The No. 11 Gonzaga Bulldogs dropped their first game of the season on Monday, taking an 84-79 loss in the first round of the Maui Invitational at the hands of the Dayton Flyers.
Maui Invitational 2013: Dayton upsets No. 11 Gonzaga
The Dayton Flyers won the 2003 Maui Invitational with some upsets along the way and started their 2013 return to the tournament in similar fashion.
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Gonzaga earned an early lead in the game and finished the first half with a 37-28 advantage. A quick start for Dayton in the second half and an eventual 7-0 run gave the Flyers their first lead of the game with fewer than 12 minutes remaining and they never looked back.
The Bulldogs made a late rally on the back of junior guard Kevin Pangos, who finished with 27 points, but Kyle Dranginis missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game in the final seconds.
Leading the way for Dayton was Jordan Sibert, a transfer from Ohio State, who scored 16 points in the second half, finishing with 23 in the game.
It wasn’t a new experience for the school either, as the team has managed to defeat three top 12 teams in seven all-time games at the annual tournament, although they haven’t had an appearance since winning the 2003 Maui Invitational.
Here are the rest of the scores from Maui:
Minnesota 67, No. 8 Syracuse 75
The No. 8 Syracuse Orange held off a late surge from Minnesota to stay undefeated and advance to a semifinals game against California. Senior C.J. Fair calmly knocked down a pull-up jumper in the final minutes of the second half to extend Syracuse's lead to four points and keep the surging Golden Gophers at a distance. Fair finished with a team-best 16 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 18 Baylor 93, Chaminade 77
Former Florida Gulf Coast guard Christophe Varidel did all he could do in his debut with the Chaminade Silverswords, knocking in 10 3-pointers and finishing with 42 points, but it wasn't enough to out-pace the offense of the No. 18 Baylor Bears. Thanks to the early contributions of Varidel, Baylor led by only three at half, but when the senior guard slowed in the second half, no other Chaminade players managed to accumulate more than eight points.
Arkansas 77, California 85
Five players reached double-digit point totals on Monday for the California Golden Bears, as they defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks. David Kravish led the way with 19 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks for the team, while Ricky Kreklow tallied 17 points off the bench, to keep the Razorbacks out of reach throughout the game.
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