MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Florida Memorial University's men played Saturday's game without 7-foot junior center
Mubashar Ali – the Sun Conference's leading rebounder – and it showed as the Lions lost the rebound battle and ultimately the game, falling to Webber International University 80-73 in the FMU Wellness Center.
The Lions, who also played without
Freddy Reeves Jr. and
Jordan Collins Saturday, were outrebounded 58-49 by the Warriors – who had two different players finish with 10 boards and another one with nine. FMU junior
Quvondo Johnson did his best to make up for Ali's absence, snatching down a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with a team-high 20 points, but it just wasn't enough. Ali missed his first game of the season Saturday due to concussion-like symptoms and Reeves was out with a lower extremity injury.
Florida Memorial (6-14, 3-8), which will host Sun Conference rival Ave Maria this coming Thursday (Jan. 30), missed the opportunity to win consecutive games for the first time this season as it saw the Warriors seize control of Saturday's game over the final five minutes of the second half.
FMU erased its seven-point halftime deficit through the early parts of the second half, tying the game multiple times and even briefly taking a two-point lead. However, as the Warriors clung to a 66-63 lead with 5:01 left in the game, the Lions had their worse stretch of the game at the worst possible time – committing four turnovers while going 1-for-8 from the field in a four-minute span as Webber International opened up 74-65 lead with 58 seconds left.
Senior guard
Omar Outar scored 16 points off the bench for FMU Saturday and
Kaleb Darrett chipped in with 12, but Darrett had to hoist 23 shots – only five of which he made – to get those dozen points.
Cheikh Kebe added eight points and seven boards and
Nehemiah Darrett, who started in place of Ali, recorded just two points and three rebounds in nine minutes of action.
It wasn't just
Kaleb Darrett that struggled shooting Saturday. As a whole, FMU shot just 33 percent (29-of-87) from the field and 8-for-39 from three-point range.
Jordan Martin, the team's leading three-pointer this season, was just for 1-for-10 Saturday and finished with just five points in 17 minutes.
Webber International (12-10, 5-6) shot 41 percent from the field and saw three different players score 16 or more – led by Ariel Watson's 21 points.
