HONOLULU, HI. – A 13-2 run in the first 2:25 of the second half for TCU propelled the Horned Frogs to a 111-87 win over Old Dominion in the opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Thursday afternoon.
ODU (3-7) will now face Temple at 7:30 pm EST on Friday night in the consolation bracket on ESPN+. Temple (6-5) lost to Nevada 80-56 in the tournament opener.
"Our guys battled, competed and fought really good and hard. In the second half, TCU was able to take it up to a higher level and unfortunately we were not able to match that," said ODU Interim Head Coach Kieran Donohue.
"Give our guys a lot of credit for how they played today with everything. The way we approached the game, entered the game and played, our coaching staff and I couldn't be more proud of our guys," he added.
The Monarchs got on the board behind a Tyrone Williams 3-ball to even the game at 3-3 with 18:01 on the clock. From there, the deficit for ODU bounced from two to six points over the next six minutes. A Williams steal and layup brought the Monarchs to 16-15 at the 12:01 mark.
TCU (9-1) responded with a 16-3 run to take a 32-18 lead after a JaKobe Coles layup with 8:31 remaining. ODU made a run going on a 14-6 burst to trim the deficit to 38-32 with 3:15 left on a Chaunce Jenkins dunk.
Vasean Allette helped keep the Monarchs deficit at six points closing the first half with a trio of three-pointers, with the last one beating the halftime horn as ODU trailed 47-41 at intermission.
In the second half, TCU hit a blistering 71% from the field and started on a 13-2 run capped by a Coles three-point play to lead 60-43 with 17:35 left.
Allette was the leading scorer for the Monarchs with 25 points, a season high four steals and five rebounds. Williams added 15 points and three steals, while Devin Ceaser and R.J. Blakney added 10 points apiece.
Men's Basketball Drops Diamond Head Classic Opener To TCU
Vasean Allette