MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – As Florida Memorial University men's basketball coach
Ansar Al-Ameen watched his team erase a halftime deficit and make "winning play" after "winning play" down the stretch of a close game, it was a little bittersweet.
Naturally, it was great because his Lions manufactured an 86-78 win over visiting Sun Conference foe College of Coastal Georgia but it was simultaneously a painstaking reminder that his team could have easily been in better standing with a favorable bounce here or there.
Thanks to
Kaleb Darrett's game-high 26 points, the Lions (8-16, 5-10 Sun Conference) avenged their January loss to the Mariners in front of a spirited crowd decked in promotional "FMU Black Out" Shirts as Florida Memorial gained a game in the Sun Conference standings.
Trailed the Mariners 58-52 with 13:40 left in the second half, Florida Memorial went on a 14-2 run in a five-minute span – energizing the home crowd – taking a lead that it would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Darrett's performance Thursday was an efficient one. The junior guard shot 9-of-16 from the floor (6-of-8 from the free throw line) while adding a pair of assists and three steals. The Lions also got a sizable contribution from junior
Quvondo Johnson. The Los Angeles, California native notched a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Cheikh Kebe finished with 10 points and seven boards, but made his biggest contributions on the defensive end in the second half – taking charges on back-to-back possessions as FMU grew its lead from eight points to 12 in the waning minutes. Kebe also notched a game-high two blocks.
Senior
Jordan Martin finished with 14 points in 28 minutes of action, while
Mubashar Ali added nine points and eight rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.
FMU entered Thursday's game a full two games behind five-seed Coastal Georgia (13-14, 6-9) in the Sun Conference standings. In defeating the Mariners Thursday, Florida Memorial now trails Warner University, Webber International University, and Coastal Georgia by a single game in the conference standings with three games remaining.
Al-Ameen said that he was happy with the way his team performed Thursday, especially since it kept the Lions' postseason hopes alive.
"I really like the way we handled ourselves down the stretch tonight," Al-Ameen said. "I think about the way our previous game against Coastal Georgia went and I saw we were put into a similar situation tonight, and I feel like we did a much better job of running our spread offense, taking care of the ball, and making big shots to stretch out our lead."
"I really look at the way our team played tonight and it just kind of makes me shake my head a bit because we could easily be 10-5 in the conference instead of 5-10…a different bounce here or a favorable call there and our team being locked in for 40 minutes like our guys were tonight – and our record looks a lot different."
"Glad for the win, and glad that we still have some control of our own destiny" Al-Ameen added.
