Ex-Bremerton star Jarell “Juice” Flora scored 25 points, 21 of them in the second half to lead Seattle University to a 75-71 come-from-behind win over Cal State Fullerton in the Elgin Baylor Classic at KeyArena.
Juice bombed in five 3-pointers in the second as the Redhawks (1-1) rallied from 18 points back. His three with 2:39 left tied the game at 69. He was 8-of-17 from the field, including 5-of-9 from beyond the three-point line.
Flora’s performance doesn’t surprise me. He’s super athletic, a gifted shooter and he plays bigger than his 6-3 size. I was bit puzzled why coach Cameron Dollar didn’t use him more last season. The redshirt junior has started both games this season, but that’s because highly-touted Cal transfer Emerson Murray has been out with a stress fracture in his right foot.
It’s gonna be hard to keep Flora off the floor if he keeps making shots.
His previous career high was 18. He got that against Texas-Arlington last year. He averaged 5.9 points, playing just under 17 minutes a game last season. He scored seven points against the Huskies in a loss on Sunday.
Side note: Give former Bremerton coach Casey Lindberg credit for Flora getting his scholarship to Seattle U. Dollar was a Husky assistant when Marvin Williams was playing at Bremerton and Lindberg developed a relationship with Dollar, who was recruiting Williams. Anyway, Flora was relatively unknown until his senior year, when he earned Olympic League MVP and all-state honors while leading Bremerton to the state tournament.
Lindberg called Dollar, who checked Flora out at a district-tournament game. Flora put on a show and Dollar called the following week with a scholarship offer.
