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Thursday, January 10, 2002
Johnson's overttime trey
moves FIU past North Texas
 reshman
Taurance
Johnson drained a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining
in overtime lifting the Golden Panthers to a 79-78 Sun Belt Conference
road win Thursday in Denton, Tex.
Johnson led the team with 23 points, 12 rebounds and three
steals and Rodrigo
Viegas added 22 points and 14 boards as FIU (8-10, 2-2
SBC) won its second-straight conference decision and matched
its total number of victories from a season ago.
Johnson also recorded four blocked shots on the night, giving
him 34 on the season and tying him for fourth in the FIU record
book for most blocked shots in a single season.
North Texas (6-8, 2-2), who came in having won five of its
last six games, was led by Chris Davis and his game-high
27 points. He became only the seventh player to reach 1,400 points
in Mean Green program history.
Field goals by Unjel Masters and Jermaine Green
gave UNT a 78-74 overtime advantage with 1:45 to play. A Viegas
lay-up brought the Golden Panthers to within two, 78-76, with
1:29 remaining, then the defenses took over.
Viegas was blocked on a tying lay-up attempt with 51 seconds
remaining by Masters before Johnson returned the favor by blocking
a Davis shot with 15 seconds left.
That set up the winning goal when Johnson took a pass at the
left of the key and hit from long range for the lead.
UNT had one final chance at victory, but Johnson came back
to steal a arrant pass at the baseline as time expired.
"Taurance is talented enough to be able to take over
a game," said FIU head coach Donnie
Marsh. "He wanted that ball in the end and shot
it like it we were shooting drills in practice."
For FIU to reach the overtime period, the Golden Panthers
had to come back from a 71-66 deficit with 15 seconds remaining
in regulation.
A Slavcho
Slavtchev 3-pointer made the score 71-69, then after
Davis could hit only the first of two free throws, Fab
Fisher's trey with 1.9 seconds showing on the clock tied
the game at 72 and sent the contest into overtime.
"This was a terrific big-time game. One I'm poud to be
associated with," said Marsh. "We came in here against
an improved basketball team and for us to come out and win was
just great for our young squad.
This was the second overtime game for FIU under Marsh and
both have been against North Texas in Denton. Last year, despite
a school-record 39 points by guard Carlos Arroyo, UNT
beat the Golden Panthers, 70-68, when Davis scored the Mean Green's
final three points in the last 4.2 seconds. This year, the tables
were turned. |