LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings finally got the effort he was expecting.
The No. 24 Commodores went on a 24-0 run in the second half to break open a four-point game and defeat tournament-host Chaminade 68-41 in a consolation-round game at the Maui Invitational on Tuesday.
Stallings said it was about time. His team slogged through practice here and then looked listless in a 67-58 loss to Cincinnati in its opener Monday.
“I don’t know — I wish I could answer that,” Stallings said when asked why it took his team so long to get going in this tournament. “Our practice here, we looked heavy legged, we looked tired. We had a relatively long travel day Saturday, but I don’t want to attribute it to that. It was literally at the 15-minute mark that we started playing like we have all season.”
The Commodores found out on Monday morning that they were ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time since March 17, 2008 — and then promptly went out and lost to the Bearcats.
Things looked grim again for the first 25 minutes against the Division II Silverswords.
The Commodores (3-1) led just 38-34 with 15 minutes left in the second half before going on their run to put the game out of reach. Chaminade went scoreless for 10:30, a string broken when Shane Hanson made a 3-pointer with 4:30 left to make it 62-37.
The Commodores played all 15 players on their roster — none played more than 26 minutes. Reserve John Jenkins scored 14 points and Jermaine Beal added 10.
Vanderbilt shot 29 for 67 from the field (43.3 percent) and held Chaminade to 15-of-63 shooting (23.8 percent).
The Commodores appeared to have a little trouble waking up for their game at 8:30 a.m. local time.
“Well, we are really happy to win that game,” Stallings said. “It is a tough game because of the time. It is tough because you are coming back from a loss yesterday, both teams are.”
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Chaminade outrebounded the Commodores 19-9, but Vanderbilt finished with a 51-39 advantage on the boards.
“When we got some clear rebounds we were able to get out and start scoring,” Stallings said. “The last 15 minutes of the game we played very good. That is what we have been looking for since we got here.”
Chaminade (0-2) faced the Commodores less than 13 hours after losing to No. 21 Maryland 79-51.
“I think it was a really good first half for us,” Chaminade coach Matt Mahar said. “It is obviously a really hard turnaround for us. In the second half they just killed us on the boards, they just pounded us on the glass. They are a very good team and they showed it in those last 15 minutes.”
The Silverswords are now 5-70 in 26 years of their own tournament. Hanson finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
