Top 25 roundup: Dayton hands No. 2 UConn 3rd straight loss

Enoch Cheeks scored eight of his 20 points during a critical stretch late in the second half on Wednesday as Dayton sent two-time defending national champion and second-ranked UConn to an 0-3 finish at the Maui Invitational with an 85-67 romp in the seventh-place game at Lahaina, Hawaii.

The Flyers (6-2) went on a 7-0 run, capped when Javon Bennett found Cheeks open in transition for a 3-pointer that extended Dayton’s lead to 69-57 with 4:27 to go. Cheeks’ jumper with three minutes to play made it 77-61 and put the game away.

The win was Dayton’s first at the tournament, after losses by two points to No. 12 North Carolina and five points to No. 5 Iowa State during their previous two games.

UConn (4-3) entered the event with a 17-game winning streak but came up short by two points in overtime against Memphis and by one point against Colorado. The three losses in Maui equal the total number of defeats the Huskies took in the 2023-24 season.

West Virginia 86, No. 3 Gonzaga 78 (OT)

Javon Small scored 31 points to rally the Mountaineers past the Bulldogs in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, in Nassau, Bahamas.

Amani Hansberry added a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds for West Virginia (4-1), which advances to the semifinals Thursday against another surprise first-round winner, Louisville, which stunned No. 14 Indiana.

Braden Huff scored 19 points and Khalif Battle added 16 points for Gonzaga (5-1), which settles for a consolation-round game Thursday against Indiana.

No. 4 Auburn 90, Memphis 76

Johni Broome posted 21 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots to lead Auburn over Memphis in a battle of Tigers to win the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Dylan Cardwell made each of his eight field-goal attempts and finished with a career-high 18 points for Auburn, which never trailed. Auburn (7-0) shot 56.7 per cent from the field as a team.

PJ Haggerty was 11 of 20 from the field and led Memphis (6-1) with 27 points and nine rebounds. Colby Rogers and Dain Dainja each finished with 15 for Memphis.

No. 5 Iowa State 99, Colorado 71

Milan Momcilovic scored 18 of his career-high 24 points in the first half and the Cyclones rolled to a victory over the Buffaloes in the fifth-place game of the Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawaii.

Curtis Jones scored 19 points and Keshon Gilbert had 15 with six assists as the Cyclones (5-1) rebounded to win consecutive games after a heartbreaking defeat to No. 4 Auburn in the first round. Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson and Dishon Jackson each scored 10 points.

Julian Hammond III scored 20 points and Andrej Jakimovski added 18 for the Buffaloes (5-2), who were coming off a victory over No. 2 UConn in the second round of the tournament Tuesday.

No. 6 Houston 65, Notre Dame 54

Houston led from start to finish against Notre Dame, as the Cougars rebounded from a Tuesday loss to No. 9 Alabama to get a win over the Fighting Irish at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

Emanuel Sharp’s 17 points led the Cougars (4-2), who got 13 points from Terrance Arceneaux plus 10 points and nine assists from Milos Uzan.

Tae Davis finished with 22 points and eight rebounds for the Fighting Irish (4-3). Braeden Shrewsberry added 16 points.

No. 7 Tennessee 78, UT-Martin 35

The Volunteers outscored the Skyhawks by 28 points in the second half to rout visiting UT-Martin in Knoxville, Tenn.

Chaz Lanier scored a game-high 18 points for the Volunteers (7-0), who expanded on a 35-20 halftime lead with a 43-15 second half. Felix Okpara had 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, helping Tennessee command the paint along with Igor Milicic Jr., who added nine points and 13 rebounds. Zakai Zeigler nearly had a double-double with 11 points and nine assists.

UT Martin (2-5) was cold coming out of the locker room after halftime, missing its first eight shots. For the game, guard Josu Grullon led UT Martin with 15 points. The leading scorer in the Ohio Valley Conference entering Friday at 18.2 points per game, Grullon has not started any game for head coach Jeremy Shulman.

No. 9 Alabama 95, Rutgers 90

Mark Sears scored 24 points and the Crimson Tide hung on to top the Scarlet Knights at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

Alabama (6-1) survived a career-high 37 points from Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper and advanced to face Oregon in the championship game on Saturday. Rutgers (5-2) will play a to-be-determined opponent on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide’s Grant Nelson added 17 points and nine rebounds along with a key defensive stop on Harper down the stretch as Alabama saw its lead whittled to one multiple times but held on.

No. 10 Marquette 94, Stonehill 59

David Joplin scored 27 points and Kam Jones and Damarius Owens added 14 apiece as the Golden Eagles rolled past the Skyhawks in Milwaukee.

