The 14th annual Ezybonds Global Payments Paradise Jam Basketball Tournament kicked off at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center on Friday with the Northern Iowa Panthers (1-2) taking on the Loyola Marymount University Lions (4-0).
Northern Iowa’s Deon Mitchell had it going early, scoring 11 of his team’s first 14 points – with the other three coming from an assist from Mitchell to Chip Rank that gave the Panthers a 14-12 lead at the 14-minute mark. Loyola Marymount pulled within one when Ben Dickinson hit a pick and pop jumper from the wing, making the score 17-16.
From there, Northern Iowa went on a 10-2 run, capped off by two free throws from Wes Washpun and, with 9:32 left in the first half, Iowa held a 27-19 lead.
Over the next couple minutes, Northern Iowa tacked on to their lead and, with 3:14 left in the first half, Matt Bohannon hit one of his five three-pointers for the game, giving the Panthers their largest lead so far, taking the score to 51-28.
Both teams went back and forth until the 1:35 mark, when LMU’s Anthony Ireland got the steal and took it down for a layup, cutting the lead to 19. And with three seconds left, Ireland’s floater in the lane made the score 53-36.
In the second half, Loyola Marymount slowly picked away at the lead: Chase Flint hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 14, then an Alex Osborne layup made it a 12-point game, and by the 12:58 mark, Gabe Levin’s free-throw brought it down to 10.
But the Lions weren’t finished. Evan Payne, who finished the game with 22 points, made a layup, cutting the lead to eight. On the Lions’ next possession, Ireland crossed over his defender at the top of the key and drove the lane, then pulled up for a free-throw line shot that missed, but was able to grab his own rebound. The put-back was also missed, but Levin flew in for the tip-in, bringing the lead down to six.
Northern Iowa managed to push their lead back up to 15, but the Lions came clawing back again with two free-throws from Payne with three minutes left in the game, cutting the lead to five, 81-76.
But that would be as close as Loyola Marymount would get.
With about two minutes left in the game, Mitchell spun past Levin for a layup and on the very next possession, Mitchell would strip Levin of the ball and take it coast to coast for the layup, making the score 87-76. The Panthers held on for the 90-81 victory.
Mitchell led his team with 23 points and 9-11 shooting from the field. Seth Turtle finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Bohannon finished with 22 points.
LMU was led by Ireland, who had 24 points, while Levin finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds.
Looking at the breakdown after the game, Northern Iowa got out-rebounded, got beat on bench points (27-14) and points in the paint (34-22). But their 57 percent three-point field goal percent was probably the difference in the game.
Maryland Trumps Marist, 68-43
In game two, Maryland defeated Marist 68-43. The hype before the game, locally, was for Marist guard Challid Hart, who has ties to the territory.
The first half was very slow paced, with Marist’s defense slowing the Tarrapins offensive efficiency. With 7:22 left in the first half, Maryland’s Jake Layman hit a three-pointer to give the Tarrapins their largest lead of the night, nine , but from there, a 9-1 run – capped off with two free throws from Hart – tied the game at 18, with 3:52 left to play.
Layman responded with a three-pointer, which was followed by a layup that got the Tarrapins back up by five, 23-18. Maryland managed to take a 26-20 half-time lead.
The second half was a different story, though. Maryland’s offense shook off their initial sluggishness, and exploded. Charles Mitchell’s layup with 12:40 left in the game pushed the team’s lead to 14, 42-28. Next time down the court, Mitchell hit a jumper, followed by another jumper by Roddy Peters, giving Maryland an 18-point lead, 46-28.
The Tarrapins kept picking away and a Shaquelle Cleare layup with about seven minutes to go made the score 54-30. The team would push their lead as high as 30, when Peters hit a three-pointer with about two minutes left, making the score 66-36.
Maryland held on for the win.
Layman led all scorers with 16 points, eight rebounds, while Mitchell finished with 12 points.
For Marist, Chavaughn Lewis finished with 13 points. Hart finished with six points, going 2-11 from the field in 27 minutes.
