Georgia Basketball advances to championship of Sunshine Slam
It was the tale of two halves – at least on the offensive end – for Georgia Basketball on Monday night, but thanks to a strong defensive effort all night long, the Bulldogs were able to hold on and beat Saint Joseph’s 66-53 in the opening game of the Greenlight Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, Fla. With the win, Georgia will play for the championship of the Beach Bracket on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network against UAB.
Kario Oquendo made his return after missing Georgia’s on-campus game on Friday night in the regional round of the Sunshine Slam with “knee soreness.” He led Georgia in scoring with 15 points. Terry Roberts, Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Justin Hill joined him in double figures, each of whom had 12 points.
Saint Joseph’s was held to just 2-16 from 3-point range after coming into the game shooting 37.3 percent from deep. Leading scorer Eric Reynolds II, who was averaging 23.3 points per game and coming off of a 32-point game last week, was held to just 10 as he fouled out late in the contest. Reynolds was one of three Hawks with 10 points on the night along with Cameron Brown and Ejike Obinna.
Georgia jumped out to a 13-4 lead with a 9-0 run and strong defense, holding Saint Joseph’s to just two field goals in the first 6:54 of the game. After some push back from the Hawks, the Bulldogs finished the half out on a 20-2 run over the final 8:04. As a part of the run, Jabri Abdur-Rahim hit three 3-pointers including back to back as a part of 12 straight points for Georgia. All 12 of his points came in the first half as Georgia led 38-15 at the break, the fewest points that the Bulldogs have allowed in a first half since 2014.
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Saint Joseph’s came out of the half and fought back. Nearly ten minutes into the second half, Georgia had just three points in the second half and Saint Joseph’s had cut the lead to 11. Kario Oquendo responded with a jumper and scored nine of the next 11 for the Bulldogs.
Saint Joseph’s got it to a 10-point game at the under-4 mark with 3:37 to go before calling a timeout to regroup. The Hawks were able to get it to single digits shortly after making a pair of free throws before Justin Hill responded with a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer, the Bulldogs’ first basket in over seven minutes. It was Hill’s second 3-pointer of the second half, the first of which was Georgia’s only bucket in the early moments out of the locker room. Georgia was able to put the game away with Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, Hill and Terry Roberts all making clutch free throws down the stretch.
