Chad Baker-Mazara is first player to win two Maui Invitational championships after leading USC to the crown at Lahaina Civic Center

As the clock wound down during the championship game of the Southwest Maui Invitational, Chad Baker-Mazara started looking around the Lahaina Civic Center for his parents. 

Moments after Baker-Mazara’s 23-point performance led the Southern California Trojans to an 88-75 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils, Baker-Mazara was on ESPN television holding the Dr. Sue Wesselkamper trophy that goes to the tournament’s most valuable player.

A few moments later, he cradled the trophy as he enjoyed a special moment with his parents, Derrek Baker and Carmen Mazara, and close friend Evan Brock. Bailey Baker, Chad’s grandfather, was on a cellphone screen held by Derrek Baker as they celebrated in front of a throng of local and USC fans in the Lahaina Civic Center.

Baker-Mazara is from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He moved from the Dominican Republic to live in New Jersey with his grandfather before his junior year in high school.

“He couldn’t come because he’s a little sick but I told him, ‘Granddad, I got you, I’m going to get you this trophy.’ Being able to have my parents here is incredible,” Baker-Mazara said in the post-game news conference. “We’re from all over the other side of the world, so being able to have them here makes it a little bit more special.”

Baker-Mazara is also well-traveled in the world of college basketball, having played the last two seasons at Auburn. Before that he played at Northwest Florida State College in the 2022-23 season, San Diego State in 2021-22 and Duquesne in the 2020-21 season.

Baker-Mazara is the first player in the Maui Invitational’s 42-year history to play on two championship teams. He played on Auburn’s Maui Invitational championship team last season before the Tigers finished their 2024-25 season in the NCAA Final Four.

Last season, Baker-Mazara was an all-tournament selection in the Maui Invitational. He was joined on the 2025 Maui Invitational all-tournament team by USC teammate Ezra Ausar, Arizona State’s Moe Odum, Washington State’s Ace Glass, Seton Hall’s AJ Staton-McCray and Texas’ Dailyn Swain.

“You want me to be honest how I feel right now? Ain’t nobody could tell me nothing right now,” Baker-Mazara said of his confidence level after he scored 52 points, collected 11 rebounds and dished out eight assists in three games here. “But no, how do I say, thanks to the guys, the coaching staff for putting us in position to be able to become successful.”

Baker-Mazara added, “I really feel amazing right now. I’m going to be honest, I’m on the island, got our job done. Coach is proud of us, family is proud of us, so I feel on top of the world right now.”

The Trojans broke away from a 43-43 halftime tie with a 12-4 run to open the second half. Arizona State pulled within two, 61-59, with 11:02 to play on a drive to the hoop by Anthony “Pig” Johnson, who scored 15 points off the bench for the Sun Devils. 

A pull-up jumper by Baker-Mazara pushed the lead to 63-59 with 10:47 to play and the Trojans held a lead of three points or more the rest of the way. Jaden Brownell had 16 points, Ezra Ausar scored 14 and Jacob Cofie had 11 for USC.

Baker-Mazara knows firsthand just how important playing well here can be for a team’s season, having experienced the Maui Invitational title and Final Four run last year with Auburn. In this year’s competition, the Trojans beat Boise State 70-67 on Monday and Seton Hall 83-81 on Tuesday.

“It’s very important, especially because (all three games here) were all dog fights,” Baker-Mazara said. “Today was probably our biggest win, and still, it wasn’t until the last, like, minute or two minutes.”

Baker-Mazara said that taking the floor for the 9:30 a.m. tip-off for the championship game less than 19 hours after finishing the two-point win over Seton Hall in the semifinals is part of the learning opportunity that the Maui Invitational provides.

“That tells me that we have a bunch of dogs that are ready to fight, and no matter if we played today, yesterday or right now, if there’s a game tomorrow or later on, I know they’re going to show up,” Baker-Mazara said. “That really helps us when it comes to conference play and the tournament and stuff like that.”

The Sun Devils were led by Moe Odum, who had 17 points and 4 assists, while Santiago Trouet and Massamba Diop each added 13 points.

ASU coach Bobby Hurley was a championship player here in 1992 for Duke when he was named the Co-Most Valuable Player along with Anfernee Hardaway. Hurley guided his team to wins over Texas and Washington State before the loss in the championship game where Southern California shot 34 for 57 from the field (59.6%).

“It’s rough to lose, obviously, but I feel proud of my team. I thought overall we had a really good trip,” Hurley said. “We unfortunately came up short. I think defensively can’t let a team shoot 60 percent from the field and expect to win a championship.”

The tournament included three former Pac-12 Conference teams — USC, ASU and Washington State, which finished fourth after a 75-61 loss to Seton Hall on Wednesday — and that fact was not lost on Hurley and USC coach Eric Musselman.

“It’s cool to play, it’s kind of a built-in rivalry with our fan bases, and it’s super cool that there was three teams here representing the old Pac-12,” Musselman said. “But all three games were dog fights, which is a credit to the committee of getting these type of caliber teams.”

In the fifth-place game, Texas defeated North Carolina State 102-97 and in the seventh-place game Boise State beat Chaminade 102-76.

As the Maui Invitational fights to stay at the top of the heap in college basketball tournaments in the name, image and likeness era that allows college players to optimize their money-earning capabilities, Hurley said trips like this one will always be on his list of destinations.

“I thought it was an opportunity. I’ve been here, I understand what it feels like as a player and coach to win these holiday tournaments, so it gives you a real boost, certainly, so that’s disappointing,” he said of the championship game loss. “I’m disappointed for my guys that we couldn’t get that done today. It wasn’t for a lack of effort or lack of trying.”

Later in his news conference, Hurley elaborated on his support for the Maui Invitational. He said there’s nothing quite like the atmosphere generated in the 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center.

“It’s been special both as a player and coach to be here and feel the energy in the building. It’s just different, and it’s unique,” Hurley said. “Our fan base, I can’t thank them enough. That was maybe as loud a couple of days of cheering that I’ve ever had at Arizona State just in terms of our fan base just being locked into these games and really supporting our team. It was a lot of fun to be here and share that … with our families.”

Musselman said that with the new NCAA rule allowing teams to come to multi-team events every year, instead of the old rule of just once every four years, that his team will be back as soon as possible.

Next year’s Maui Invitational field is already set with Arizona, Washington, Brigham Young, Clemson, Colorado State, Ole Miss, Providence and Virginia Commonwealth. Musselman was here in 2022 as the Arkansas head coach.

“I’d like to come back next year, but I know there’s probably a field already,” Musselman said. “The landscape is changing. But I know myself and our players and all of our families … this is the second time I’ve done it, and both experiences were incredible. I used it in the recruiting for this year’s team.”

A brief exchange between Musselman and Baker-Mazara in their news conference showed that this event can be a recruiting tool for programs that are fortunate enough to get into the event.

“I told the guys we have a chance to go to Maui and how great it is and how cool it is for your families to come, and with the name, image, and likeness now, we had almost every family — each player was represented by a family member, which maybe four or five years ago, that didn’t happen,” Musselman said. “But now with name, image, and likeness, that’s one of the huge benefits is just to walk to the pool and just see everybody’s family out there.”

Baker-Mazara was intrigued when he was told the Trojans were coming to Maui — he committed to transfer to USC on the spot after receiving the news when he was in the NCAA transfer portal. 

“That’s the only way we got him. As soon as we told him we were going to Maui, he said, ‘I commit,’ ” Musselman said. 

Baker-Mazara chimed in: “It was funny, when coach told me that we was going to Maui, I literally asked him … has anybody won it back to back? He told me no, and I actually did commit right then.”