Division II Chaminade Upsets Cal In Maui
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) -- Dantley Walker scored 23 points and Division II Chaminade added California to its list of upsets at the Maui Invitational, dominating the Bears 96-72 in the seventh-place game on Wednesday.
The Silverswords (3-2) are most famous for their win over Ralph Sampson and top-ranked Virginia in 1982 and have pulled off the occasional upset in Maui.
Chaminade is 8-92 all-time since the first Maui Invitational in 1984, but most of the victories have been big ones for the tiny Catholic school from Honolulu: Texas (2012), Oklahoma (2010), Villanova (2003), Stanford (1992).
And now Cal.
Blown out in their first two Maui games, the Silverswords jumped on the listless Bears early and built a 10-point halftime lead. Cal made a push to start the second half, but Chaminade pushed back to stretch the lead to 20 and beyond.
The Silverswords shot 56 percent, made 14 of 25 from 3-point range and outscored Cal by 17 off the bench. They celebrated by racing out to hug each other as the theme song from "Hawaii 5-0" played, then mugged it up for the live TV cameras on the Maui Invitational logo at midcourt.
Faced with what their coach called a must-win game, the Bears (2-4) came out flat and never recovered to leave Maui with three ugly losses.
Cal was slow on defense and off the mark on offense, hitting 5 of 18 from 3-point range. Justice Sueing led the Bears with 18 points.
Cal opened the Maui Invitational by crumbling against No. 6 Wichita State's full-court press, blowing an 18-point, second-half lead in a 92-82 loss. The Bears were never in their second game, falling behind early in a 14-point loss to VCU.
The Bears didn't play with much urgency against the scrappy Silverswords, quickly falling behind 6-0 and by 40-30 at halftime.
Chaminade has knocked off bigger opponents in the past by knocking down shots and the Silverswords were doing that in the first half, hitting 7 of 13 from the 3-point arc. Walker did most of the damage hitting 4 of 6 from 3-point range while scoring 14 points.
Cal seemed to have righted itself in the second half, working the ball inside to use its size advantage to pull within three in the opening 3 minutes. The Silverswords pushed back, going on a 13-0 run, stretching the lead to 55-39 with a string of 3-pointers to race away from the Bears.
THE TAKEAWAY
Cal has a lot of work to do in its first season under Wyking Jones after three ugly losses in Maui, the worst one by 24 points to a Division II team.
Chaminade again proved itself to be a giant killer with a dominating performance.
UP NEXT
Cal hosts Cal State Northridge on Tuesday.
Chaminade hosts Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday.
