DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Jacksonville Dolphins placed second overall in the Sunshine Slam Tournament Tuesday afternoon, falling to Pacific 68-53 in the championship final.

The Sunshine Slam championship game was just the fifth all-time meeting between Jacksonville and a West Coast Conference team and the first overall meeting with the Pacific Tigers. In the first ever contest between the two programs, Jacksonville led for two minutes after a Jason Thirdkill Jr. dunk opened the game. Two buckets for Pacific on the next two possessions gave the Tigers a lead they didn't surrender.

Jacksonville had a handful of chances in the first half to regain the lead however. A Donovan Rivers layup at the 6:18 mark tied the game at 16 and a Chris Arias jumper put Jacksonville down just 24-20. At the halftime break, Pacific led 28-20.

Out of the stoppage, JU again got a quick Thirdkill Jr. bucket around the rim. By the 10-minute mark, Pacific went ahead by double-digits and held on for the duration.

After being held scoreless in JU's semifianls win over Bethune-Cookman, Arias led the Dolphins with a 10-point outing. He connected on his first triple of the tournament with 21 seconds to play, one of two 3-point makes by the Dolphins all afternoon.

The day after setting his new career high in scoring, Rivers again was a factor, this time with nine points on 4-5 shooting. His 22 points combined set the best such two-game stretch of Rivers' career.

Chris Lockett Jr. added nine points of his own and a team-high six boards. Thirdkill Jr. finished with eight points and three rebounds.

Rebounds were hard to come by for Jacksonville as the Tigers won the rebounding battle 48-24. Entering the game, JU had a +7.0 rebounding margin and had been outrebounded only once this season.

Jacksonville did improve its free throw shooting after a 14-25 showing against Bethune. The dolphins finished 13-18 from the charity stripe. Arias, freshman Hayden Wood and Charles Caporaso all finished with three makes.

The sophomore Caporaso had his biggest game as a Dolphin in just his third Division 1 appearance with the team. He played a career-high nine minutes and scored his first buckets with JU, ending his afternoon with five points. The seven-footer also snagged four rebounds, a new career best.

Freshmen Hayden Wood and Evan Sterck both played in their seventh consecutive collegiate game. Wood ended his night with three points. Sterck ended with two points and two assists. Fellow freshman Michael Harper Jr. appeared in his sixth game this year.

Dating back to the 2023-24 season, Jacksonville has appeared in three non-conference tournaments. The Dolphins are 4-2 in those tournament games.

After five straight games away from Swisher Gymnasium, JU returns to home court on Tuesday, Dec. 2 to face off against Florida A&M. Tipoff in the first meeting of the season against the Rattler is at 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+. Jacksonville later travels to FAMU on Dec. 17.