Takoma Park, MD - The Men's Basketball team finished its weekend in Maryland with a 1-1 record, facing two strong teams in the East Coast Classic hosted by the Washington Adventist Shock. After falling to the #12 WAU Shock in a hard fought loss on Saturday night, the Falcons bounced back with a gritty 56-54 OT win over the Great Lakes Christian Crusaders.
Game 1-
The Falcons had a chance to knock off the #12 ranked and defending AII Conference Champions the WAU Shock on Saturday night, down by just two points in the last minute of the contest after a Jason Augliera (Discovery Bay, CA) trifecta. But with 30 seconds left the Falcons were forced to foul putting Shock's Ismail Raymond on the line for a one-in-one situation. Raymond hit both, clinching the win as the Falcons missed a pair of jumpers in the last seconds to fall 70-65.
Fisher got off to a hot start, taking a 4-0 lead after two minutes of play. For the next 18 minutes the two teams battled back and forth as there were six leads changes and five ties, with no team holding more than a 4-point edge. The two teams would head to the locker room with the home team up 36-34 after a made jump shot from the team's leading scorer Xavier Sewell. The Shock came out of the break strong pulling ahead by seven for the biggest lead of the game at the 17:57 mark. WAU continued to put the pressure on going up 49-38 in the 11th minute after a 3-point play from Derek Hopkins with 10:47 on the clock. The Shock continued to hold the lead, up 64-52 with less than five minutes to play, but the Falcons went on a 10-2 over the next three minutes to get within four after four made free throws from Jhalen Lumpkins (Sacramento, CA) and Augliera to make it a 66-62 contest with 1:19 left in the game. The Augliera 3-pointer made it a two-point game, but the time ran out on the Falcons as the Shock were able to avoid the upset.
Lumpkins led the way for the Falcons as he put up 24 points, eight rebounds and four assists in the losing effort. Paul Oha Jr (Antioch, CA) had a strong game for the Falcons, finishing with nine points and eight boards. Sewell tallied 18 points while Mastadi Pitt and Javy Davis each finished in double figures off the bench for the Shock with 14 and 12 points respectively.
Game 2-
FC bounced back from Saturday's tough loss with a strong win over the Great Lakes Christian College on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Crusaders in OT 56-54. The Crusaders were also coming off a tough loss, falling to Voorhees College 103-92 in the first game of the East Coast Classic on Saturday evening so each team was eager to make the long trips home with a win. In another seesaw battle, this contest featured 10 ties and eight lead changes and it need an extra five minutes to determine the winner. The Falcons came out on top as Jhalen Lumpkins scored the Falcons only four points in OT, while holding the Crusaders to just two points on a pair of free throws from GLCC Elijah Kess, to head back to Boston with a 56-54 win. With the win the Falcons improve to 8-9 while the Crusaders fall to 7-9.
The Crusaders got off to a strong start in the first half, leading 16-9 at the 13:04 mark after an Isaiah Reed 3-pointer, their biggest lead of the game. The Falcons had the answer over the last six minutes of play though, finishing the first half with a 10-4 run, including five points from Kyle Williams (Fairfield, CA) to tie the game at 25 after one half of play. FC exploded out of the break, hitting four of their first five shots of the second stanza for their biggest lead of the game, up 34-27 with 17:02 on the scoreboard. GLCC had the answer this time, responding with a 9-0 run in less than four minutes to regain a 36-34 lead at the 13:25 mark. From there the back and forth action continued as there were five lead changes and four ties through the rest of the second half. GLCC had a chance for the win, holding on to a 4-point lead with two minutes remaining but two straight buckets from Lumpkins, including a game-tying lay-up with eight seconds remaining, forced OT with the scored knotted at 52. The Crusaders offense went cold in the OT, going 0 for 6 from the field, and the Falcons relied on Lumpkins heroics to clinch the 56-54 win in the extra frame.
Lumpkins led all scorers, finishing with 22 points, his 7th game of the season with 20 or more points. He also added nine rebounds, two assists and two steals in the victory. Paul Oha Jr. also played well under the basket, grabbing six boards and collecting a pair of blocks to add to his team leading total of 13. Kess led the way for the Crusaders, tallying 16 points off the bench, while starters Trent Temple and Reed finished with 14 and 12 points respectively.
The Falcons will play their 5th game in a week on Tuesday evening when they play host to the Connecticut College Camels who hold a 3-10 season record to date.