Daily News Photos by SEAN McCOY DePaul forward Eric Wallace puts up a shot against St. Joseph's in Paradise Jam's third-place game Monday night at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center.

ST. THOMAS - The DePaul Blue Demons may not have won the Paradise Jam, but the third-place finishers have to be happy about their performance throughout the week.

The Blue Demons knocked off St. Joseph's, 58-51, in Monday's third-place game to wrap up the tournament with two wins and a loss.

"We had a very good tournament," DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright said. "This is a great facility, someday maybe I can come back here without a team. It'd make everything a lot more fun."

Just a day after they fell to No. 9 Tennessee, 57-53, DePaul bounced back by knocking off a young upstart Hawks squad. The Blue Demons held the Vols to their lowest scoring output of the year and held St. Joseph's to their lowest point total in nearly a year since the Hawks fell to Texas, 68-50, last season in the Maui Invitational.

The Hawks shot just 37.8 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from 3-point range. Their first-half total of 24 points was the lowest for the Hawks in a half this season.

The Blue Demons receive their Paradise Jam Third-place award.

"It's a disappointing way to finish up a trip," SJU head coach Phil Martelli said. "We had trouble getting the tempo we wanted. They had a good game plan."

In the first half, the Blue Demons trailed 16-14 before mounting a 13-0 run that ended with DePaul holding a 27-16 lead with just over six minutes to play.

After the teams exchanged field goals SJU cut the lead back to five with back-to-back treys by Chris Prescott and Darrin Goves, but five unanswered points by DePaul's Will Walker gave the Demons a 34-24 lead at the half.

Walker finished with 25 points and seven rebounds.

In the second half, the Hawks tied the game up twice but couldn't take the lead back. St. Joseph's Charoy Bentley scored all nine of his points in the second half, but his last field goal with 4:32 left in the game would also be the team's last.

Hawks forward Garrett Williamson hit two freebies to tie it at 49, and again at 51, but that would be all for the Hawks. The Blue Demons scored seven unanswered points to hold on for the win.

Govens finished with 16 points and Williamson added 10 for SJU.