Washington State hands Saint Mary’s its first loss
Gaels can’t recover from 16-point deficit in second half; Stanford falls
Malachi Flynn scored 26 points and the Washington State Cougars held off No. 21 Saint Mary’s 84-79 to reach the title game of the Wooden Legacy on Friday at Cal State Fullerton.
The Cougars put the Gaels (51) in a 16-point hole in the second half, and they stayed cool when Saint Mary’s got within three on a 3-pointer by Jordan Ford with 47 seconds left.
Robert Franks and Jeff Pollard made layups to preserve the win for the Cougars (5-0), who shot 62 percent in the second half.
Saint Mary’s opened the second half on a 10-4 spurt before Flynn’s basket tied it at 50-all. He followed with a 3-pointer that gave the Cougars the lead for good. He came up one point short of tying his career high.
The Gaels got to 65-61 on a basket by Jock Landale before the Cougars went on a 13-1 run. Kwinton Hinson had five points and Flynn added eight to extend Washington State’s lead to 7862.
Saint Mary’s rallied on backto-back 3-pointers by Calvin Hermanson that cut its deficit to 10. Evan Fitzner’s layup got the Gaels within six, leaving them to foul in the final minute.
Emmett Naar scored 17 points for Saint Mary’s, which will play in the third-place game on Sunday. Fellow Aussie Landale added 14 points and nine rebounds while playing with three fouls. Ford finished with a career-high 15 points and Hermanson had 14.
“It’s simple, we didn’t guard anywhere close to well enough to beat a team like Washington State,” Gaels coach Randy Bennett said. “That’s been our Achilles’ heel thus far.”
Saint Mary shot 52 percent but its 64-game winning streak when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor ended. OHIO STATE 79, STANFORD 71 >> Daejon Davis had 15 points, and Reid Travis had 14 points before both fouled out for the Cardinal (3-4), which led by as many as 10 points in the first half but trailed by as many as 10 in the second in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland. The Buckeyes (5-1) will play Sunday against Butler.
DUKE 85, TEXAS 78 >> Freshman Marvin Bagley III had a career-high 34 points and added 15 rebounds, and the No. 1 Blue Devils (7-0) rallied to defeat the Longhorns (4-1) in overtime to reach the championship of the PK80 Invitational in Portland. Gary Trent Jr. added 17 points for Duke, which trailed by 16 points in the second half and was forced to play five freshmen once senior Grayson Allen fouled out.
PURDUE 89, ARIZONA 64 >> Dakota Mathias scored 24 points to help the No. 18 Boilermakers (5-2) roll past the second-ranked Wildcats, sending Arizona (3-3) home with three losses in three days at the Battle for Atlantis in the Bahamas. ARIZONA STATE 102, XAVIER 86 >> Tra Holder scored a career-high 40 points to lead the Sun Devils (6-0) to the upset of the No. 15 Musketeers in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational. WASHINGTON 89, SEATTLE 84 >> Jaylen Nowell scored 25 points and converted crucial free throws down the stretch as the Huskies held on. LONG BEACH STATE 74, OREGON STATE 69 >> Deishaun Booker had 14 points, 12 assists and five rebounds to lead the 49ers over the Beavers at the Advocare Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The two teams played last Saturday with Oregon State winning 89-81 at home.
Women
CAL 87, MANHATTAN 66 >> Asha Thomas had nine of the Bears’ 17 3-pointers, both school records, and No. 21 Cal rolled over the Jaspers (1-3) in the Cal Classic at Haas Pavilion. Thomas had five triples in the first quarter when Cal (3-1) opened a 26-17 lead and finished with a career-high 29 points. Kianna Smith had four 3s and 17 points to go with 12 assists, all career bests. SAINT MARY’S 89, UC SANTA BARBARA 59 >> Stella Beck joined the 1,000 career points club and scored 18 points as the host Gaels (3-1) kicked off the Hilton Concord Classic with the big win. PACIFIC 106, SAN JOSE STATE 97 >> Mikaylah Wilson led Spartans (1-3) with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Analyss Benally had a career-high 15 points in the loss at the Turkey Tip-Off in Stockton.