Palm Beach State withstood an 11-3 spurt that Harcum closed out the half on, tightened up defensively, and rode the red hot hand of freshman DJ Little, who authored a comeback bid with a sheer 3-point barrage in the second half.
Ultimately, it wasn’t enough to overcome a lackluster offensive game and 22 points from hard-finishing Manhattan-bound guard Mike Okafor. Harcum closed out its Florida trip with an 82-70 victory at Palm Beach State, bouncing back from a 100-83 shellacking at the hands of Central Florida on Jan.2.
“We played very composed and it was all about execution in those last 28 minutes of the game,” said Harcum head coach Drew Kelly.
“The last 20 minutes we executed a great deal and we got great shots. We got the right shot. We stopped trying to play hero ball.”
Harcum sat in a zone, a defensive tactic they rarely employ. The result was an irregular shooting performance from Palm Beach State, which was very limited beyond 33 points from Little and 19 points from Malik Curry. Little hit four consecutive 3-pointers during the first 10 minutes of the second half, the start of a wild breakout performance that included seven second half treys.
The well-built freshman guard cemented his status as one of the country’s most underrated shooters and a sleeper prospect, with his ability to guard also surfacing throughout.
Harcum cranked up its lead to as many as 20, 51-31, following an 11-0 second half run kick-started by a Maxi Andreatta 3-pointer and capped off by a fast break finish from Khalif Meares.
The upside and potential was evident in Harcum’s 6-foot-9 Vladimir Manuel. The St. John’s-commit was limited in the first half, though he exemplified a shot-blocking acumen and an evolving back to the rim game in the second.
Palm Beach State appeared to get a momentum roll at the end of the first half, when a technical foul and a personal on Harcum allowed Little to sink four straight free throws and give Palm Beach State a 28-26 lead with 4:22 remaining.
Harcum answered as Andreatta buried a 3-pointer and Okafor engineered a personal 6-0 run that featured a dazzling left handed finish in traffic. Palm Beach State thwarted the run as Darrick Boyd drilled a 3-pointer, making it 35-31.
Malik Curry finished with a hard 19 points, as Harcum made him work for every one of those points.
“We knew coming into the game his capabilities, and we knew we would have to neutralize him in order to get the win,” said Kelly.
“We said ‘let’s make him a jump shooter,’ let’s get him off balance.”
