Ridley leads Texas to 77-59 victory over DePaul
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cameron Ridley had 19 points and nine rebounds, Isaiah Taylor added 14 points and Texas bounced back from its first loss of the season to rout DePaul 77-59 on Tuesday night in the consolation game of the CBE Classic.
Kendal Yancy, Jonathan Holmes and Demarcus Holland scored 10 points each for the Longhorns (5-1), who lost to BYU in a nip-and-tuck game Monday night.
Brandon Young, playing in his 100th game, scored 14 points and Cleveland Melvin had 15 to lead the Blue Demons (3-3), who never recovered from a first-half blitz. Billy Garrett added 11 points and Tommy Hamilton and nine points and seven boards.
Texas beat the Blue Demons (3-3), who lost to No. 12 Wichita State in the semifinals, 13 years to the day after beating them in the Puerto Rico Shootout.
After running into a hot-shooting bunch of Cougars in the semifinals, the Longhorns got a cold-shooting group from DePaul in the third-place game at the Sprint Center.
It was a close affair for about 12 minutes before DePaul fell into a deep slump, missing eight consecutive shots. That allowed Texas go embark on a 15-0 charge covering nearly six minutes that resulted in a 35-18 advantage with a couple minutes left in the first half.
It turned out to be the margin most of the game.
Ridley scored six of his 11 first-half points during the surge, while Holland sliced through the lane for a pair of easy baskets. He finished 4 for 4 from the field in the first half.
The Longhorns, who had a 22-10 rebounding advantage by the break, continued to use their size in the paint to assert control. The Blue Demons had no answer for the 6-foot-9, 285-pound Ridley, who also had 12 points, 10 boards and six blocks in the Longhorns’ semifinal loss.
Ridley picked up where he left off with a dunk to start the second half, and Texas pushed its lead to 20 points at 54-34 on Yancy’s two foul shots with 12 minutes left.
Meanwhile, DePaul struggled to hit from the perimeter, which was just about the only place on the floor where it could get an open look at the basket.
The Longhorns wound up outscoring DePaul 46-20 in the paint, and they had a 40-20 advantage in rebounding. They also had a big advantage in second-chance points.
The Blue Demons slapped on a full-court pressure down the stretch, trying in vain to get back in the game, but the Longhorns broke it with ease. The game, which lacked any resemblance of offense flow, lurched to its conclusion with Texas never in danger of losing its sizeable lead.