Duke rolls over San Diego State 90-64 in Maui Invitational
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — R.J. Barrett scored 20 points, Cam Reddish added 16 and top-ranked Duke remained undefeated at the Maui Invitational with a 90-64 rout over San Diego State.
The Blue Devils (4-0) shot 52 percent, made 10 of 25 from 3-point range and improved to 16-0 in Maui while earning a spot in Tuesday's semifinals against No. 8 Auburn.
Duke has been the talk of college basketball since its highly-touted freshmen shot the season out of a canon with a blowout win over then-No. 2 Kentucky. The five-time Maui champion Blue Devils arrived in paradise the favorites and played like it against the Aztecs (2-1).
Despite front-court foul trouble in the first half — Zion Williamson played seven minutes — Duke took control with an 11-0 run and led 49-32 by halftime behind Barrett's 16 points.
The Blue Devils kept the runaway going with an early 8-0 run in the second half, building the lead to 71-46 on Williamson's breakaway windmill dunk. Williamson had 13 points in 18 minutes.
Devin Watson had 15 points to lead San Diego State (2-1).
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP)— Rui Hachimura scored 23 points, Zach Norvell Jr. added 15 and Gonzaga held off Illinois in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.
Gonzaga (4-0) withstood Illinois' 10-0 run to go up nine with 97 seconds left, but Trent Frazier scored on a four-point play to pull the Illini within 80-78.
Illinois forced Gonzaga into a difficult shot and got the ball back with 30 seconds left, but Frazier air-balled a long 3-pointer.
Gonzaga's Jeremy Jones hit two free throws to send the Zags into Tuesday's semifinals against Arizona.
Gonzaga, playing without do-everything forward Killian Tillie (ankle), had trouble with Illinois' defensive pressure in the first half, allowing the Illini to keep it close.
Frazier scored 29 points and Giorgi Bezhanishvili 17 for Illinois.
No. 6 NEVADA 90, CALIFORNIA BAPTIST 55
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Trey Porter had 14 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Brown scored 16 and Nevada beat California Baptist.
Nevada outrebounded the Lancers 47-31 and outscored them 40-24 in the paint.
Six players scored in double figures for the Wolf Pack (4-0). Caleb Martin had 14 points, Jazz Johnson added 11, Jordan Caroline 10 and Tre'Shawn Thurman 10.
Milan Acquaah, a Washington State transfer who started nine games for the Cougars last season, had 12 points for Cal Baptist. Jordan Heading also scored 12.
Cal Baptist (2-2) grabbed a 14-11 lead with 11:34 left in the first half, but Nevada answered with a 31-10 run to enter the break up 42-24.
No. 7 NORTH CAROLINA 101, SAINT FRANCIS (PA) 76
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Cameron Johnson scored 20 points, freshman Nassir Little added 19 and North Carolina beat Saint Francis of Pennsylvania in the on-campus round of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Luke Maye had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Kenny Williams had a career-high nine assists and freshman Coby White finished with 16 points for the Tar Heels (5-0), who shot 52 percent and never trailed.
North Carolina fought through some early turnover trouble and finally pulled away from the pesky Red Flash (1-3) before reaching triple figures for the third time in four games.
Jamaal King had 21 points, Andre Wolford scored 18 and Keith Braxton added 14 to lead the Red Flash, who shot 34 percent yet early in the second half were within striking distance of their first Top 25 victory since 1959.
No. 8 AUBURN 88, XAVIER 79, OT
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Bryce Brown scored 26 points, Jared Harper added 25 and Auburn outlasted Xavier to open the Maui Invitational.
The Tigers (4-0) shot poorly from the perimeter early and had a hard time shaking the new-look Musketeers (2-2), missing badly on a shot to win it in regulation.
Auburn took control in the overtime behind its defense, outscoring Xavier 11-2. The Tigers scored 31 points off Xavier's 22 turnovers overall to earn a spot in the semifinals against the Duke-San Diego State winner.
Ryan Welage had 17 points and Paul Scruggs 16 for the Musketeers.
Auburn had a five-point lead with a minute left in regulation, but Naj Marshall made a 3-pointer from the wing to pull the Musketeers within 77-75.
Xavier tied it at 77-all with 26 seconds left in regulation on Tyrique Jones' two free throws and Brown's last-second shot came up well short.
No. 12 KANSAS STATE 82, MISSOURI 67
ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Dean Wade scored 21 points, and Kansas State defeated Missouri in the championship game of the Paradise Jam tournament.
Barry Brown Jr. added 19 points and six assists, Xavier Sneed had 13 points and Kamau Stokes scored 10 for the Wildcats (5-0), who won their first in-season tournament title in four tries under head coach Bruce Weber.
Jordan Geist had 24 points, Xavier Pinson added 12 and Mark Smith 11 for the Tigers (3-2).
No. 14 FLORIDA STATE 93, CANISIUS 61
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Mfiondu Kabengele scored a career-high 18 points and Terance Mann added 12 as Florida State warmed up after a seven-day layoff to beat Canisius.
Kabengele, the nephew of former NBA All-Star center Dikembe Mutombo, came off the bench to shoot 6 of 12 from the floor and had six rebounds for the Seminoles. Florida State is 3-0 for a third straight season.
Malik Johnson scored 20 points for Canisius (1-1), which had 13 first-half turnovers and finished the night with 18.
ARIZONA STATE 72, No. 15 MISSISSIPPI STATE 67
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kimani Lawrence scored 22 points to lead Arizona State to a victory over Mississippi State in the heavyweight bracket of the MGM Main Event.
Arizona State, which climbed as high as No. 3 after opening last season 12-0, improved to 4-0, while handing the Bulldogs their first loss of the season (3-1).
The Sun Devils held off a second-half rally by Mississippi State, which tied the game at 65 when Nick Weatherspoon drained a long-range jumper just inside the 3-point line with one minute left in the game.
But Lawrence answered with a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left, and the Sun Devils held on for the win.
The Bulldogs were led by Aric Holman, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — Shelton Mitchell scored 22 points with four steals, Elijah Thomas had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Clemson beat Akron in the first game of the Cayman Islands Classic.
Marcquise Reed added 16 points for Clemson (4-0), which returns four starters from last season's Sweet 16 game. Sophomore Aamir Simms added 12 points to reach double figures for the fourth straight game after doing it just three times last season. Mitchell was 9 of 13 from the free-throw line compared to Akron's 15 attempts, and Thomas secured his 12th career double-double with 4:08 to play.
Mitchell had 10 points in the first half as Clemson led for 18 of the 20 minutes. He made two free throws with 40 seconds left for a 70-59 lead, and Akron's Daniel Utomi capped it with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Loren Cristian Jackson made five 3-pointers and scored 25 points for Akron (3-1).
No. 17 UCLA 80, PRESBYTERIAN 65
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jaylen Hands scored 19 points and Jalen Hill had a career-high 20 rebounds to lead UCLA to a win over Presbyterian College.
The Bruins (4-0) did what they were expected to do in dispatching the Blue Hose (3-3) and while they ran out to a big lead at halftime, they survived a scare in the second half.
Presbyterian College outscored UCLA 39-20 over the first 12:20 of the second half to cut UCLA's lead to 61-58. That was as close as Presbyterian would get as UCLA answered with a 12-2 run to put the game away.
Adam Flagler led Presbyterian College with a game-high 29 points.
