Dec. 30, 2009

Final Stats

FAYETTEVILLE - The Fayetteville State men's basketball team turned a 16-point halftime deficit into an 80-79 win over Queens College at Capel Arena on Wednesday.

The Broncos (3-5) played with a full compliment of players and handed Queens (4-3) its first road loss of the season.

Seniors Jason Thompson and Larry Ross played in their first games of the season.

"We were kind of disjointed and discombobulated," first-year head coach Alphonza Kee said. "It's another obstacle that we've overcome. Those guys worked hard and blew the classroom out of the water. They both had over a 3.0 grade point averages."

The final score was FSU's biggest and second lead of the game.

"We have some character, no doubt about that," Kee said of the second-half comeback. "We just had to figure it out because we have guys that haven't played together. I knew that if we could get a feel for Queens that we had a great opportunity, so we're very fortunate."

The Royals, who were led by 15 points from Devon Seaford, nailed nine 3-point field goals and opened up a 47-33 halftime lead.

"A lot of people were just anxious for us to be together as a unit," Thompson said. "I think it was a lot of emotions in the first half. We said that we were going to fight and come back hard in the second half." FSU did just that.

The Broncos went on a 19-5 run midway through the second half and cut Queens' lead to 68-66 with eight minutes left.

After Andre Lockhart hit two free throws with 35 seconds remaining to give Queens a one point lead, FSU's Jarrick Jones did the same providing FSU with a lead it would never relinquish.

Jamel Carpenter, the CIAA's leading scorer, had a game-high 22 points and was one of five Broncos in double-figures. Thompson had 10 points and four rebounds and Davon Hood scored 13 and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Larry Ross added 11 points while Jarmel Baxter contributed 10.

"It just feels good to be back," said Thompson. "I've been patiently waiting - just to be out there with guys and playing for a cause, it feels great." Kee, Thompson and FSU will host conference-rival Elizabeth City State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

"ECSU is next in line but we're looking bigger," Kee said. "We're just trying to get better everyday. That's never going to change. If we get everything built, we have a chance to be very good, but we have a lot of stuff to work on."

FSU shot 55.4 percent from the field and scored 23 point off of 21 Queens turnovers.