South Carolina wins Paradise Jam

ST. THOMAS, US Virgin Islands — Laimonas Chatkevicius scored 17 points, Michael Carrera had 16 points and nine rebounds, and South Carolina beat Tulsa 83-75 Monday night in the championship game of the Paradise Jam. South Carolina led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but James Woodard's 3-point play and Marquel Curtis' reverse layup pulled Tulsa to 76-71 with 1:53 left. After Carrera answered with a tough layup, Pat Birt made a baseline jumper to make it a five-point game again. But the Gamecocks made 5 of 6 free throws in the final minute to seal it. Sindarius Thornwell scored 16 points for South Carolina, which is 5-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 season. Shaquille Harrison had 20 points for Tulsa (4-1). South Carolina beat DePaul in the first round, led by Mindaugas Kacinas's career-high 23 points. In the semifinals, all five Gamecocks starters scored in double figures against previously undefeated Hofstra. Indiana State downs Hofstra Khristian Smith had 22 points and nine rebounds and Devonte Brown scored a 3-point play when down by two with 12 seconds left to help lead Indiana State to a 67-66 win over Hofstra in the third-place game. The Sycamores (3-2), which trailed 66-59 with 1:42 left, closed the game on an 8-0 run. Brenton Scott scored the first five, drilling a three-pointer off a pass by Brown then adding two free throws eight seconds later which trimmed the Pride lead to 66-64 and set up Brown's final second heroics. Scott finished with 14 points while Brown had nine and five assists. Florida State beats Ohio Dwayne Bacon scored 25 points, Malik Beasley added 22 and Florida State beat Ohio 90-81 in the fourth-place game. Bacon was 9 of 15 from the field and Beasley made eight of his 10 shots. DePaul beats Norfolk State Tommy Hamilton scored 20 points and blocked Norfolk State's final shot to help DePaul take an 82-78 victory in the seventh-place game.