FROSTBURG, Md. - In a game filled with story lines, the Frostburg State University men's basketball team held off a fiesty Christopher Newport squad for a 95-91 victory in non-conference action, Sunday.
Box Score
The Bobcats, behind five players in double figures, opened up a 21-point lead early in the second half and had to hang on as CNU charged back and closed to within two points in the waning minutes. Behind two late free throws, FSU (6-5) pushed its lead back to six, 95-89, before the final horn.
Frostburg State, which ended a four-game skid with the win, posted season-highs in points (95), shooting percentage (56.6%), assists (21), free throws (26) and defensive rebounds (24). FSU also tied a season-high with nine three-pointers.
Junior forward
Maurice Williams (Columbus, Ohio/Pickerington Central) led the Bobcat offensive attack with 24 points and 13 rebounds, including 10 on the defensive end. He shot 70.0 percent from the field (7-of-10) and was 8-of-11 from the free throw line (72.7%). Senior guard
Brian Anderson (Perry Hall, Md./Eastern Tech) scored 15 points and led the team with three 3-PT's. His 15 points pushed him past the 1,000-career point mark as he is the first Bobcat men's player to reach the milestone since 2002.
Senior forward
Mhabhushah Koffa (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley) added 18 points, four assists and two steals and junior guard
Mac Minturn (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus) scored 16 points to round out four starters in double figures. Junior
Troy Dockett (South Riding, Va./Freedom) came off the bench to 14 points.
The Bobcats raced out of the gate in the opening stanza and set first-half season-high in points (52), field goals (19), three-pointers (6), assists (13) and field goal percentage (59.4%). FSU collected an 11-point run in the opening minutes and led by 13, 18-5, just shy of five minutes into action. Minturn hit a layup two minutes later as FSU had extended its lead to 14, 23-9.
Frostburg State later used an 11-1 spurt just past the midway point of the first half for a 45-25 lead at 5:05. Dockett hit a layup as time expired in the first half to give the hosts a 52-34 lead at intermission.
Anderson hit a three-pointer (19:14) and Koffa hit a layup (18:39) as the Bobcats held a pair of game-high 21-point leads inside the first two minutes of the second stanza. However, the Captains (5-4) used a 12-0 run that lasted four minutes to narrow the gap to nine, 59-50.
The Bobcats answered and pushed their lead back to 19, 73-54, with 12:13 to play, but CNU made another charge and cut the deficit to single digits, 75-67, at 9:54.
The FSU lead remained in single digits the rest of the game and CNU narrowed the gap to four, 82-78, with 6:08 to play. At 2:16, the Captains narrowed it to a two-point game, 89-87, with just 2:16 left. Koffa hit a pair of free throws and the Bobcats led by four, 91-87, at 2:07 but CNU again cut it to two, 91-89, at 1:45.
FSU then tallied four-straight points for some breathing room and a 95-89 lead with seven seconds showing. CNU hit a jumper in the final seconds but couldn't finish of the comeback.
Conley Taylor finished with 44 points for the Captains on 19-of-30 shooting (63.3%). Tra Benefield finished 20 points and a game-high four three-pointers.
FSU is off until December 29th when it has a rematch with Christopher Newport at CNU's Holiday Tournament in Newport News, Va. The Bobcats and Captains square off at 7:30 pm on Wednesday night.
