No. 6 Wichita State and No. 12 Cincinnati each opened their respective holiday tournaments with wins, while ECU rallied for a home victory on Monday night.
No. 6/6 Wichita State 92, California 82
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) -- Wichita State's players looked stunned against California's defensive pressure, throwing errant passes easily picked off, casting up rushed shots as their deficit climbed.
The Final Four? The Shockers didn't look like they could get out of the first round in Maui.
With one necessary, tactical switch, Wichita State looked more like one of the nation's best teams over the final 15 minutes, leaving the Bears wondering what happened.
Forced into a full-court press to lengthen the game, No. 6 Wichita State hit the Bears with a barrage of traps and layups to turn an 18-point deficit in a wild, 92-82 victory on Monday at the Maui Invitational.
"We kind of looked like the Bad News Bears for the most part," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. "But things that made this program pretty good over the years has been our grit and determination, and we certainly showed that in the second half."
Cal (2-2) used its pressure to harass the Shockers into mistakes and missed shots, building the lead 18 within 4 1/2 minutes of the second half.
The Shockers (3-0) turned the game around by turning on their own pressure cooker, revving up the crowd by speeding up the young Bears with their full-court press. Cal handled it poorly, leading to a string of turnovers and transition baskets that allowed Wichita State to pull even with 5 minutes left.
Wichita State snatched the lead with a late 8-0 run and pulled away from there.
Shaquille Morris scored 25 points and Landry Shamet added 23 to lead the Shockers into Tuesday's semifinals against Marquette.
"We take pride on defense and in the first half tonight that wasn't us. We didn't recognize ourselves," Morris said. "But we rallied up at halftime and had to come back and do what we do, play sharper basketball."
Don Coleman carried the Bears with 26 first-half points and finished with 35 for his third game of at least 30 points this season. Cal had 19 turnovers that led to 29 points for Wichita State and was short-handed in the frontcourt with Kingsley Okorah and Marcus Lee contributing little before fouling out.
"They more or less kind of had us on our heels," Cal coach Wyking Jones said.
Touted as a potential Final Four team, the Shockers started the season short-handed with forward Markis McDuffie out with a foot stress fracture.
The Shockers had no trouble against UMKC and College of Charleston, but the Bears are bigger and badder, even if they are young and have a new coach.
Cal went right at the McDuffie-less Shockers early, racing to an 11-point lead behind Coleman. The Bears continued to attack the Shockers in the second half, going up 58-40 on a 3-pointer by Justice Sueing.
After all the struggling and sideline stalking by Marshall, the Shockers sent a shockwave into the Bears with pressure they couldn't handle.
Through a string of turnovers, Wichita State went on a 14-3 run that cut Cal's lead to seven and kept hounding and kept scoring as the fans inside tiny Lahaina Civic Center roared. The Shockers tied it at 76-all on Samajae Haynes-Jones' layup with just over 5 minutes left. The late 8-0 run put them up 86-80 -- and on to the semifinals.
"They are a younger team than we are and we try to just utilize that to the best of our ability there down the stretch," Shamat said.
No. 12/13 Cincinnati 73, Buffalo 67
GEORGETOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) -- Gary Clark scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and No. 12 Cincinnati held off Buffalo 73-68 on Monday night to close the opening round of the Cayman Islands Classic.
Kyle Washington added 14 points and Jarron Cumberland 13 for the Bearcats (4-0), who had breezed in their previous games.
C.J. Massinburg scored 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls (2-1). Jeremy Harris added a career-high 17 and Nick Perkins 14 as Buffalo cut a 13-point halftime deficit to four with 24 seconds left.
Two free throws by Clark made it 67-57 with 1:52 to play. Perkins hit a 3-pointer with 1:27 to go and Massinburg cashed in on a turnover with another 3 at 56. Clark made two more free throws with 35 seconds to go but Massinburg answered at the line 10 seconds later.
Jacob Evans made a free throw and, after a Buffalo miss, Cumberland slipped free for a dunk, making it a seven-point game with 10 seconds to go. Clark got a late free throw and Massinburg made a layup at the buzzer.
Massinburg had 19 points in the second half but the Bulls couldn't keep Cincinnati off the line. The Bearcats were 17 of 21 in the second half, 27 of 35 for the game. Buffalo finished 11 for 17 and had two players foul out and four other players with four fouls.
Buffalo grabbed an early lead but two Nysier Brooks free throws put the Bearcats up 13-12 at the 13:20 mark and shortly after that a 12-0 run, built by five different players, made it 27-14. Cincinnati didn't score after Cumberland's layup at the 3:52 mark but the Bulls only got a layup and it was 39-26 at the half. Cumberland had 10 at intermission.
ECU 72, Cleveland State 69
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- B.J. Tyson had 25 points, Isaac Fleming scored the go-ahead points on a 3-point play with 29.7 seconds left and East Carolina scored the final 10 points to beat Cleveland State 72-69 on Monday night.
Kentrell Barkley added 14 for the Pirates (2-2), who trailed 69-62 with 1:50 to play. Fleming made 3 of 4 free throws to cut the deficit to four, Tyson narrowed it to 69-68 on a 3 with 56 seconds left, and Fleming drove hard to his left and finished with the foul, giving East Carolina a 71-69 lead.
Fleming had all eight of his points in the final two minutes.
After Fleming's 3-point play, Cleveland State (1-3) trailed for the first time in almost ten minutes and struggled to get a good look. Bobby Word's runner in the lane fell short and he batted the rebound out of bounds with 6.8 seconds left.
Shawn Williams made 1 of 2 free throws for ECU and Tyree Appleby missed a 3-point attempt for Cleveland State at the buzzer.
Word had 17 points, Appleby 15 and Stefan Kenic 14 for the Vikings.