LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Playing its third BCS-level team in four days, the Marist Men’s Basketball team put forth a strong effort, including holding a lead in the second half, before falling by a score of 59-44 to Clemson in the Fifth Place game of the Old Spice Classic. Senior Devin Price (Inglewood, Calif.) led the Red Foxes with 15 points scored.
The game began with both teams struggling from the field. The mixture of strong defense and poor shooting held the scoreboard without a team in double digits until Clemson netted a three-pointer at 9:12.
After falling behind 11 at 17-6, the Red Foxes ran off a 5-0 run from 6:24 to 4:39 to cut into the Tigers’ lead. Price scored all five points, as he hit a three-pointer and slammed home a fast break dunk after a Manny Thomas (Brooklyn, N.Y.) steal. They continued to streak down the stretch in the first half, ultimately extending the run into a 15-5 count. Jay Bowie (Tampa, Fla.) and Thomas added treys during this 5:50 stretch.
The first half concluded with a 22-21 score in favor of Clemson. The Tigers outshot the Red Foxes 36.0 (9-25) to 29.6 (8-27), though Marist had a 23.1 (3-13) to 14.3 (1-7) advantage in three-point shooting.
A quick 7-0 run that was spearheaded by five points from Isaiah Morton (Vineland, N.J.) gave Marist its first lead of the game. With the score 28-22 at 18:27, the Tigers would come back to tie the game up twice over the next five minutes.
At 13:53 and the score 32-32, Marist would fall victim to staunch Clemson defending and the Tigers dominating down low; in the second half, Clemson outscored Marist in the paint 26-12. Clemson would take the lead at this point and never give it back as they strung together an 18-2 run to make it 50-34 with 5:13 remaining.
The game would eventually go final by a score of 59-44 for the Tigers of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
For the game, Clemson outshot Marist 47.2 (25-53) to 34.0 (17-50) from the field, though the Red Foxes outshot them from distance at 26.1 (6-23) to 22.2 (2-9). Individually, Price was Marist’s leading scorer with 15 points, while Adam Kemp (Sherrill, N.Y.) corralled a team-high six rebounds.
The Red Foxes will be off for the next week before getting back on the court at Army on Dec. 4 in a 7 p.m. contest.
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