scores 18, No. 17 SD St beats Ohio St 88-77 on Maui

LAHAINA, Maui (AP) — Matt Bradley scored 18 points before fouling out in the final minutes and helped No. 17 San Diego State rally from a slow start to beat Ohio State 88-77 Monday night in the first round of the Maui Invitational.

Lamont Butler and Micah Parrish had 15 points apiece and Adam Seiko added 14 for the Aztecs (4-0).

Sean McNeil scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half for Ohio State (3-1), which was playing away from Columbus for the first time this season. Brice Sensabuagh scored 17 and Bruce Thornton 13.

Ohio State threatened to turn the momentum three times in the final minutes but the Aztecs answered each time.

Tanner Holden made a dunk and was fouled by Bradley, which was determined to be flagrant. He made both free throws to pull the Buckeyes to 80-72. Sensabaugh made one of two free throws for the Buckeyes before Parrish drained a 3 to give the Aztecs a double-digit lead.

Bradley fouled out with 2:53 left and Thornton made both free throws to pull the Buckeyes to 83-75

Darrion Trammell of SDSU then made two free throws with 1:49 left

In a crazy sequence with more than 13 minutes left, the Buckeyes closed within four points but then saw SDSU extend the lead back to double digits. Sensabaugh made a 3-pointer and there was a foul away from the play allowing the Buckeyes to keep the ball, and McNeil made a jumper to pull OSU to 51-47.

But the Aztecs came back to score eight points in less than a minute to jump ahead 59-47. Parrish had consecutive 3s and Butler had a steal and fed Aguek Arop for a layup. The Aztecs extended the run to 17-5 on a 3-pointer by Seiko.

Bradley made 4 of 6 3-pointers, including one to start the second half for a 40-26 lead. He scored 10 points in the first half, when the Aztecs missed their first eight shots and fell behind 5-0 before Seiko made a jumper about five minutes in to get SDSU on the board. Bradley began to heat up, including hitting two 3-pointers.

Seiko and Lamont Butler also hit big 3s to help the Aztecs to a 37-26 halftime lead.

Strong 2nd half lifts No. 10 Bluejays past No. 21 Texas Tech

LAHAINA, Maui (AP) — Creighton’s free-flowing offense was uncharacteristically choppy and sloppy for the first 20 minutes against Texas Tech.

The 10th-ranked Bluejays looked like their old selves after that, getting out to a quick lead in the second half and pulling away for a 76-65 win over the No. 21 Red Raiders in the opening game of the Maui Invitational on Monday.

“First time on the road with this team, maybe they were anxious and excited,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We certainly weren’t ourselves early in that game. We had as many turnovers in the first 20 possessions, I think, as we’ve had in four games. So once we settled in, I thought we were pretty good.”

The Bluejays (5-0) committed a season-high 13 turnovers, all in the first half, and then started rolling.

Arthur Kaluma scored 18 points to lead all five Creighton starters in double figures. Trey Alexander had 13 of his 17 points after the half and Ryan Nembhard finished with 16. Baylor Scheierman had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Big man Ryan Kalkbrenner, who rolled his ankle late in the first half and aggravated it late in the second, had 10 points.

“Thank goodness Kalkbrenner was tough enough to play through a pretty good sprained ankle,” McDermott said, “because his presence at the rim and on the glass for us is so important.”

Daniel Batcho scored a career-high 17 points for the Red Raiders (3-1), who led by seven points early while Creighton struggled to adjust to their trademark in-your-face defense.

“You can prep all you want,” McDermott said, “but it’s so hard to simulate the physicality of their defense and the quickness of their rotations.”

Creighton outscored Texas Tech 23-12 coming out of the half to break open a 31-all game.

“The biggest difference was that first four minutes,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. “They came out and just punched us in the mouth and I thought that was the difference. They came out with just a really aggressive mindset on both ends of the floor. It set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Alexander took Scheierman’s pass from the post and hit a 3-pointer from the wing to get the second half started. After Kaluma blocked a shot, Alexander passed to Nembhard for a lay-in. A minute later, Nembhard scored with his left hand from the right side of the basket, and Alexander followed with a three-point play.

Nembhard’s 3-pointer off the dribble gave the Bluejays their first double-digit lead, and Kaluma scored seven straight points for Creighton to make it 64-50 with seven minutes to play.

Pop Isaacs scored 13 points, De’Vion Harmon had 12 and Kevin Obanor added 10 for Texas Tech.