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Saturday, December 22, 2001
Oral Roberts, FIU turnovers
doom Golden Panthers, 66-55
 ral
Robert's Tyrone Tiggs and Luke Spencer-Gardner
put up 13 points each, but it was FIU that dug itself an early
hole, as ORU came away with a 66-55 third place win at the San
Juan Shootout in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
FIU (5-6) got 17 points from Rodrigo
Viegas but had little other offensive help while committing
a season-high 31 turnovers, 18 of those in the first half.
FIU, playing its third game in as many days, looked flat,
scoring only four points over the first eight minutes of the
game, falling behind early, 11-4.
ORU (5-8) led twice by as many as 13 in the half, the last
time at 26-13 on a Ralph Charles' bucket with 6:06 to
play, before FIU staged a brief comeback attempt behind Viegas.
A Fab
Fisher basket cut the lead to 25-15, then Viegas scored
FIU's next eight points as the Golden Panthers closed to within
32-23 with 1:23 remaining.
A pair of Carlos
Fernandez free throws and a Carlos
Morban steal and subsequent layup brought FIU to within
five, 32-27, at the intermission.
But the Golden Eagles scored eight of the first nine points
of the second half, getting their lead back into double digits,
40-28.
FIU countered with a Fisher trey, to close within nine, 40-31,
with about 14-and-a-half minutes left, but could get no closer.
ORU built its advantage back to as many as 16, when Kyle
Stewart's free throw made it 53-37 with 9:27 to play, and
the Golden Eagles never looked back.
"This was so disappointing because [Oral Roberts] didn't
press us defensively, we just took turns throwing the ball around
the arena," said FIU head coach Donnie
Marsh. "It was unacceptable and 100 percent disappointing.
"We came here to win three games and if we couldn't win
three, then we wanted at least two. We had a chance to leave
here as the third-place team of this event. We had a chance to
stay over .500. We had a chance at an awful lot of things over
the course of this Shootout, but it just didn't mean enough to
enough guys. That's what was most disappointing."
FIU now takes a few days off for Christmas before trying to
regroup next Thursday, Dec. 27 in the opening round of the FIU
Holiday Classic in Golden Panther Arena. FIU meets Vermont in
first round action beginning at 7:00 p.m. Ohio meets Long Island
University in the first game of the day starting at 5:00 p.m. |