Farrell poured in a career-high 27 points as the Irish pulled away in the second half.
Matt Farrell shot 9-for-12 from the field and finished with a career-high 27 points as the Irish easily disposed of Chaminade 83-56 on their home floor in the first round of the Maui Invitational on Monday night.
Farrell’s senior counterpart Bonzie Colson added 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, which felt like just another day at the office.
When Farrell and Colson went to the bench with the Irish leading comfortably by 27 and just 3:30 remaining in the second half, the duo had combined to match Chaminade’s 50 points as a team up to that point.
Chaminade came out firing in the first half, drilling four three-pointers in the first three and a half minutes to keep pace with the Irish offense, who was humming in transition thanks to a scorching start from Farrell, who started the game shooting 6-for-7 from the floor en route to 16 first half points.
Both teams combined to shoot 7-for-10 from downtown before the first media timeout, as the perimeter defense was about as lax as Mike Brey’s game outfit. Seriously though, the Under Armour tee and khaki shorts was a major power move by Brey. I think he had plans to go fishing with Jay Bilas after the game. Hey, when in Maui.
The Irish defense was anything but lax after the Silver Swords’ hot shooting start. After the quartet of threes from three different Chaminade shooters, the Irish protected the perimeter and held Chaminade scoreless for over six minutes while the Silver Swords missed 10 straight field goal attempts to help the Irish build a 12-point lead, which shrunk to nine after a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Brett Reed to keep Chaminade in the game.
The Silver Swords continued their circus three-pointers on the first possession of the second half when Austin Pope connected on a deep straightaway three just before the shot clock expired, cutting the Irish lead to just six. Then the Irish came alive.
The Irish would turn to their most reliable weapons restore order, as Farrell and Colson combined to score seven straight points to increase the lead back to 13. A 12-0 run by the Irish minutes later stretched the lead to 25 midway through the second half, and Chaminade was done.
Freshman D.J. Harvey continued his promising start to the season, adding 12 points in just over 20 minutes as Brey’s sixth man.
