Nov 26, 2015 4 min read

When Syracuse and Connecticut get together on the court, good basketball often follows.

The former Big East Conference rivals provided another gem at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney each had 17 points and the Orange held off the 18th-ranked Huskies 79-76 Thursday to earn a spot in the championship game.

“For me it was my first time playing against UConn,” Gbinije said. “It was nice to see the rivalry and just nice to come up with a win in this type of competitive environment.”

Tyler Lydon added 16 points off the bench. Gbinije also had seven assists in a game that featured seven ties and five lead changes.

“Tyler Lydon’s done an unbelievable job. In the middle of the defense, and offensively he sees plays that nobody sees,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s had two monstrous games down here.”

Texas A&M 62, Gonzaga 61: Danuel House scored 19 points, and No. 25 Texas A&M edged No. 10 Gonzaga 62-61 on Thursday to advance to the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

The Zags’ Silas Melson missed a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer as time expired with House contesting the shot.

Villanova 59, Stanford 45: Jalen Brunson scored 18 points and eighth-ranked Villanova survived a poor shooting performance in a 59-45 victory over Stanford in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tipoff.

Georgia Tech 83, Arkansas 73: Adam Smith scored 19 points and Georgia Tech led for most of its 83-73 victory over Arkansas in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tipoff.

USC 72, Wichita State 69: Freshman Bennie Boatright had a career-high 22 points and USC beat No. 20 Wichita State 72-69 in a first-round game at the AdvoCare Invitational.

Kansas wins Maui title: Wayne Selden Jr. and Frank Mason III quickly hatched a plan for sharing the MVP award at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.

Impressive teamwork all Wednesday night long for No. 5 Kansas.

Selden scored 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and the Jayhawks beat No. 19 Vanderbilt 70-63 for the tournament title.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Mason said of being co-MVPs. “I definitely think Wayne deserves it, the way he played throughout the tournament. But we just happened to get the win as a team, and we’re looking forward to it next game.”

Selden then revealed the plan.

“We’re going to share the trophy,” he said. “It will be in my room for a month, and go across the hall to his room for another month. We’ll just keep rotating it.”

Jayhawks coach Bill Self wants to make an adjustment to their sharing schedule.

“Wayne’s the best player in the tournament. He was great,” Self said. “We had no chance to win unless Frank plays. He’s got the ball in his hands and he does so many good things. So I think things like that are cool to share. And Wayne’s fine with it.

“But if I was picking, if it’s a month in Wayne’s and a month in Frank’s, I think I’d give it to Wayne six weeks and Frank can keep it two, because Wayne was absolutely fabulous in the first half when we had nothing going on. He kept us in the game by making, I think, three 3s that were guarded and basically kept us within striking distance.”

Selden was 4 of 6 from 3-point range. He also had seven rebounds.

The Jayhawks (4-1) did what no other team in the field could do, take a lead over the Commodores (5-1). It didn’t happen until the second half but when they got it they extended it to as many as 13 points.