Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Wildcats put end to Bluejays’ run
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Oumar Ballo dominated inside with 30 points and 13 rebounds for No. 14 Arizona, which held off No. 10 Creighton 81-79 on Wednesday to win the Maui Invitational for the third time.
The combination of the unstoppable 7- foot, 260- pound Ballo and his speedy, talented supporting cast was just enough for the Wildcats (6-0) to remain undefeated. Kerr Kriisa added 13 points and nine assists, Azuolas Tubelis had 12 points and Courtney Ramey scored 10. Arizona scored its final points with 2:21 to play but managed to hold on.
Ryan Nembhard scored 20 points for Creighton (6-1), which was trying to beat a ranked opponent for the third consecutive day. Ryan Kalkbrenner added 16 points, Trey Alexander scored 15 and Baylor Scheierman had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Arizona appeared to be pulling away late, but the Bluejays kept hanging around.
Scheierman made a layup with 2:41 left to pull Creighton within 79-72 but Kriisa made a beautiful pass to Ballo for a dunk and an 81-72 lead with 2:21 left. He was fouled but missed the free throw.
Nembhard made a layup and Scheierman a three-pointer to get Creighton within 81-77. Kalkbrenner made one of two free throws to cut the deficit to three. Ramey missed a three-point attempt with 18 seconds left.
Creighton called timeout with 7.4 seconds left to set up a final play. Kalkbrenner didn’t have an open 3 and passed to Nembhard, who was fouled by Ramey with 2 seconds left. He made the first shot and intentionally missed the second, with Arizona rebounding.
Ballo was strong from the start, tallying 16 points and nine rebounds in the first half to help the Wildcats to a 39-30 lead.
NO. 3 KANSAS 80, N.C. STATE 74
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — First-year guard Gradey Dick scored a season-high 25 points to help No. 3 Kansas beat North Carolina State in the Battle 4 Atlantis opener, giving Coach Bill Self a successful return to the bench after a four-game suspension.
Dick had 18 on six three-pointers in the first half before going 1 for 8 from the floor after halftime. Jalen Wilson added 19 points and 11 rebounds for the reigning national champion Jayhawks (5-0), who blew an eight-point halftime lead and a nine- point second-half lead before grinding it out in the final minutes.
Casey Morsell scored 21 points to lead the Wolfpack (4-1), while Terquavion Smith added 19 points.
NO. 7 BAYLOR 89, MCNEESE STATE 60
WACO, Texas — True freshman Keyonte George scored 17 points, Adam Flagler added 13 with nine assists and Baylor pulled away from McNeese State.
LJ Cryer had 16 points for the Bears (4-1) to follow up three consecutive 20-point games that garnered him Big 12 player of the week honors. Three days after a career-high 28 points in a win over then-No. 8 UCLA, Cryer had two three-pointers and a jumper to push the Bears to a quick 10-2 lead.
Jonathan Massie and Zach Scott each had 12 points for McNeese State (24). All of Scott’s scoring came on four three-pointers.
NO. 15 KENTUCKY 96, NORTH FLORIDA 56
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Jacob Toppin scored a career- high 20 points and had 10 rebounds to help Kentucky rout North Florida.
The Wildcats (4-2) easily recovered from an 88-72 loss at No. 6 Gonzaga Sunday and won their 23rd consecutive home game against an unranked opponent.
Jarius Hicklen led the Ospreys (1-4) with 17 points.
OHIO STATE 80, NO. 21 TEXAS TECH 73
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Justice Sueing scored 23 of his career-high 33 points in the second half to help Ohio State hold off No. 21 Texas Tech for a win in the fifth- place game in the Maui Invitational.
Sueing scored 15 points in a row for the Buckeyes in the last 10 minutes to turn back the Red Raiders each time they threatened to make a run.
Ohio State (5-1) shot 52% from the floor, made all 18 of its free throws and never trailed after the first two minutes.
Texas Tech (4-2) got a career-high 21 points from Daniel Batcho and 19 from Kevin Obanor.