Box Score AMERICUS, GA – Francis Marion University attempted nearly as many free throws as field goals in Saturday's (Dec. 17) Peach Belt Conference men's basketball opener, but the Patriots missed on 18 of the shots from stripe and dropped an 80-76 decision to Georgia Southwestern State University.
The Patriot men drop to 4-5 overall and 0-1 in the Peach Belt. Francis Marion will play on Monday at Young Harris College for a 2 p.m. tip-off before taking its Christmas break. The next home contest for FMU will be Jan. 5 against the University of Montevallo.
Of the Patriots' nine games, five have been decided by less than 10 points.
Senior 6-8 center Kenneth Jackson led FMU with a career-high 18 points while hauling down six rebounds, and junior guard Detrek Browning scored 13 points. Junior forward Judah Alexander tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds to register his third double-double of the season and sixth of his career, while junior forward Warren Specht added 10 points off the Patriot bench.
Cameron Dozier led the Hurricanes (3-5, 1-0) with a game-high 25 points, while Devin Watson contributed 18 points.
Excusing for a brief 3-3 tie in the early going, Georgia Southwestern led the entirety of the first half. The Hurricanes led by 13 points on a couple of occasions, including 36-23 with 9:01 left in the opening half. The Patriots rallied to trim the deficit to seven points (46-39) at intermission.
GSW held a 50-39 advantage in the opening minutes of the second stanza, but a 22-11 spurt by Francis Marion knotted the score at 61-61 following a three-point play by Specht with 10:40 remaining.
The Hurricanes responded with the next four points to go up 65-61. A three-pointer by Browning brought FMU to within 69-68 with 5:59 on the clock.
Trailing 76-71 with just over a minute left, Francis Marion was thebeneficary of an intentional foul call against GSW. Unfortunately, both free throws were missed as was the three-point attempt on the ensuing possession and the Hurricanes would hold on for the win.
FMU hit 47.8 percent of its field goal attempts (22-of-46), including 8-of-23 three-point attempts, but was 24-of-42 at the foul line. GSW shot 45.5 percent from the floor, hit 10-of-21 shots from beyond the arc, and was 20-of-28 at the free throw stripe.
12/17/16 3:30 PM at Americus, Ga.
GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN 80, FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY 76
FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY (4-5, 0-1 PBC)
Kenneth Jackson 5-8 7-11 18; Detrek Browning 4-13 2-2 13; Judah Alexander
3-6 6-8 12; Warren Specht 2-4 6-7 10; Daniel Bridges 3-6 0-1 8; Nigel Holley
3-3 0-0 7; Josh Council 2-5 1-4 6; Jaquez Smith 0-0 2-6 2; Samson Nnaji 0-0
0-0 0; Brandon Parker 0-1 0-1 0; John Jenkins 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 22-46 24-42
76.
GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN (3-5, 1-0 PBC)
Cameron Dozier 7-10 8-9 25; Devin Watson 7-15 2-4 18; Brandon Price 3-8 4-6
12; Tevin Wise 3-10 2-2 10; Rakeem Hicks 3-8 0-0 7; Jordan Banks 2-2 1-2 5;
Cameron Clayton 0-1 2-2 2; Colt Yawn 0-0 1-2 1; Jaylen Waters 0-1 0-0 0;
Darius McGoughy 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 25-55 20-28 80.
Halftime: GSW 46 Francis Marion 39
3-point goals--Francis Marion University 8-23 (Detrek Browning 3-10; Daniel
Bridges 2-4; Kenneth Jackson 1-3; Nigel Holley 1-1; Josh Council 1-3;
Brandon Parker 0-1; Warren Specht 0-1), Georgia Southwestern 10-21 (Cameron
Dozier 3-4; Devin Watson 2-6; Tevin Wise 2-5; Brandon Price 2-4; Rakeem
Hicks 1-2). Fouled out--Francis Marion University-Jaquez Smith, Georgia
Southwestern-Darius McGoughy; Rakeem Hicks; Cameron Clayton.
Rebounds--Francis Marion 38 (Judah Alexander 11), GSW 30 (Jordan Banks 7).
Assists--Francis Marion 18 (Jaquez Smith 4), GSW 16 (Cameron Dozier 5). Total
fouls--Francis Marion 27, GSW 27. Technical fouls--None. A-347
