Box Score MELBOURNE, FL – Graduate
student Evrik
Gary scored a season-high 33 points, but Francis Marion
University was never able to completely overcome a 14-0
game-opening deficit as the Patriots fell 99-86 to North Greenville
University, Saturday evening (Dec. 21) on the second night of the
Florida Tech Holiday Classic.
Francis Marion (3-5) will now
break for the Christmas holidays. FMU will return to action
on Jan. 2 with a Peach Belt Conference road game at GRU
Augusta.
Gary shot 7-of-14 from the
field, including 4-of-9 behind the three-point line, and was
15-of-16 at the free throw line. His outburst was two shy of
his career high and it pushed his career total to 1,396 points and
moved him past former FMU center and Florence native Marcel Boggs
and into 10th place on the Patriot career scoring list. Gary
also pulled down eight rebounds.
Junior 6-10 center Clark Major scored 13
points and grabbed seven rebounds, while a pair of Patriot reserves
scored in double digits: senior guard Tyler Deihl 12
(and four assists) and junior forward Luka Zivkovic a
career-high 11.
Guard Keith Johnson paced North
Greenville (7-3) with 28 points and six assists, while guard Micah
Parker scored 22 points.
The Crusaders connected on
16-of-34 three-point attempts, while FMU was 10-of-30 from long
range.
North Greenville hit five of its
first six shots, while the Patriots missed their first four
attempts as the Crusaders marched to a 14-0 lead. The margin
extended to 21-6 only 5:34 into the contest. FMU rallied to
within 23-21 with a 15-2 spurt that was capped by a Deihl
three-pointer. North Greenville answered with five straight
points to end the FMU comeback.
The Crusaders led 51-40 at
halftime.
Gary scored 10 straight FMU
points to open the second stanza as the Patriots drew to within
53-50 with 17:50 left. Again the Crusaders responded, this
time with a 9-0 run to push their advantage back to double figures
at 62-50. Francis Marion closed the gap to seven points (74-67)
with 9:18 remaining and trailed only 81-73 with six minutes on the
clock, but that would be as close as the Patriots would get.
North Greenville missed only one free throw in 19 second-half
attempts to thwart any FMU comeback effort.
FMU outrebounded the Crusaders
42-36 and held a 16-4 advantage in second-chance points.
12-21-13 5 p.m. at Melbourne, Fla. (Clemente
Center)
NORTH GREENVILLE 99, FRANCIS MARION
86
FRANCIS MARION (3-5)
Evrik Gary 7-14 15-16 33; Clark Major 4-7 5-7 13; Tyler
Deihl 3-6 4-4 12;
Luka Zivkovic 4-7 0-0 11; Robert
Carpenter 3-4 2-2 9; Mykel Harris 1-9
4-6
6; Dustin Jones 1-9
0-0 2; Trevonte
Dixon 0-5 0-0 0; David Brown 0-1 0-0
0;
Sam
Caron 0-1 0-0 0; Lepreece Lynch 0-2
0-0 0; Alex
Bryant 0-2 0-0 0. Totals
23-67 30-35 86.
NORTH GREENVILLE (7-3)
Keith Johnson 9-19 6-8 28; Micah Parker 6-12 6-6 22;
Thomas Horn 5-7 2-2 15;
Chris Dean 3-9 6-7 14; Patrick George 4-6 0-0 11; Phillip
Brown 3-7 3-3 9;
Blake Ferguson 0-0 0-0 0; Jai Jencks 0-0 0-0 0; Stephen
Couvillion 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 30-60 23-26 99.
Halftime: North Greenville 51 Francis Marion 40
3-point goals--Francis Marion 10-30 (Evrik Gary 4-9; Luka
Zivkovic 3-5;
Tyler Deihl 2-5; Robert Carpenter 1-2; Trevonte Dixon 0-1;
Sam Caron 0-1;
Lepreece Lynch 0-1; Dustin Jones 0-5; Mykel Harris 0-1),
North Greenville
16-34 (Micah Parker 4-6; Keith Johnson 4-12; Patrick
George 3-5; Thomas Horn
3-5; Chris Dean 2-4; Phillip Brown 0-2). Fouled
out--Francis Marion-None,
North Greenville-Thomas Horn; Patrick George.
Rebounds--Francis Marion 42
(Mykel Harris 9), North Greenville 36 (Phillip Brown 9).
Assists--Francis
Marion 11 (David Brown 4; Tyler Deihl 4), North Greenville
21 (Keith Johnson
6; Patrick George 6). Total fouls--Francis Marion 22,
North Greenville 24.
Technical fouls--Major, Horn; Parker. A-130
