LAHAINA, Hawaii — Syracuse is used to winning at the Maui Invitational. One more victory for the Orange and it will be three titles in three trips.
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Syracuse is used to winning at the Maui Invitational. One more victory for the Orange and it will be three titles in three trips.
Tyler Ennis scored 28 points and led two key second-half runs that carried No. 8 Syracuse past California 92-81 on Tuesday night in the tournament semifinals.
The Orange will play Dayton or No. 18 Baylor for the championship Wednesday. Syracuse won the Maui Invitational in 1990 and 1998.
“These two games out here have been great games, great for our team,” coach Jim Boeheim said.
Syracuse scored 51 points in the second half, shooting 55 percent and making five of seven 3-point attempts. Ennis had 17 points and Trevor Cooney scored 20 of his 23 after the break.
“Our guards were unbelievable today and I didn’t even know that until I looked at the stat sheet,” Boeheim said. “I knew they were pretty good, but they were better.”
Jerami Grant finished with 19 points while C.J. Fair had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Cooney said it’s different to shoot in a small gym.
“We play in a dome, it’s open, different backdrop and this is totally different for us,” Cooney said. “The gym is warm, the legs get going and you can get into a rhythm here and that’s what we have been doing.”
Ennis hit a layup during a nine-point run started by Grant’s putback dunk. The spurt lasted more than 2 minutes and gave Syracuse (6-0) its first double-digit lead with less than 8 minutes left.
“We probably lost our focus momentarily, and just kind of turned and got careless with the ball,” California coach Mike Montgomery said.
Justin Cobbs scored 18 points for the Golden Bears (5-1), who will play the Dayton-Baylor loser in the third-place game.
The game was close until midway through the second half, with 10 ties and 12 lead changes.
Cal tied it at 41 going into halftime when Tyrone Wallace hit two free throws after being fouled on a rebound by Ennis.
David Kravish then hit a layup to start the second half, but Ennis responded with his own layup 30 seconds later.
Cobbs gave Cal a four-point run to tie the game at 54. He made a nifty pass in traffic to set up Jordan Mathews for a dunk, then stole the ball from Cooney on the next possession and scampered for a dunk.
Grant responded with a jumper and Syracuse led the rest of the game.
Jabari Bird scored 17 points for Cal and Kravish had 15. The Bears played without Richard Solomon because of an abrasion on his right eye. Solomon started Cal’s previous five games.
“With Solomon being out it was just a different team,” Boeheim said. “I thought watching Cal yesterday that their team this year is much better than last year’s team that we played (in the NCAA tournament).”
Baylor 67, Dayton 66
Cory Jefferson had a go-ahead putback with 16 seconds left and No. 18 Baylor rallied to beat Dayton 67-66 on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.
The Bears will play No. 8 Syracuse for the tournament championship Wednesday night.
After trailing nearly the entire game, Baylor (6-0) whittled away a 10-point deficit over the final 7 minutes. The Bears were down by one when Kenny Cherry missed a jumper off the front of the rim, but Jefferson was all alone for the rebound and his layup gave Baylor a 67-66 lead.
Vee Sanford missed a contested shot in close for Dayton with 2 seconds left, Devin Oliver’s tip-in attempt bounced off the rim and Baylor grabbed the rebound as the final buzzer sounded. Royce O’Neale and Cherry had 13 points each for the Bears, who trailed by 14 with less than 5 minutes left in the first half. They went on a nine-point run to cut the deficit to 33-28 at halftime.
Jordan Sibert led Dayton (5-1) with 20 points.
Gonzaga 113, Chaminade 81
Sam Dower Jr. and Gerard Coleman scored 19 points each as No. 11 Gonzaga 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.
The Bulldogs (5-1) took control of the game 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.
Lee Bailey led Chaminade (2-2) with 29 points. Tyree Harrison scored 10 points.
Gonzaga will play Arkansas on Wednesday.
By wire sources