The Falcon men's basketball team picked up their first D-1 win of the season as they held off Florida International to win at Anderson Arena. Early in the second half the Falcons were holding a 17 point lead and looking like they were going to do what every other team has done to FIU this year, which is deliver a double digit defeat.
FIU went on an 8-minute, 23-11 run to get the game back with 5 with about 9 left, and from there on in it was pretty tight. The game never got to within one score until inside a minute (a 3 point lead) and BG's Scott Thomas hit a rare BG free throw to make it 4 points and at that point, the Falcons had salted away the victory.
The key story for the game was Dee Brown. I liked Dee Brown last year and thought he showed potential in limited playing time. He's a barrel-chested guy and doesn't always look like today's ideal college basketball player (long and lean), but he seemed to have some guys and be a heady basketball player and Coach kept saying he was "old school," which I think I understand.
Anyway, Brown had a fantastic, game-saving night against FIU, with 20 precious points. When FIU was on their run, he was the only guy getting anything going offensively for the Falcons, and is probably responsible for keeping the run from being even more severe.
Apparently, he told the media after the game that Isiah Thomas is his hero, and Coach Orr suggested that they should put a picture of Thomas in his locker because Brown "sure played" with Thomas on the floor.
FIU is a small team, and BG did dominate the rebounding game, which FIU has done OK at, despite their size.
It is nice for our guys to win for their confidence and for a little reward for their hard work. To no one's surprise, there is more work to be done.
BG was fine defending in a zone, but tried to switch to a man and that's when FIU went on its run. On the other end of the floor, BG had trouble with FIU's press and with their zone defense. There were 15 turnovers again, and some silly fouls down the stretch that made things more difficult than they needed to be.
Worse of all, perhaps, was the free throw shooting. BG did a great job getting to the line, with 27 free throws against 13 for FIU. Sadly, the Falcons were only barely above 50%, and turned that 14 FT advantage into only 5 actual points. Worse, as Coach Orr said after the game, it seems to be "catching," as players who have formerly shot FTs well have now come down to the level of those who haven't.
Coach Orr said they are trying various things to turn this around, but in the meantime, it makes it harder to win games.
BG did block 7 shots.
Again, though, a victory is a good thing for this team after some tough assignments. I continue to think we have the ability to be very competitive this season if we can continue to improve, particularly over the next month.
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