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Thursday, December 20, 2001
FIU breaks losing streak
with 63-59 win over Coppin State
 aurance Johnson
scored a team-high 15 points and Rodrigo
Viegas added 14 in FIU's 63-59 men's basketball win over
Coppin State (2-7) Thursday in the opening round of the San Juan
Shootout in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
The victory snapped a three-game losing skid for the Golden
Panthers and raised their record to 5-4 on the season.
Jimmy Boykin led all scorers with 18 points and Larry
Tucker had 12 in a losing effort as the Eagles dropped their
sixth straight decision.
The Golden Panthers used an 8-1 run over the final three minutes
of the first half for a 36-27 lead at the intermission, then
played stingy defense at the end to preserve the victory.
Coppin State got to within 55-54 with 4:37 left in the game
before three straight defensive stops on turnovers helped FIU
to a 61-56 advantage with 18 seconds to play. But the Eagles
closed to within 61-59 on three Tucker free throws after he was
fouled on a 3-point attempt.
FIU sealed the victory when a Carlos
Morban pass found Nikola
Novakovic down low resulting in a layup with just seconds
remaining.
"We mixed a lot of things up (on defense) tonight. We
didn't want them to get comfortable with anything we threw at
them," said FIU head coach Donnie
Marsh. "I was really happy with our performance
tonight because I though we played with a lot of energy. We had
fresh legs and the kids ran and trapped against a very athletic
Coppin State team.
"But like I said to the kids, I'm not sure any of us
came her to win one game and be satisfied. We need to come back
ready to get something done tomorrow."
Coppin State was up by as many as five in the early going,
13-8, on a three-point play by Thomas with 14:22 to go in the
first half. But the Golden Panthers fought back to tie the game
at 19-19 on a Johnson layup, then took their first lead of the
contest, 21-20, on another Johnson layup with 9:08 remaining.
The Eagles, however, opened the second half on a 9-2 run to
close to within 38-36, and after Johnson was whistled for his
fourth personal foul with 15:31 left, the momentum seemed to
shift to the Coppin State side.
Boykin, who had previously scored his career-high 15 points
two seasons ago against FIU while playing at Western Kentucky,
hit a pair of 3-pointers that put Coppin State up, 47-43, with
11:03 to play.
But Viegas, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half,
tied the score at 47 on a layup then moments later, gave FIU
the lead for good, 53-51, on a basket with 5:13 to play.
The Golden Panthers move on to the winners bracket and face
the Shootout's top seeded team, Baylor (8-1) in second-round
play Friday at 5:30 p.m. (ET) with the game broadcast live on
WAXY-790 AM. |