North Carolina edges Stanford in relocated Maui Invitational
Leaky Black had a big driving basket at the 1:02 mark followed by a clinching free throw with 5.5 seconds left to help No. 14 North Carolina hold off Stanford 67- 63 in Tuesday’s semifinals at the relocated Maui Invitational.
Daejon Davis scored 18 points to lead Stanford (11), which shot 39% for the game and made just 5 of 20 3-point tries. Touted freshman Ziaire Williams finished with 10 points.
Freshman Caleb Love scored 16 points to lead the Tar Heels (3-0), who did just enough down the stretch to stay unbeaten. UNC shot 50% after halftime and won despite committing 24 turnovers, which led to 22 points for Stanford.
The tournament is being played in Asheville, North Carolina, instead of Hawaii because of the pandemic.
Stanford will face Indiana in today’s third-place game (10:30 a.m.), while the Tar Heels will take on No. 17 Texas in the championship game.
Black finished with 10 points and seven rebounds as one of five players in double figures. He came through with his biggest play when he drove into the paint and scooped in a layup to increase UNC’s lead to 66- 63.
Then, after Spencer Jones missed a straightaway 3 for the tie with about 10 seconds left, Black grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He missed the first free throw but hit the second to make it a two-possession lead and all but ensure UNC would advance to the Maui title game.
The game featured a matchup for UNC coach Roy Williams against one of his former players and assistants in Stanford’s Jerod Haase, who beat his mentor while head coach at UAB but had lost the other four meetings.
NO. 8 MICHIGAN STATE 75, NO. 6 DUKE 69 >> Rocket Watts scored 20 points, and Julius Marble had a career-high 12 to help the Spartans (30) win at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time in four tries in the Champions
Classic.
The Blue Devils ( 1-1) started strong and led 13-3 before struggling to make shots or get stops. Duke shot just 32% from the field and allowed five Spartans to score in double figures.
Joey Hauser had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Michigan State.
Matthew Hurt had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Duke, but freshman Jalen Johnson was limited to 11 points on 4- of-11 shooting after scoring 24 in his college debut.
NO. 12 VILLANOVA 87, HARTFORD 53 >>
Justin Moore led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points, and the Wildcats bounced back from their first loss. Eric Dixon had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (3-1), who had six players score in double figures in the game played in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Traci Carter had 13 points and Austin Williams added 11 points for Hartford (0-2).
NO. 15 VIRGINIA 76, ST. FRANCIS 51 >>
Jay Huff scored 13 points, and the Cavaliers (2-1) rebounded from their loss to USF last week. Kadin Shedrick had 12 points and eight rebounds for Virginia, which won its 24th consecutive home opener.
NO. 17 TEXAS 66, INDIANA 44 >>
Matt Coleman III scored 16 points, and the Longhorns rode a smothering defensive effort in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.
Courtney Ramey added 13 points for the Longhorns (3- 0), and Andrew Jones scored 12. Texas limited Indiana to just 23.9 percent shooting and scored 17 points off 14 Indiana turnovers.
Trayce Jackson-Davis led Indiana (2-1) with 17 points. USC 79, BYU 53 >> Drew Peterson scored 19 points, brothers Evan Mobley and Isaiah Mobley each had a doubledouble for the Trojans (3- 0) in the first game of the Roman Legends Classic in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Matt Haarms and Gideon George each scored 11 points for BYU (3-1). BYU made just one of its final 19 shots of the half and finished 9 of 37 (24.3%), including 2 of 16 from 3-point range.
UC RIVERSIDE 57, WASHINGTON 42 >> Jock Perry scored 21 points, Arinze Chidom had eight points and 12 rebounds, and the Highlanders(1-1) took down the Huskies (0-2) in Las Vegas.
COVID CONCERNS:
• No. 19 Richmond’s men’s basketball is pausing all activities and its game at College of Charleston tonight has been called off due to COVID-19 concerns within the Spiders program. Richmond was coming off an upset of then-10thranked Kentucky this past Sunday and entered the national rankings Monday.
• Colorado has ordered its men’s basketball program to pause activities for COVID-19 reasons and the Pac-12 has postponed the Buffaloes’ conference opener at Arizona that was set for today.
The Pac-12 said it would work with both schools to find a mutually agreeable makeup date.
Athletic director Rick George said the status of other upcoming games is dependent on contact tracing and subsequent testing of players and basketball staff this week.