FLORIDA GOLF COAST 77, WESTERN MICHIGAN 67
OHIO 88, CONCORDIA 68
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Western Michigan trimmed a double-digit second-half deficit down to one in the final minutes, but ultimately fell, 77-67, at Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night in the opening game of the FGCU Invitational.
Trailing 58-46 with just over eight minutes remaining, Western Michigan (1-4) got a quick five points from a Lamar Norman Jr. layup and Mack Smith three-pointer to get within seven, 58-51. FGCU (4-2) briefly built its advantage back to 11, 62-51, but the Broncos fought right back with a 10-0 surge, capped by a Gus Etchison triple, to make it 62-61 with 3:06 to go.
On the next possession, FGCU’s Tavian Dunn-Martin responded with a three-pointer of his own to spark a 12-1 response which halted WMU’s comeback efforts.
Norman led the four Broncos in double-figures with 24 points, his third 20+ point effort of the young season. Smith netted a season-high 16 points and collected a career-best four steals. Markeese Hastings and Titus Wright added 10 points apiece, and paced Western Michigan on the glass with eight and seven rebounds, respectively.
For the game, Western Michigan connected on 24-of-54 (44.4 percent) from the floor, and made nine-of-27 (33.3 percent) three-point tries. WMU made 10-of-13 (76.9 percent) from the charity stripe. Florida Gulf Coast went 26-for-55 (47.3 percent) from the field and drained 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) from downtown. The Eagles added 15 makes in 20 attempts (75.0 percent) from the free throw line.
Western Michigan continues play at the FGCU Invitational on Saturday afternoon with a 4:30 pm matchup against Purdue Fort Wayne
ATHENS, Ohio – Led by a career-high 19 points from junior guard Miles Brown, the Ohio Bobcats (5-1) defeated Concordia (4-5), 88-68, Friday evening inside the Convocation Center.
Six Bobcats recorded double figures. Brown finished with 19 points, going 7-of-12 from the field and grabbed six rebounds. Redshirt senior forward Ben Vander Plas and 5th year forward Jason Carter both finished with 16 points, with Carter grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Mark Sears added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, while senior guard Tommy Schmock finished with 11 points and was 3-of-7 from three.
Overall, Ohio shot 45 percent from the field, 30 percent from three and 74 percent from the line, while Concordia shot 51 percent from the field, 41 percent from three and 71 percent from the line. Ohio outrebounded the Cardinals, 36-31, while dishing out 16 assists to their 12. The Bobcats also forced 19 Concordia turnovers, while scoring 28 points off them.
Concordia led 37-30 at intermission and were still up seven with 16:36 left in the game. From there, the Bobcats chipped away, taking a one-point lead after two made free throws from Schmock. After a layup from freshman forward AJ Clayton and a steal from Schmock that led to a basket from Brown, the Bobcats took a six-point lead with 12:58 left.
After Concordia cut the Ohio lead to one out of the timeout, a three from Vander Plas, followed by a layup from Carter spurred the Bobcats to a 64-54 lead with 9:16 left in the game. After a layup and a free throw from Sears, Ohio took a 73-64 lead with 4:56 left in the game.
The Cardinals never got closer than nine points over the final five minutes, with threes from Schmock and Brown helping the Bobcats secure the 88-68 victory.
"We just got to the rim a lot more picked up our pace our energy got going off of our rebounding," Brown said. "We just picked up off our team's energy. We started off slow in the first half and we knew we had to do something better in the second half. So we just picked up the pace and we got some good looks."
For Concordia, Thomas Hronis led the way with 23 points and was 7-of-13 from three, while Bernard Kasanda added 14 points and four rebounds.
Up next, the Bobcats head to Baton Rouge, La. to take on their second SEC opponent of nonconference when they face LSU on Wednesday, Dec. 1. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET