LAS VEGAS (AP) — Yaxel Lendeborg had 20 points and 11 rebounds as No. 7 Michigan routed No. 12 Gonzaga 101-61 on Wednesday night to win the Players Era Championship.
Trey McKenney added 17 points for the impressive Wolverines (7-0), who dominated every one of their opponents in the event. They won their three games by a combined 110 points, beating San Diego State by 40 and No. 21 Auburn by 30 before handing Mark Few his most lopsided loss in 902 games as Gonzaga's coach.
Lendeborg was selected MVP of the tournament. The 18-team field featured some of the top programs in the country, and Michigan served notice it's a serious national title contender.
Nimari Burnett had 14 points, Aday Mara scored 13 and Morez Johnson Jr. finished with 11 for the Wolverines. The defense limited Gonzaga to 33.8% shooting from the floor, including 3 of 22 from 3-point range (13.6%).
Tyon Grant-Foster and Braden Huff led the Bulldogs (7-1) with 14 points each. Huff fouled out with 8:42 left.
Michigan scored the last nine points of the first half and led 53-29 at the break. Lendeborg scored four straight points and Burnett hit a 3 with 38 seconds remaining.
The Wolverines maintained their 24-point advantage until the 15:55 mark of the second half and then went on a 10-0 run to go up 69-35. Johnson had six points during that stretch and Mara scored three.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.