Written by Graeme Wallace
The CIS-NCAA Challenge continued Saturday August 29th, 2014 with George Brown College hosting NCAA Division II school Fairmont State. After the two teams traded jumpers to open the scoring Chase Morgan hit a three to give Fairmont State a 5-2 lead. Ricardo Brown and Ted Johnson hit threes on consecutive possessions to pull the Huskies within one, 9-8. R.J. Hutcherson got the momentum going in the Falcons favour with a steal and an emphatic dunk. Brad Karn and Trent Elliott both hit threes and Jamel Morris converted an acrobatic “and one” layup. When the dust had settled Fairmont State had scored an incredible 24 points in a row. Andrew Thompson was finally able to stem the tide with a layup but the Huskies faced a 33-10 deficit after the first quarter. It didn’t help that George Brown struggled dealing with the Falcons full court press and committed several turnovers and also missed some open shots in the opening frame.
But the Huskies came out firing in the second quarter with a Ted Johnson three ball followed by Ricardo Brown’s “and one” layup that cut the score to 33-16. Johnson hit another three before Morris hit back to back triples to give the Falcons a 42-21 lead. Despite cutting into the lead, George Brown was still having a hard time dealing with Fairmont State’s pressure defense. Andrew Thompson’s jumper capped off 9-1 run that brought the Huskies to within 13 points, 43-30. However, Morris spearheaded a 9-2 Falcons response that saw them take a big 52-32 halftime lead. Positives for the home side; George Brown did outscore Fairmont State 22-20 in the second quarter and held an 18-16 rebounding advantage. The Falcons bench outscored the Huskies reserves 28-6. At the break, Morris had a game high 16 points for the visitors while Ricardo Brown had a team high 13 for George Brown.
Morris continued the game where he left off with an “and one” layup to start the second half. He followed that up with a steal and a layup. Akai Netty did his best to keep the Huskies relatively close with a pair of layups over the next three possessions. Then Morris hit another three and Nick Harney’s steal and dunk capped off an 8-0 run that gave the Falcons a 69-38 edge. Ruan Webster entered the game for the first time and provided a spark with five consecutive points for George Brown but they had difficulty getting stops on the other end. The Falcons continued using the press to great effect in the third quarter forcing several turnovers that led to uncontested baskets. Overall, Fairmont State outscored George Brown 38-17 in the third to take a gaudy 90-49 lead going into the final quarter.
The Huskies continued to fight despite the large deficit they were facing. To their credit, the Falcons were still playing tight defence as well. George Brown went on a 15-4 run to end the game and outscored Fairmont State 25-16 in the final frame but the Falcons won going away, 106-74. Jamel Morris was impressive all game with a game high 28 points and 7 rebounds. Ricardo Brown had a solid all around game for the Huskies with 17 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds.
Huskies Head Coach Jonathan Smith acknowledged the trouble his team faced but sounded positive as to how it could help his squad, “It was tough they put a lot of pressure on us. We’ve got young guys who got a little bit nervous playing against NCAA competition but it was nice to see our vets step up. It’s great competition, we’re not gonna face a team like this in our league, so to play against that competition and speed and height is only gonna help us along the way.”
Written by Graeme Wallace
Photos Courtesy of Thomas Chung/George Brown Huskies
Edited and posted by Drew Ebanks
