Sagemont holds off Hough to take 3rd place in Beach Ball Classic

Sagemont (Fla) wanted to keep Hough (N.C.) senior Luke Maye in check on Wednesday.

While the Lions’ plan may have worked in the first half, they couldn’t contain the UNC commit in the second.

Maye scored 14 of his team-high 20 points in the second half and grabbed 11 rebounds to bring Hough (N.C.) back in the game, but it wasn’t enough for the Huskies as Sagemont took a 55-51 victory and third place in the Beach Ball Classic.

“We wanted to slow down Maye; he’s a really good player,” Lions coach Adam Ross said. “We needed to control the tempo and take care of the ball. We played fine; we didn’t play great but we did fine. We’re happy to get out of here 3-1.”

Ross could tell Maye was tired and his team took advantage. Sagemont held Maye to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field in the first half, and the Lions held a 26-21 lead at halftime.

“I wish we led by a little more at halftime,” Ross said. “But holding Maye to six points was big.”

The Lions led by as much as 11 in the second half with around eight minutes left, but Hough made its push.

The Huskies scored the next eight points to cut their deficit to 46-43. After battling back-and-forth over the next few minutes, Chase Sweetman hit a 3-pointer to bring Hough within two points with a little over a minute left.

After a turnover by Sagemont’s Nick Deferia, Maye missed a 3-pointer. Then, after getting fouled by Ryan Friday, Sagemont guard Prince Ali missed a free throw. Hough got the rebound and missed two shots before Deferia went to the line for Sagemont with 15 second left.

Deferia hit both shots to put the Lions up for good as Maye and Connor Whipp both missed 3-point attempts.

“We just didn’t come out and play” Maye said. “We missed some shots at the end and couldn’t pull it off. We learned a lot and it’ll help us when we get back.”

Ali, a UCLA commit, played a big part in giving Sagemont its lead as he had 10 points in the first half, en route to a game-high 23.

“Prince really scored and made shots,” Ross said. “He was great for us and he’s consistently good like that.”

Ross said he could tell weariness set in for both teams.

“It’s hard to play four out of four games in five days and our kids really battled,” he said. “Fatigue definitely set in for both teams in the second half but our guys were able to fight through it and did enough to win.”

Ross said his team has learned a lot from a trip to one of the country’s most prestigious tournaments.

“We played four very good teams and that’s going to help us down the road,” he said. “This is a first-class event and we’re very blessed to be a part of it.”

This story was originally published December 31, 2014 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Sagemont holds off Hough to take 3rd place in Beach Ball Classic."