Chaz Lanier shoots No. 11 Tennessee past Virginia in Baha Mar Championship, 64-42

Chaz Lanier has a tendency to score in bunches. One spurt to start the second half was just about all it took to get No. 11 Tennessee past Virginia late Thursday night in the opening round of the Baha Mar Championship in The Bahamas. 

Lanier scored 13 points in his first eight minutes of the second half late Thursday night and finished with a game-high 26 as Tennessee beat Virginia 64-42 at Baha Mar Resort in Nassau.

The Vols (5-0) advance to face Baylor (4-1) in the Baha Mar Championship final, scheduled for Friday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS Sports Network. Baylor advanced with a 99-98 buzzer-beating win in double overtime over St. John’s in Thursday’s first game in the four-team bracket. 

Igor Milicic scored 14 points and had eight rebounds and Jahmai Mashack had seven points. Darlistone Dubar scored four, making his Tennessee debut after missing the first four games of the season due to a personal matter.

Virginia (3-1) got a team-high 12 points from Dai Dai Ames.

Lanier’s flamethrower was lit with 17:26 left in the second half, when he hit a three for the first points of the half for either team. He hit another one 31 seconds later, made a pull-up jumper with 15:52 to go and hit another three, his third of the half, with 14:26 to go.

When he scored in the paint with 12:30 left, Tennessee’s one-point halftime lead had ballooned to 13 points. Lanier’s 13 points to start the second half came on 5-for-8 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-5 from the 3-point line.

A 16-0 run stretched the lead to 24 with 1:57 left, Tennessee’s biggest of the game at the time. Lanier finished 18 points in the second half, going 4-for-8 from the 3-point line.

Virginia closed first half on 7-0 run

Tennessee led by as many as eight in the first half, but it was just a 22-21 lead at halftime after Virginia closed on a 7-0 run.

Lanier had eight points in the first half but it came on 3-for-10 shooting as the Vols shot 30.0% from the field in the first half, going 9-for-30, but was 4-for-12 from the 3-point line. Milicic and Mashack had five each in the first half and Dubar scored four.

Tennessee forced nine turnovers in the first half but the Vols committed six of their own. Zakai Zeigler was shut out in the first half, going 0-for-5 from the floor.

Tennessee down two players due to injury

Tennessee sophomore center JP Estrella won’t play in The Bahamas as the Vols continue to evaluate his left foot injury, one that dates back to the summer. Sophomore wing Cam Carr is out 4-6 weeks with a left thumb injury suffered in the second half Sunday in the 103-68 win over Austin Peay.

Estrella, the 6-foot-11, 241-pounder from Scarborough, Maine, is averaging 4.7 points and 2.7 points rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game. 

Carr’s left thumb on Sunday appeared to bend back awkwardly as he was fouled with 7:10 left. He’s averaging 4.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game off the bench so far this season. He had four points and one rebound in nine minutes on Sunday, after scoring a career-high 13 points in 16 minutes against Montana in the 92-57 win on Wednesday. 

Up Next: No. 11 Tennessee vs. No. 13 Baylor, Baha Mar Championship final

Jeremy Roach hit a 3-pointer as time expired to lift No. 13 Baylor to a 99-98 win over No. 22 St. John’s in the tournament’s opening game. Roach, the Duke transfer, hit the three after St. John’s missed back-to-back free throws on the other end. 

Norchad Omier scored a team-high 24 points for Baylor, which trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half. Zuby Ejiofor scored 22 to lead St. John’s. 

After two games in The Bahamas, Tennessee will return home to host Tennessee Martin on Wednesday at Food City Center, a 4 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network+.