SAINT THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands– AJ Casey was one of three double figure scorers for the University of Evansville men's basketball team in Sunday's 97-59 defeat to Akron in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam.

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Box Score

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UE will face the College of Charleston in Monday evening's 3^rd-place game at 4:30 p.m. CST.
 
"Akron is a very talented team and program that we strive to emulate. They won 28 games last year and returned most of their guys and we would love to get to that point," UE head coach David Ragland said. "We played well for most of the first half and we will learn from tonight and be ready for Charleston tomorrow."
 
Casey scored 13 points while adding eight rebounds in the contest. Keishon Porter and Bryce Quinet also scored 13 points apiece. Josh Hughes scored seven points. Akron was led by Bowen Hardman and Tavari Johnson who recorded 19 points each.
 
Akron scored the opening five points of the contest before UE began to roll. After going 0-2 with three turnovers, Josh Hughes scored on back-to-back possessions to open a= 9-0 lead to put the Purple Aces in front for the first time. AJ Casey completed the run with two baskets of his own as UE led 9-5 at the 15:35 mark.
 
Following a triple by the Zips, Keishon Porter scored to put Evansville back up by three before another 3-pointer tied things up at 11-11. Akron retook a 14-11 edge on three free throws while Bryce Quinet knocked down his first triple of the contest to tie the score once again with 11:52 remaining in the half.
 
With the Zips up 23-18 just past the midway point of the period, Casey's third field goal of the night made it a 3-point game. That is when Akron knocked down consecutive triples while scoring eight in a row to take their first double figure lead at 31-20. A pair of Casey free throws got the Aces back on track, however, the Zips would take their largest lead of the period at 36-24 inside of the 5-minute mark.
 
Evansville cut the deficit back down to eight points at the break with Quinet registering the final bucket of the period to make it a 44-36 game at the break. Casey led UE with 11 points while Bowen Hardman scored 16 in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Just over three minutes into the second half, Akron continued to add to its lead, going up 52-38 on a 3-point play. With just under ten minutes left, the lead for the Zips reached 19 at 69-50. Quinet knocked down another trey to cut into the deficit but it was all Akron from that point. They completed the game on a 28-9 run to finish with the 97-59 victory.
 
The Zips shot 56.1% from the field while holding the Aces to 43.5%. They also completed the game with a 29-22 rebounding edge.