St. Augustine built leads as large as 16 and then had to hold off Ballard for a 63-57 victory and fifth place in the 31st Annual Beach Ball Classic.

After falling behind 24-8 and running sprints during a timeout called Head Coach Chris Renner, the Ballard Bruins (8-5; Louisville, KY) began to chop away at the lead using reserves as the starters watched on.  Ballard closed the half with an 8-2 run to close the gap to 26-16 at the break.

During the opening 16-minute half, Coach Renner used 15 players as he tried to find any combination that would shake his Bruins out of their 20.0 field goal percentage and 10 turnovers.  Ballard was not the only team struggling as St. Augustine (20-2; New Orleans, LA) shot just 33.3 percent in the opening half.

St. Augustine maintained a 10-point advantage at 53-43 with just 3:35 to play in regulation when the Bruins stormed back with a 11 unanswered points to take their first lead of the game at 54-53 with 2:28 on the clock.

After exchanging a basket each and the lead, St. Augustine regained the lead on an old-fashioned three point play by Javion Felix with 1:14 to play to give the Purple Knights a 58-56 lead.  St. Augustine used another three point play on a dunk and free throw by Deion Taylor and a pair of free throws by Sydie London to hold on for the win.

St. Augustine was led by London's 21 points off of the bench and Craig Victor's 16 points and seven rebounds.  Senior guard Javon Felix, a signee wit the University of Texas, set the Purple Knights' offense with 11 assists to tie him for the sixth best single game total in BBC history.

Quenton Snider paced Ballard and led all scorers with 23 points.

Box Score

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