Top-25 basketball: Syracuse tops California in Maui

Lahaina, Hawaii • Syracuse is used to winning at the Maui Invitational. One more victory for the Orange and it will be three titles in three trips.

Tyler Ennis scored 28 points and led two key second-half runs that carried No. 8 Syracuse past California 92-81 on Tuesday night in the tournament semifinals.

The Orange will play No. 18 Baylor for the championship Wednesday. Syracuse won the Maui Invitational in 1990 and 1998.

"These two games out here have been great games, great for our team," said coach Jim Boeheim, whose team beat Minnesota 75-67 on Monday.

Syracuse scored 51 points in the second half against Cal, shooting 55 percent and making five of seven 3-point attempts. Ennis had 17 points and Trevor Cooney scored 20 of his 23 after the break.

"Our guards were unbelievable today and I didn't even know that until I looked at the stat sheet," Boeheim said. "I knew they were pretty good, but they were better."

Jerami Grant finished with 19 points while C.J. Fair had 14 points and seven rebounds.

Cooney said it's different to shoot in a small gym.

"We play in a dome, it's open, different backdrop and this is totally different for us," Cooney said. "The gym is warm, the legs get going and you can get into a rhythm here and that's what we have been doing."

Ennis hit a layup during a nine-point run started by Grant's putback dunk. The spurt lasted more than 2 minutes and gave Syracuse (6-0) its first double-digit lead with less than 8 minutes left.

"We probably lost our focus momentarily, and just kind of turned and got careless with the ball," California coach Mike Montgomery said.

Justin Cobbs scored 18 points for the Golden Bears (5-1), who will play the Dayton-Baylor loser in the third-place game.

No. 18 Baylor 67, Dayton 66 • In Lahaina, Hawaii, Cory Jefferson had a go-ahead putback with 16 seconds left and No. 18 Baylor rallied to beat Dayton night in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

After trailing nearly the entire game, Baylor (6-0) whittled away a 10-point deficit over the final 7 minutes. The Bears were down by one when Kenny Chery missed a jumper off the front of the rim, but Jefferson was all alone for the rebound and his layup gave Baylor a 67-66 lead.

No. 10 Wisconsin 63, Saint Louis 57 • In Cancun, Mexico, Traevon Jackson scored 16 points, Frank Kaminsky added 12, and Wisconsin blunted a Saint Louis surge to win and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesday's finals of the Cancun Challenge.

No. 11 Gonzaga 113, Chaminade 81 • In Lahaina, Hawaii, Sam Dower Jr. and Gerard Coleman scored 19 points each as Gonzaga cruised past Division II Chaminade in the Maui Invitational.

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. —

Tuesday's scores

• No. 8 Syracuse 92,California 81

• No. 10 Wisconsin 63, Saint Louis 57

• No. 11 Gonzaga 113, Chaminade 81

• No. 12 Wichita State 75, BYU 62

• No. 13 Connecticut 76, Loyola 66

• No. 18 Baylor 67,Dayton 66