By: Jackson Wolek / Staff Writer
FIU got past the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament Mar. 5 when they handed Denver a 53-49 loss and got avenged their first round knockout loss they suffered last year at the hands of the Pioneers.
The upset by the Golden Panthers, who are the sixth seed in the tournament, over Denver, the third seed, is the first of the SBC tournament. It also marked the lowest points allowed all season and set an FIU tournament game record.
“I thought our defense was spectacular tonight,” coach Isiah Thomas said. “We did an excellent job defending and we really locked in. I think all the close games we played throughout the year have started to pay off for us.”
In the first half, FIU set the defensive tone right away as it remained a tightly contested low scoring game. Halfway through, the score was 8-4 in favor of the Golden Panthers. They finally started to build a lead towards the end when they went on a key 8-0 run to end the half. Marvin Roberts scored on a three-point play and a tip in to increase their lead from 14-12 to 19-12 and it was later capped off with a Cameron Bell three-pointer with seven seconds left to give them their first double-digit lead of the game at 22-12.
Not only did Denver score just 12 points in the half, but they shot the ball poorly, going 5-22 from the field and 0-10 beyond the arc in the first half.
“The guys executed defensively, they rotated well and they challenged shots. When they challenge shots and when we rebound we’re a good basketball team and the guys did that tonight,” said Thomas on his team’s performance in the first half.
Besides the great defense, they also did a tremendous job on scoring off of their forced turnovers. They scored 13 of their first half points on Denver turning the ball over, compared to Denver scoring only 4.
“It was very significant, we had quite a few turnovers but we capitalized the turnovers we forced so we had more chances to score,” said Jermey Allen.
In the second half, the Golden Panthers started out with the same defensive mindset they had in the first half, along with a scoring outburst that put them ahead by as much as 17 points with 13:18 remaining in the game.
Denver would soon start to find their offensive rhythm and the huge FIU lead started to slowly dwindle down. There was a big difference in the way FIU started to run their offense by starting to milk the clock, which didn’t work out as was expected.
“I thought we did get a little bit conservative and cautious,” Thomas said. “We didn’t want to give up the lead and we wanted to use up the clock. Consequently, we didn’t convert at the end of the shot clock which gave them opportunities to get back in the game.”
They maintained the double-digit lead all the way until there were four minutes left in the game, when the FIU lead was cut down to just seven as the Pioneers started making the same shots that were not going in the first half.
They could not push it back to double digits due to some poor foul shooting toward the end of the game, but nevertheless came out with the victory.
“It was a big win, we just came together and this is the first game, now that this one is over with we get a chance to win in round two,” Allen said.
Allen had a team-high 16 points and also set an FIU record with most consecutive free throws made when he put in his 20th straight shot from the line with 14:36 remaining in the second half. Ironically, the previous record was held by senior Stephon Weaver.
The Golden Panthers will now face off against Middle Tennessee on Mar. 6 at 10:00 p.m. in the quarterfinals.