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A pair of teams off to strong starts to the season — and one coming off a historic performance — will face off Sunday when Kansas State plays Liberty in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Wildcats (4-1) beat George Washington 83-71 in the first round Friday, building a big first-half lead but struggling to put the Revolutionaries away. The Flames (5-1), on the other hand, opened their tournament Friday with a convincing 89-69 victory over Louisiana — shooting both a program- and tournament-record 67.3 percent (33-of-49) from the field. Liberty was 9 of 18 from 3-point range.

The Flames were led by Kaden Metheny’s 20 points that came on 7-of-10 shooting from the field (4-of-6 from beyond the arc). Metheny, however, isn’t satisfied with just one victory, regardless of the history that came with it.

“We’ve got two more games here,” he said. “We want to come away with three wins. My coach wouldn’t like me saying this, but this is some really good weather. But this is a good win.

“We’ve got a lot of unselfish dudes on the team. They hit me in the right spots.”

Kansas State led George Washington 46-27 at halftime, but the Revolutionaries trimmed the deficit to 59-55 before K-State pulled away late. Still, George Washington outscored the Wildcats 44-37 after intermission.

David N’Guessan led five Wildcats in double figures with 17 points. He and Coleman Hawkins tied for the team lead with nine rebounds.

“We knew we had to come out strong in the second half,” N’Guessan said after the game. “Coach (Jerome) Tang talked about it in the locker room. They came out and went on a run, but Coach always says basketball is a game of runs. We had to regroup and make our own run.”

Tang was pleased with the first half, probably the best half the Wildcats have played this season. They held George Washington to just 25 percent (7-of-28) shooting from the field.

–Field Level Media