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Rodney McGruder washed away the Beach.
McGruder was as unstoppable as the tide, scoring 28 points on 10-for-11 shooting to carry Kansas State to a 77-60 win over Long Beach State for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship on Sunday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Tournament MVP McGruder left to a standing ovation from about 200 purple-clad KSU fans, who lent a home atmosphere for the Big 12’s Wildcats among the overall gathering of about 1,500.
"You can’t ask for a better Christmas present on Christmas Day," the 6-foot-4 junior guard said. "It’s what you work for in the summer, to win championships … and it’s everyone’s dream to go out there in a tournament and become the MVP. I was lucky enough to come away with it."
K-State (10-1) was in the receiving-votes category in polls entering the week, but should merit serious Top 25 consideration after besting Long Beach State (7-6), the overachieving Big West Conference team with the toughest nonconference schedule in the country. McGruder said he felt his team should be ranked; its only loss came in double-overtime to West Virginia.
KSU coach Frank Martin said he’d let that take care of itself.
"I don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about those kind of things," Martin said. "As soon as you get full of yourself listening to other people tell you how great you are, you get fat and you lose sight of what’s allowed you to play this way."
K-State used depth (12 players) to plow through Southern Illinois in Thursday’s first round and another dose of it to hold off resilient UTEP in Friday’s semifinal. But it was the starters, led by McGruder, who did in the equally athletic 49ers.
McGruder was magnificent in setting the tournament record for field-goal percentage (.909) while scoring from all angles. Forward Jamar Samuels had 11 points and eight rebounds in joining McGruder on the all-tournament team. Shooting guard Will Spradling added 17 points.
The Beach has played some of the best teams college basketball has to offer — Louisville, Pitt, North Carolina and Kansas. The 49ers won at Pitt and played most of the others close until the final horn.
It was a different story against the Wildcats.
The 49ers were wounded by 10 first-half turnovers and stared at a 26-13 hole after 10 minutes and a 12-point hole at halftime. They never got the deficit in single digits in the second half.
Returning Big West Player of the Year Casper Ware leads the way for the 49ers going into Big West play, but he struggled Sunday with 17 points on 5-for-18 shooting.
After subjecting itself to the nation’s most difficult nonleague schedule for the third straight year, the 49ers will be unquestionably ready when conference play begins next month.
But coach Dan Monson has bigger things in mind.
"We didn’t do this schedule with intent to get us ready for conference," Monson said. "We did it for the NCAA Tournament. We just feel like we’re an NCAA Tournament team, and yet that’s yet to be determined. We just gotta now use our league to try to get that done."
LBSU guard Larry Anderson had 17 points and four assists in making the all-tournament team. The team’s other entries were Hawaii’s Zane Johnson and UTEP’s Michael Perez.
THIRD PLACE
UTEP 83, Auburn 76
The Miners knocked down nine of 13 long-range attempts and capitalized on the last of nine lead changes.
Forward John Bohannon had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead five players in double figures for UTEP (6-6) of Conference USA, going 2-1 against the three power-conference teams in the tournament.
"Pleased with that, pleased with the fact that we’re continuing to play a little better," Miners coach Tim Floyd said. "John Bohannon had the game of his career."
Auburn (8-3) of the SEC goes home 1-2 in the tournament after edging host Hawaii on the first night. Tigers forward Kenny Gabriel tied a career high with 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting, with eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.
SEVENTH PLACE
No. 14 Xavier 87, Southern Illinois 77
The Musketeers (9-3) of the Atlantic 10 ended a three-game losing streak — Xavier’s longest under third-year coach Chris Mack — to halt a tailspin resulting from their costly brawl with Cincinnati on Dec. 10.
Senior guard Tu Holloway went 14-for-15 at the line in scoring a team-high 21 points. The other half of Xavier’s talented backcourt, Mark Lyons, recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Guard Dantiel Daniels led Southern Illinois (3-8) of the Missouri Valley Conference with 22 points.
Xavier set the Diamond Head Classic scoring record (passing UH’s 84) when the Salukis kept fouling in the final minutes.
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