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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Brown (5-7) |
23 |
40 |
63 |
| Western Illinois (4-8) |
30 |
29 |
59 |
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| Flint Hills Resources IslanderClassic – First Round |
| American Bank Center Arena – Corpus Christi, TX |
Boxscore |
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
A 12-2 run early in the second half brought Brown from down five to up five. Nate Eads got things started with a dunk off a feed from Marcus Becker with 18:23 left in the contest. After a missed Western Illinois jumper, Becker again found Eads for a dunk. Lorenzo Taylor followed up a teammate’s miss, but Eads dished to Scott Friske for a layup to get back the two points. The Bears missed layups on their next two possessions, but the Becker-to-Eads connection struck again for a layup to give Brown the lead. The Leathernecks turned it over, and Chris Skrelja added to the lead with two turnovers. A string of turnovers ensued, before Friske got inside for a layup to give the Bears a 39-34 lead with 12:58 left.
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| Key sign it was over |
Brown led by 10 with under a minute left, but David Jackson’s jumper cut the margin to eight with 46 seconds remaining. Damon Huffman turned it over, and Xavier Price got a bucket to pull Western Illinois to within six with 26 ticks left. Huffman was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one, then Chris Gonzalez nailed a three to make it a one-possession game. Huffman was able to hit both free throws with 13 seconds on the clock, but Gonzalez struck again from outside the arc to pull the Leathernecks within 61-59 with eight seconds left. Huffman again hit two free throws to make it a two-possession game with just four seconds remaining.
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| Key performance |
Huffman was the high point man on the night with 21, including 8 of 9 at the line and 3 of 7 from outside the arc. The junior also added four assists, three steals, and a rebound in 34 minutes.
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| Key statistic |
Brown committed just 13 turnovers, while Western Illinois had problems taking care of the ball with 21. The Bears owned an 18-13 edge in points off turnovers.
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| Notes
– Price was the top scorer for Western Illinois with 14 points.
– The Leathernecks committed turnovers on seven of their first 10 possessions, while the Bears ran out to a 13-2 lead. Western Illinois then responded with a 24-6 spurt to pull in front by seven.
– Western Illinois outshot Brown overall 48.8 to 45.5 percent, but the Bears fared better from the outside, 38.9 to 29.4 percent.
– Brown recorded assists on 16 of its 20 field goals.
– Becker didn’t score much (three points), but had seven assists against just one turnover and recorded five steals and five rebounds.
– Brown will face host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (7-4) in the tournament’s championship game on Saturday, December 30, at 8:30 pm ET.
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