The first week of summer Paradise Jam wrapped up over the weekend with all-star teams from the British Virgin Islands and the USVI teams lose games against Abilene Christian and Northern Kentucky, a pair of teams that both played in the NCAA tournament last season.
All games in the summer tournament are played in the Sports and Recreation Center on the University of the Virgin Islands’ St. Thomas campus.
Northern Kentucky 93, British Virgin Islands All-Stars 64
In its Thursday match, Northern Kentucky started out the gates quickly, hitting six three-pointers in the first five and a half minutes to hop out to an early 21-8 advantage.
Thought the BVI squad fought back and cut the deficit to two with 7:25 left in the half, that was as good as it got for the islanders. By halftime, the Norseman had reeled off a 20-5 run to take a 46-31 lead at the break, and they never looked back,
The second half was all Northern Kentucky. Their lead was never smaller than the halftime margin of 15 and it ballooned all the way up to 36 during the second half.
Eral Penn lead the way for BVI, finishing with 29 points and 10 rebounds while, for BVI, Kimron Telemarque and Steve Parillion both had nine points in the loss.
For Northern Kentucky, Tyler Sharpe poured in 31 points while shooting 7-13 from beyond the arc, and Dantez Walton hit five of his six three point attempts en route to scoring 23 points.
Abilene Christian 109, USVI All-Stars 56
The Virgin Islands Stars were in the game for about five minutes Friday before Abilene Christian started to run away with the game and take full control.
A Shakoy Peters three-pointer with 15:33 remaining in the first half saw the V.I. take a 12-11 lead, the last time they were ahead for the rest of the game.
With less than 12 minutes remaining in the first half of play, Abilene Christian had shot out to a double-digit lead, a margin they held onto to the remainder of the game.
At halftime the Wildcats were up 45-28. The second half was more of the same, as ACU’s grew to 55 at one point during the final period.
For USVI, Khalid Gerard had 15 points and Devon Peltier added 13 points in a losing effort.
It was an around team performance for Abilene Christian as six players reached double figures. Kolton Kohl netted 16, Airion Simminos 14, Hayden Howell 12, Mahki Morris 11, Joe Pleasant and Payten Ricks had 10 each.
Northern Kentucky 91, BVI All-Stars 68
Walton scored the first six points for Northern Kentucky on Saturday and the team never looked back.
A Sharpe three pointer gave the Norsemen their first double digit lead with 11:23 to go in the first half.
Northern Kentucky pushed its lead up to 27 at one point in the first half and by the interval they was up 50-29.
BVI fought back in the second half, but Northern Kentucky still outscored the islanders, 41-39, in the period.
The bright spot for BVI was Eral Penn, who had 39 points.
Northern Kentucky was lead once again by Sharpe, who scored 22 points, while Adham Eleeda had 15. Walton had 13 points and Trevon Faulkner rounded out the players in double digits with 11 points.
Looking Ahead
This week the UVI Sports and Fitness Center will host the University of Calgary and Youngstown State.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, the teams will face off at 5 p.m.
The Virgin Islands All- Stars will get a shot at Youngstown State at 5 p.m. Thursday. A rematch of Wednesday’s match-up will take place at 10 a.m. Friday.
Tickets are $5, available at the door.
