Kam Jones scored a season-high-tying 19 points to fuel Marquette to an 84-60 victory over Georgia Tech on Wednesday in the third-place game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Fort Myers, Fla.
Jones also scored 19 points in the Golden Eagles’ 75-70 loss to Purdue on Nov. 15. He reached double-digit scoring for the fifth time in six games this season after accomplishing the feat just seven times in 2021-22.
Tyler Kolek collected 14 points, six assists and five rebounds for Marquette (4-2), which shot 47.5 percent from the floor (29 of 61) to bounce back from a 58-55 loss to Mississippi State on Monday.
Sean Jones had 11 points and Oso Ighodaro recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds for his second career double-double. Stevie Mitchell, Chase Ross and David Joplin each had two of the seven steals for the Golden Eagles.
Georgia Tech’s Ja’von Franklin recorded 17 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks in his first start of the season.
Kyle Sturdivant added 10 points for the Yellow Jackets (3-2), who have lost two in a row.
Marquette shot 50.0 percent from the floor to seize a 41-28 lead at halftime. Kolek made 4 of 6 shots and eight Golden Eagles made at least one basket to lead a balanced offense.
Kam Jones threaded a no-look pass to Ighodaro for an uncontested dunk to push Marquette’s lead to 50-33 early in the second half.
Sean Jones’ twisting left-handed layup just under three minutes later extended the Golden Eagles’ advantage to 20 points, and they put it on cruise control from there.
Kam Jones drained a pair of 3-pointers to help stake Marquette to an early 18-6 lead. Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Sean Jones and Ross each scored four points in that sequence.
Georgia Tech also stumbled out of the blocks on Monday, allowing 23 of the first 27 points in a 68-64 setback to Utah.
–Field Level Media