By: FVSU Office of Sports Information
Round two of the Fort Valley State University (FVSU), Morehouse College (MHC) college basketball wars took place tonight in the HPE Arena on the FVSU campus. In their previous meeting on February 1st, the Maroon Tigers took advantage of a home crowd in the Forbes Arena to defeat the Wildcats, 82-76. With the regular season getting closer and closer to the end, tonight's Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) match up pitted the sixth ranked Maroon Tigers (7-9 overall, 7-7 in the SIAC) and the eleventh ranked Wildcats (6-15 overall, 6-11 in the SIAC).
In typical fashion, the teams kept things close in the first 20 minutes of play. At the 9 minute mark, the Maroon Tigers held a narrow 20-19 lead. With 3:35 left, FVSU's Brandon Davey scored on lay up and was fouled. After hitting the free throw, FVSU trailed 36-33. After a Jeremy Sledge bank shot found its range with 2:17 remaining, the Wildcats trailed again by one point, 36-35. Seconds later, Nigel Domineck scored on a lay up to give FVSU a 37-35 lead.
With 1:14 left, a strong move inside the paint and a left-handed bank shot by Domineck gave the Wildcats a 41-40 lead. At the 1:07 mark, Sledge was fouled on an inbound play and converted both free throws under a one and one to extend the FVSU lead to 43-40. The three point lead held as the teams departed for intermission.
Both teams were red hot from the floor in the first half as each shot 53%. FVSU made 17 of 32 shots while MHC converted 16 of 30 attempts. At the game's midpoint, FVSU's Davey and Sledge had 15 and 12 points, respectively. Daniyal Faquir had 12 points for MHC.
The start of the second half opened with two quick Maroon Tiger baskets as they reclaimed the lead, 44-43. The run continued after another MHC lay up. The 6-0 scoring run gave the Maroon Tigers a 46-43 advantage.
After a time out, Morehouse got another lay up to expand their lead to 48-43. It wasn't until the 16:30 mark that the Wildcats got their first second half basket. With 13 minutes left, the Maroon Tigers enjoyed their largest lead of the game, 55-45. The Morehouse margin was eight points at the eight minute mark, 60-52.
With 4:27 remaining, the Wildcats took a time out. Trailing 65-58, the challenge for the Wildcats was to push beyond the mere trading of baskets with Morehouse and make a serious charge at the lead. With 2:39 left, the Wildcats had made a dent in the lead. Trailing 67-63, Desmond Lofland nailed a mid-range jumper to bring the Wildcats to within two points, 67-65.
With 45 seconds left, Lofland went to the line to shot two free throws. The freshman sank one of two and the MHC lead was down to one point, 69-68. After a tough defensive stand, Davey got a take away for FVSU. With 18 seconds left, the Wildcats took a time out and would report back in a half court set with a chance to win the game.
On the inbound play, the Wildcats worked it deep in the corner to Orr who fired and drained a three pointer to give FVSU a 71-69 lead and the eventual win!
The much needed win takes the Wildcats to 7-15 overall and now 7-11 in conference play. The clutch three point basket by Orr gave him seven points for the game. Davey and Sledge led FVSU in scoring with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
The Wildcats are back in action on Thursday night (Feb. 10th) as part of a doubleheader. The Lady Wildcats take on the Pantherettes of Claflin University at 6 p.m. and the men take the hardwood at 8 p.m.
-Wildcats Athletics-
