No. 18 Baylor beats Chaminade 93-77 in Maui

By foxsports
Published

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) - Baylor wasn't about to become the latest upset at Maui despite the best efforts from Christope Varidel.

Gary Franklin scored 22 points and the No. 18 Bears easily beat Division II Chaminade 93-77 on Monday night at the Maui Invitational, dominating in the second half after allowing the Silverswords 11 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

The Bears overcame a 42-point effort from Chaminade's Christophe Varidel, who fell one point shy of the tournament record set by Gonzaga's Adam Morrison in a triple-overtime game in 2005. Varidel's 10 3-pointers tied another tournament record.

"The first half, I kept thinking about the words `Maui Magic' because Christophe was definitely on fire," Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

Four players besides Franklin scored in double-figures for the Bears (5-0), who outscored the Silverswords by 13 points in the second half after going into halftime with a 3-point lead, 50-47.

"We saw on film that they shoot the ball very well. We wanted to get out and contest every shot," Franklin said. "We didn't expect it at all, but we made the adjustments we needed to win."

Cory Jefferson had 15 points and nine rebounds, including an alley-oop dunk and layup early in the second half that game Baylor its first double-digit lead over Chaminade (2-1). Brady Heslip had 14 points and Royce O'Neale added 12.

Besides Varidel, nobody scored more than eight points for Chaminade and nobody had more than seven rebounds.

The 16-point win was Baylor's most lopsided win so far this year.

Before transferring to Chaminade, Varidel was a bench player for three years for Florida Gulf Coast, including last year's team that earned the nickname "Dunk Coast" for becoming the first 15-seed to get to the Sweet 16. According to Chaminade, Varidel transferred "because he wanted to experience life in Hawaii." Varidel became a popular topic on Twitter as he piled up 3-pointers in the first half.

"I wanted him to have a shot. I just looked at him and asked him if he wanted to go back in and he said yeah," Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird said. "He could have said his knees were aching."

Baylor trailed for two stretches in a tournament built on big upsets. The Bears move on Tuesday to take on the winner of No. 11 Gonzaga and Dayton, who were playing Monday night.