Somehow the Seattle University Redhawks just figure things out at KeyArena.
In a rather evenly matched contest, Seattle U held of a valiant second half effort by the Idaho Vandals to win 66-56 in a score that was padded by free throws down the stretch.
Seattle University's Cervante Burrell was named MVP of the one-game Elgin Baylor Classic after scoring 14 of his 20 points in the second half on 7-for-14 shooting.Forward Aaron Broussard finished with a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, with most of his production coming in the first half.
Burrell was instrumental in keeping the Redhawks ahead with repeated drives to the basket in addition to being generally aggressive in transition with pull-up jumpers. The shooting efficiency of Broussard and Burrell in the second half helped the team shoot over 45.5 percent, which is certainly a rarity this season, even at home.
What allowed the Vandals to come so close to stealing one on the road was their ability to solve the Redhawks' mix of zone defenses in the second half by driving the gaps as well as finding space along the baseline. The player who probably stood out most in that effort was the Vandals 6-foot-10 center Kyle Barone who just seemed to wherever the ball was in the second half - finding gaps along the baseline in the zone and flying toward the rim for put back attempts.
Barone scored all 10 of his points in the second half and finished with four rebounds as well in addition to finding his way to the free throw line six times. Renton native Shawn Henderson led Idaho with a career-high 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting.