Nov. 21, 2010
ST. THOMAS, VI-- The ODU Monarchs (3-1) defeated Clemson (3-1) in the semi-finals ofthe Paradise Jam tournament and will play the winner Xavier, a 57-52 winnerover Seton Hall game Monday night at 8:30 (ET) in the Championship game. Game will be televised live on Fox College Sports Net.
The trio of Keyon Carter, Ben Finney and Frank Hassell led the Monarchs, but it wasODU's bench that put them over the top. Finney finished with 13 points, two assists, four rebounds and two steals. Hassell scored 13 with seven rebounds, while Keyon Carter added his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Monarch bench played Clemson even at 14-14 as Nick Wright scored eight pointswith three rebounds, and Chris Cooper scored six points grabbed five rebounds and Trian Iliadis dished out five assists. Wright's eight points ties a career high for him.
ODU led by eight, 53-46 with 4:17 left after a basket by Hassell. Jerai Grant thenhit two free throws for Clemson, followed by a three-pointer by Andre Young tocut the lead to three, 53-50 with 3:21 left.
Ben Finney then hit two free throws to put the Monarchs up 55-50 wiht 2:06 left.Demontez Stitt's tip-in made it 55-52 ODU, but Kent Bazemore came right back andhit a jumper with 1:04 remaining to make it 57-52. Stitt cut it to three againwith two free throws. ODU's Chris Cooper followed with two clutch free throwsto put the Monarchs up 59-54 with 24 seconds left, but Young hit another trey for the Tigers to make it 59-57 with 18 seconds left.
ODU missed a free throw, but the Tigers turned the ball over and on the inboundpass, Bazemore hit Carter long for a dunk to make it 61-57 with three seconds left.Andre Young's trey made the final margin, 61-60.
The loss makes Blaine Taylor 8-0 against Clemson's Brad Brownell going back tohis days as head coach at UNC Wilmington. The win also tied the series with theTigers at two games each. This will also be the Monarchs second trip to the finalsof the Paradise Jam. ODU lost 84-81 to Wisconsin in the 2005 tournament.
ODU shot .472 (25-53) from the floor and dominated the boards against the Tigers,36-28. ODU grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, and came up with eight steals on the night.