LAHAINA, Hawaii — No. 11 Gonzaga relieved the frustrations of its first loss with its highest scoring game of the year.
Sam Dower Jr. and Gerard Coleman scored 19 points each as the Bulldogs cruised to an easy 113-81 win over Division II Chaminade on Tuesday in the Maui Invitational.
Przemek Karnowski had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Kevin Pangos and Kyle Dranginis had 18 points each. Gary Bell Jr. had 16 and Drew Barham had 11.
Only one other player even attempted a shot for Gonzaga — David Stockton hit his only jumper.
“Today was about responding and we needed to respond — we were obviously very disappointed after last night and the way we played some aspects of the game,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “This was about kind of looking inside yourself and stepping up against a team that can kind of frustrate you.”
Gonzaga shot nearly 70 percent from the field — 74.2 percent in the first half. The Bulldogs made 13 of 23 3-pointers (56.5 percent).
“Seventy percent. I don’t know what our school record is, but that’s gotta be pretty close,” Few said. “It is not easy to shoot the basketball like we did today.”
The Bulldogs (5-1) took control midway through the first half with an 11-point run that included two layups by Coleman and another by Karnowski.
Coleman scored six more points during a 13-point run in the second half that gave Gonzaga a 31-point lead at 83-52 with less than 11 minutes left.
“You can’t get down — it’s a long season and our team just tried to respond,” Pangos said. “It’ll be the same thing tomorrow, we just have to really play as a team.”
Lee Bailey led Chaminade (2-2) with 29 points. Tyree Harrison scored 10 points, mostly on free throws.
Gonzaga was looking to bounce back from an upset loss on Monday night to unranked Dayton, a game the Bulldogs led by 16 points in the first half. The loss came the same day Gonzaga moved two spots up in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Gonzaga will play Arkansas on Wednesday in the Maui tournament’s fifth-place game. Chaminade will play Minnesota in the event’s seventh-place game.
“I guess there’s a reason why they are ranked No. 11 in the country,” Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird said. “They have got some skilled shooters, that’s for sure and it’s tough to play against a team like that.”
Christophe Varidel had eight points one day after falling one point shy of a tournament scoring record with 42 points. After tying a tournament record with 10 3-pointers on Monday, Varidel took only three 3-point shots on Tuesday, making one.
“We did some different things, face-guarded him in certain situations,” Pangos said.
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