The championship game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic between Stanford and Vanderbilt was canceled Saturday because of COVID-19 issues in the Cardinal camp.
In a tweet, the tournament said Stanford has health and safety protocols within its program and the game “will be declared a no contest.”
Vanderbilt was awarded the tournament trophy after advancing to the title game with wins over Hawaii (68-54) on Wednesday and BYU (69-67) on Thursday.
Stanford, which edged Liberty 79-76 in a semifinal game on Wednesday night, said on its website that team-related activities are on pause and “the status of future games” will be determined. Its next scheduled game is Jan. 2 against Cal, then Jan. 6 against UCLA, which also has paused team activities because of COVID-19.
The cancellation left the tournament with just half of its originally scheduled final day slate of games at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii pulled out of the tournament on Friday because of injuries and COVID-19 issues. The host Rainbow Warriors’ seventh-place game against Northern Iowa scheduled for Saturday morning was canceled. UH coach Eran Ganot said in a release that the program hadn’t had a case in 21 months and that the “priority remains to protect our student-athletes as well as those we compete against.”
On Thursday, the Hawaii Bowl was canceled because of COVID-19 issues for the Hawaii football team.
Third place
BYU 80, Liberty 75
Fousseyni Traore scored 19 points as the Cougars º(11-3) narrowly beat the Flames (8-6) to claim third place in the final game of the tournament.
Trevin Knell added 15 points and Te’Jon Lucas had 11 for BYU. Traore grabbed 13 rebounds and averaged a double-double in the tournament with 13.0 points and 12.3 rebounds.
Darius McGhee scored 29 points for Liberty to break the DHC scoring record and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. McGhee finished with 92 points, an average of 30.7 points per game, to pass the previous record of 86 set by Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield in 2015. McGhee also set the tournament record for 3-point field goals with 14. He went 4-for-11 from behind the arc on Saturday.
Fifth place
Wyoming 77, South Florida 57
Hunter Maldonado had 22 points and 10 assists, and Graham Ike added 20 points as the Cowboys (11-2) routed the Bulls (5-7) in the fifth-place game.
Xavier DuSell had 11 points and Jeremiah Oden added 10 for Wyoming.
Jamir Chaplin, Javon Greene and Caleb Murphy each scored 14 points for South Florida.
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Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic All-Tournament team
Spencer Jones, Stanford
Hunter Maldonado, Wyoming
Scottie Pippen Jr., Vanderbilt
Fousseyni Traore, BYU
Most Outstanding Player: Darius McGhee, Liberty
