Box Score LAHAINA, Maui – For 20 minutes, the basketball world was seeing shades of last November when Chaminade shocked Texas in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
But there would be no upset of a Big 12 opponent for a second straight year, as Baylor used a suffocating defense in the second half to thwart the Silverswords, 93-77
The Silverswords suffered their first loss of the season, falling to 2-1, as the Bears remained unbeaten at 5-0. Chaminade will face No. 11 Gonzaga in the consolation round Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., after the Bulldogs were upset by unranked Dayton Monday evening. ESPN2 will have national television coverage while ESPN 550 (Maui) and ESPN Radio Hawai'i (Big Island) will have radio and streaming audio coverage.
Christophe Varidel blistered Baylor for 42 points, one point shy of the tournament record held by Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, set in 2005. It's also the most by a Sword since Zach Whiting had 39 in December 2006. The senior from Geneva, Switzerland, also buried 10 3-pointers, tying the tournament record.
"I wanted the W tonight, that's for sure," Varidel said. "But I'm really thankful to play for Coach (Eric) Bovaird because I know he has huge confidence in me, and that's something I don't think I had in my previous years of college basketball."
The Swords grabbed a 19-13 lead nearly five minutes into the first half as the Swords found their mark early, hitting their first five 3-point attempts of the game, with Varidel knocking down three of them. However, Baylor answered by hitting their first four 3-balls as well with Gary Franklin hitting all three of his attempts.
Varidel continued his hot hand, despite the Bears extending their defense, trying to take away his perimeter jumper. The senior instead took it straight to the rim, accounting 31 first-half points, surpassing his season-high of 30 against Western Oregon in the Nov. 8 season opener.
He hit 10-of-17 attempts and 7-of-10 from 3-point range. So impressive was Varidel's first half, he became a trending topic on Twitter.
The Bears would utilize their size in the post in the second half, slowly building to a 21-point lead with 8:50 remaining in the game. Meanwhile, Baylor's defense clamped down on Varidel, who was only 4-for-12 in the second half.
"I thought we played really well for about 33-35 minutes of the game," Bovaird said. "There was a stretch in the second half there where we couldn't buy a basket and that put us in a hole.
"(I'm) proud of the guys. They played tough. There's definitely 7-1, 6-10 guys that are probably NBA players that were really tough to guard."
Franklin led Baylor with 22 points, hitting 6-of-10 beyond 3-point territory.
Chaminade was 11-for-19 from 3-point range in the first half, but the Bears extended their defense, holding the Swords to only three made 3-pointers in the second half. Baylor held Chaminade to 29.4 percent (10-of-34) shooting in the second half, after the Silverswords were 16-of-35 (45.7) in the first. The Bears also dominated the boards, outrebounding CUH, 47-32, and had 33 bench points to the Swords' 10.
