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Wednesday, January 16, 2002
Arkansas State hangs on
to win in overtime, 57-56
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photo by Geoff Anderson
Rodrigo Viegas rises
high above an Arkansas State defender for two of his 14 points
in a 57-56 overtime loss Wednesday night at Golden Panther Arena.
Taurance Johnson led all scorers with 18 points to go along with
a career-high 15 rebounds. It was Johnson who forced the game
into the extra period when he rebounded a missed free throw with
1.6 seconds to go in regulation.
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Weaver scored six points in overtime as Arkansas State came
away with a 57-56 overtime win over host FIU (8-12, 2-4 SBC),
in a Sun Belt Conference game Wednesday night in Miami.
The 6-feet-9 Weaver scored a pair of 3-point baskets in the
overtime period and the Indians hit three of four free throw
attempts to win their second straight. Weaver's second trey,
with the score tied at 53, gave ASU (12-8, 3-2) a lead it wouldn't
relinquish.
Arkansas State added one of two free throws by Odie Williams
with 5.1 seconds remaining in the game for a 57-53 advantage
before FIU's Fab
Fisher scored on a 3-point basket as time expired.
Taurance
Johnson led FIU with 18 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked
shots. He forced the overtime period when he rebounded a missed
free throw attempt by Fisher with 1.6 seconds remaining and scored
on a lay-up, knotting the score at 48.
Jon Beck came off the bench and led Arkansas State
with 14 points. He hit two straight 3-pointers early in the second
half that tied the score at 27, after FIU took a 21-19 lead into
the intermission.
With the score tied at 29, Indians' big man Jason Jennings
went to work, scoring eight of his 13 points on three sky hooks
and a dunk over a five-minute span, helping ASU to its biggest
lead of the night, 40-32, with about 10 minutes to play.
But FIU came back behind Johnson, who gave the Golden Panthers
a 45-44 lead with 2:07 to go when he banked home a three-pointer,
before his last-second heroics.
"Our game plan dictated the tempo we wanted to play and
it worked well with the exception of the final score," said
FIU head coach Donnie
Marsh.
"They didn't do anything we didn't expect them to do,
even the threes by Weaver. But our players haven't mastered the
fatigue factor, yet."
Rodrigo
Viegas added 14 points and eight rebounds for
FIU in the loss while Nik
Novakovic and Fisher had 10 points each.
The FIU players will have a chance to rejuvenate themselves
as the team doesn't return to action on the court for a week
when the Golden Panthers host former mentor Bob Weltlich and
his South Alabama Jaguars, next Wednesday, Jan. 23. |