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No. 13 Notre Dame rallies to stun No. 6 Wichita State for Maui title

BRIAN MCINNIS / BMCINNIS@STARADVERTISER.COM

No. 13 Notre Dame celebrates at Lahaina Civic Center today after rallying from a 16-point deficit to defeat No. 6 Wichita State, 67-66.

LAHAINA >> In a matchup of top-25 programs vying for their first Maui Jim Maui Invitational title, No. 13 Notre Dame rallied from a 16-point deficit to stun No. 6 Wichita State, 67-66, today at Lahaina Civic Center.

Forward Bonzie Colson led the comeback for Notre Dame (6-0) with 25 points and 11 rebounds while tournament MVP Matt Farrell added 15. Center Martinas Geben scored 12, including the game-winning free throws with 2.3 seconds left.

Notre Dame of the Atlantic Coast Conference outscored WSU (4-1) 44-29 in the second half to improve to 1-1 in Maui title games.

Wichita State of the American Athletic Conference rallied back from an 18-point deficit in the Shockers’ first-round win over California. They saw their 16-point lead evaporate after a five-minute scoreless stretch late.

The Shockers led 37-23 at halftime, but the Irish crept back in, getting within 46-39 on a jumper by Rex Pflueger with 14:40 left.

Farrell nailed a pull-up 3 to get Notre Dame back within seven. Farrell’s layup, plus the foul, made it 55-50. But Shockers forward Shaquille Morris came back with a two-handed power jam.

Zach Brown’s second corner 3-pointer in a two-minute span extended the margin back to eight with 7:30 remaining.

UND’s T.J. Gibbs banked in a 3 to keep his team around, and Colson followed with a wing trey to make it a three-point game with six minutes left. Pflueger’s free throws made it 62-61.

Landry Shamet scored on a runner with 1:22 left to end the scoring drought and the Irish’s 8-0 run. Colson scored on a take to bring his team to within 64-63 with a minute to go.

Shamet pulled up for an elbow jumper with 40 seconds left. Colson got the ball at the top of the arc, pump faked around a defender but airballed a tying 3 attempt.

But Farrell stole WSU’s inbounds attempt and fed it to Colson for a bucket (66-65) with under 15 seconds left. UND took a foul on Austin Reaves, who missed the front end of the 1-and-1.

Brown (team-high 14 points) blocked Farrell’s layup attempt against the glass and a jump ball stayed within the Irish with 3.3 seconds left.

Geben sprung free rolling to the rim and Morris had to take a foul on him to prevent the point-blank shot. Geben’s first free throw trickled in, and the second was good all the way for a one-point lead with 2.3 to go.

Earlier, Marquette topped LSU 94-84 for third place, Michigan outlasted VCU 68-60 for fifth and host Chaminade routed Cal 96-72 for seventh. It was the Silverswords’ eighth all-time victory in their signature event.

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