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College basketball: TCU beats Indiana State for Diamond Head Classic crown

Texas Christian guards Alex Robinson (25) and Jaylen Fisher (10) hold trophies after TCU defeated Indiana State 83-69 to win the Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 25.
(Marco Garcia / Associated Press)
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Alex Robinson had 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Texas Christian withstood a late rally to beat Indiana State 83-69 on Tuesday night in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.

TCU led 40-30 at halftime behind a balanced scoring attack as nine of the 10 Horned Frogs who played scored. TCU had its first double-digit lead with 3:23 left in the first half and Indiana State wasn’t able to get closer than eight points the rest of the game.

TCU was ahead by 22 points with 9:38 remaining but didn’t make another field goal for nearly six minutes as Indiana State went on an 11-0 run to pull to 71-60. But Robinson scored six points during an 8-0 run to seal it.

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JD Miller had 12 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for TCU (11-1), which won its eighth straight. The Horned Frogs will stay in Hawaii to face Hawaii Pacific on Friday.

Jordan Barnes had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists for Indiana State (8-4). Tyreke Key also scored 14 points. The Sycamores were just eight of 16 at the free-throw line. USC won the Diamond Head Classic last year.

Other Diamond Head Classic games:

Bucknell 97, UNLV 72: Jimmy Sotos had 14 points, five rebounds and a tournament-record 12 assists to pace five Bucknell starters in double-figure scoring, and the Bison beat UNLV 97-72 to claim third place at the Diamond Head Classic. Bucknell (6-6) was 14 of 25 from three-point range and shot 57.8% overall, while UNLV was four of 25 from long range. Joel Ntambwe had 13 points and seven rebounds for UNLV (6-6).

Hawaii 68, Rhode Island 60: Zigmars Raimo scored 19 points, Drew Buggs had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Hawaii beat Rhode Island 68-60 in the fifth-place game at the Diamond Head Classic. Brocke Stepteau of Hawaii (8-5) dribbled around a double team at the top of the key, drove the lane and finished in traffic for a 62-58 lead with 54.6 seconds left. Rhode Island (6-5) managed only one basket the rest of the way.

Colorado 68, Charlotte 53: Lucas Siewert scored 17 points, freshman Daylen Kountz added 12 and Colorado beat Charlotte 68-53 in the seventh-place game of the Diamond Head Classic. Colorado (9-3) trailed by eight points with 5:20 left in the first half but closed on a 19-2 run for a 35-26 lead. Charlotte (3-8) was held to just six points in the first six minutes of the second half.

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