Bahamian collegiate basketball player Kai Jones fouled out late in the second half in their semifinal game against the Indiana University Hoosiers yesterday afternoon, but that did not stop his University of Texas Longhorns from recording an impressive victory as they bullied their way to the 2020 Camping World Maui Invitational championship game. The Longhorns (3-0) won easily, 66-44, at the Hurrah Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
A collective team led the Longhorns over the Hoosiers (2-1). The 17th ranked Longhorns will play the 14th ranked University of North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels in the championship game at 3 p.m. today, live on ESPN.
Jones stayed perfect on the season, finishing 2-for-2 from the field to end with four points. In his three games on the season he now has shot 12-for-12 from the field. In the win yesterday, he pulled down five rebounds and had two assists, and was on the court for 13 minutes.
Jones checked into the game early in the first half and quickly picked up his first foul of the game. Less than a minute later, he sprinted up the court and slammed home an alley-oop dunk from a perfect pass from teammate Andrew Jones who was behind the half-court line. That alley-oop score was his first bucket of the game and ESPN’s Play of the Game. That play put his team up 8-3 with 15:28 remaining in the first half.
The Longhorns scored the first six points of the game. They also played some tight defense that resulted in some tough shots for the Hoosiers early on.
The Bahamian grabbed both of his offensive rebounds in less than 10 seconds as he was active on the glass early in the first half. He grabbed two other rebounds in that half.
Just when he was getting into a rhythm, the Brewster Academy alumnus picked up his second foul of the first half. That came with seven minutes remaining in the half.
The Hoosiers trailed 31-19 at the half, and the closest they got to the Longhorns the rest of the way was 10 points, 31-21, with 19:32 remaining in the game.
In the first half, the Longhorns’ defense held their opponents to just 5-for-23 shooting, 21.7 percent.
Sophomore forward Jones made his second field goal of the afternoon when he had another slam dunk with 19:12 remaining in the second half to put his team up 33-21. It was a brilliant post move as he faked out the defender and rose up for a two-handed slam dunk.
With his team up 50-31 and 9:34 remaining, the forward committed another foul that sent him to the bench. He eventually checked back into the game and dished out a couple assists before eventually fouling out at the 3:22 mark.
Today’s final will be the Longhorns’ third game in three days as they look to go for their fourth straight win to start the season.
The Longhorns’ next game after today will be on Sunday, December 6 when they head home to play a strong Villanova University Wildcats team (2-1) at the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Special Events Center in Austin, Texas at noon. It will be the second annual Big East-Big 12 Battle showdown. The Longhorns will represent the Big 12 Conference in that game while Villanova will represent the Big East Conference. Both teams play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I.
The post Jones, Longhorns dominate the Hoosiers appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/jones-longhorns-dominate-the-hoosiers/
No comments:
Post a Comment