Florida Memorial stuns HU


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03.08.07 - A young unseeded Florida Memorial squad out-hustled and out-played the Foresters for the majority of the 40 minutes and held off a late HU rally for the huge 67-64 upset win in the opening round of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament.

After opening the game with a 5-0 run, HU's offense began to sputter as Florida Memorial picked up its defensive intensity.  The Lions clawed their way back by forcing the Foresters into several uncharacteristic turnovers and took a 10-9 lead on a Tramaine Stevens runner at the 11:36 mark.  Kyle Benge hit a jumper at the other end to take the lead back for HU at 11-10, but it was short-lived.

Florida Memorial scored five straight points to take a 16-11 lead, and outside of a brief 20-18 Forester lead at the 6:12 mark, the Lions had the upper-hand the rest of the way.  Florida Memorial out-scored HU 9-2 down the stretch to hold a 27-22 advantage at the break.  The Foresters, who were averaging 11.9 turnovers per game on the season, finished the half with 12 and were 1-8 from behind the arc.

Things didn't get any better in the second half for the Foresters. The Lions opened the period with a 12-2 run to put HU down 15 at 39-24 in less than four minutes of play.  Florida Memorial was able to keep the lead at or near double digits for the next 11 minutes until Benge finally narrowed the gap to seven on a trey from the right wing.  After the score, Benge tipped a Lion inbounds pass and Kyle Ganton came up with the ball.  He quickly knocked down a 12-footer to make it 54-49 with 5:28 to play.  Finally the Foresters seemed to have some momentum.

HU continued to whittle the deficit down and pulled within one at 62-61 on an Alex Kock three with 1:18 to play.  Twelve seconds later, Stevens, the NAIA Division II top-scorer, answered with a driving layup to make it 64-61.  The Foresters had two opportunities to cut it back to two, but came up short on both tries and the Lions' Andre Beauford was fouled rebounding the second miss with 27 seconds remaining.  Beauford hit one to make it 65-61. 

The Foresters inbounded the ball looking to score quickly, but Florida Memorial's defense didn't allow the field goal until just 9.4 seconds remained.  HU fouled Stevens on the Lions' next possession.  He hit the first to make it 66-63, but when he missed the second, his teammate Reginald Thomas came up with the big rebound.  Again, HU was forced to foul.  Thomas hit the first to make it a two possession game at 67-63.  This time, the Foresters rebounded his second attempt.  Benge tried to draw a foul on a three-point attempt and missed.  Sheckler was fouled on the rebound with four tenths of a second left on the clock.

Sheckler hit the first attempt to make it 67-64, and then  threw the ball hard off the rim hoping the rebound would go to one of his four teammates standing behind the arc.  Kock came up with the ball and was able to throw it at the basket before the buzzer sounded, but it was off the mark, bringing the Foresters' season to an abrupt end.

Stevens led the Lions with 24 points. Beauford added 13 points while Andre Thomas recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Florida Memorial shot just 37% from the field but forced 18 Huntington turnovers which led to 21 points to propel them to the victory.

HU was led by three-time MCC Player-of-the-Year Alex Kock with 26 points. The senior also took game-high honors with 14 rebounds. Kyle Ganton added 14 points for the Foresters. Heading into the tournament, HU topped the NAIA in three point percentage (43%), but they were only able to connect on 3 of 13 from beyond the arc for 23% in the game. The Foresters end their season with a 29-5 record.

Box Score

 
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