Marquette (7-0) gained control with a 17-7 run to end the first half for a 51-31 lead at the break, a season high for first-half points.

Amir Nesbitt had 14 points and Hermann Koffi added 13 for Stonehill (4-5), which was without leading scorer Josh Morgan (15.4 points per game). Morgan had been playing through a foot injury but was held out against Marquette, the team announced.

Michigan State 94, No. 12 North Carolina 91 (OT)

Xavier Booker scored four of his 12 points in a critical stretch of overtime and the Spartans outlasted the Tar Heels in the third-place game at the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Tre Holloman’s 19 points led Michigan State (6-2). He also dished seven assists. Fears added six assists to go with his 13 points, and Jaden Akins scored 14 points before fouling out. Booker was part of a three-man contingent off the bench to step up, joining Coen Carr (14 points) and Frankie Fidler (13).

Drake Powell came off the bench to lead North Carolina (4-3) with 18 points. He shot 4 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc, leading the Tar Heels to an 11-of-23 performance shooting from deep.

Louisville 89, No. 14 Indiana 61

Chucky Hepburn posted his first career double-double to lead the Cardinals past the Hoosiers in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis at Nassau, Bahamas.

The senior guard, who transferred from Wisconsin, scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and added career highs of 10 assists and seven steals. He was one of four to score in double figures for the Cardinals (4-1).

Malik Reneau led the Hoosiers (4-1) with 21 points. However, Indiana’s two leading scorers struggled. Mackenzie Mgbako had just eight points on 2-of-7 shooting, and Myles Rice made only 1 of 11 from the field to finish with three.

No. 16 Cincinnati 77, Alabama State 59

Led by four double-figure scorers, the Bearcats posted a pair of 10-point runs in the first half in a win over the visiting Hornets.

Simas Lukosius had 16 points on four 3-pointers and dished out four assists for the Bearcats (6-0), who led by as many as 27 but shot below 50 per cent (44.9) for the first time all season. Jizzle James (13 points, eight rebounds, five assists), Dillon Mitchell (10 points, eight rebounds) and Aziz Bandaogo (10 points, nine rebounds) rounded out Cincinnati’s high-scoring group.

Amarr Knox led Alabama State (3-4) with a game-high 24 points and added five rebounds. He was held to only seven second-half points as the Hornets shot 6-for-28 from the field after the intermission.

No. 17 Baylor 91, New Orleans 60

Jayden Nunn scored 23 points and the Bears delivered a 3-point shooting spectacle while never trailing against the Privateers in a nonconference game in Waco, Texas.

Nunn made seven 3-pointers and the Bears (5-2) made 15 of their 37 tries from 3-point range. Robert Wright scored 18 and Norchad Omier added 12 points and 13 rebounds as Baylor took advantage of the outmanned Privateers (2-5) to bounce back from a 77-62 loss to Tennessee on Friday.

Dae Dae Hunter scored 18 points to lead the Privateers, who committed 16 turnovers to the Bears’ six, leading to a 16-point disparity in points off turnovers.

No. 20 Texas A&M 77, No. 21 Creighton 73

Wade Taylor IV hit for 18 points and Henry Coleman III had a key dunk and a free throw in the final seconds as the Aggies came from behind to beat the Bluejays in pool play at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

Texas A&M (5-2) trailed by four points at halftime but took the lead little more than two minutes into the second half, then played a back-and-forth contest the rest of the way, with Solomon Washington’s second-chance layup and free throw with 35 seconds left giving the Aggies the lead for good.

The Bluejays (4-3) drew within a point with 22 seconds to play, but Texas A&M stoked its advantage to three on a ringing dunk by Coleman with 16 seconds to play and put it away with his free throw with nine seconds left.

Michigan 78, No. 22 Xavier 53

Danny Wolf scored a season-high 20 points as the Wolverines had big scoring runs in both halves to top the Musketeers in the championship game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida.

Vladislav Goldin scored 18 points and Tre Donaldson added 13 points to boost Michigan (6-1), which geared up for the start of Big Ten Conference play next week.

Ryan Conwell had 19 points and Zach Freemantle chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds to pace Xavier (6-1). The Musketeers shot 34.5 per cent and committed 19 turnovers.

No. 24 Arizona 104, Davidson 71

Anthony Dell’Orso had 21 points as Arizona topped Davidson in a matchup of Wildcats in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Caleb Love finished with 20 points as Arizona (3-2) snapped the first two-game losing skid in Tommy Lloyd’s first four years as head coach. Arizona will play Oklahoma, which beat Providence 79-77, in a semifinal game on Thursday.

Davidson (4-1) was led by Connor Kochera’s 20 points. Bobby Durkin added 15 in the loss.

-Field Level Media