Feb. 6, 2010

Final Stats

FAYETTEVILLE - 346 days is a long time to wait.

It was last February that St. Augustine's spoiled Fayetteville State's chance at a CIAA championship.

But, following its 60-49 win over the Falcons on Saturday, FSU (13-6, 9-4 CIAA, 4-0 Western Division) was finally able to savor the taste of revenge.

"There was definitely some added motivation," said senior guard L'oreal Price who scored eight points. "We just wanted to win. We didn't want them to come in here and think they could beat us on our home court. Everything was a motivation."

The Broncos' defense stifled SAC (12-9, 8-6, 2-2) holding the Falcons to a season-low 25.4 percent shooting from the field. It was the second-straight game FSU has held an opponent under 30 percent shooting.

"We're getting there on defense," said FSU head coach Eva Patterson-Heath. "This is an old cliché but a good offense is a great defense. I shared that with my team earlier today and they went to work."

With 18 minutes left in the second half SAC was up 36-32. They would only make three field goals the entire half and scored just 13 points in the final 13 minutes of the game.

"We talked about the fact that we wanted to force their guards to their off-hand," said Patterson-Heath. "Our guards did that and they weren't able to get into a flow. So everybody else picked up on defense."

Added sophomore Deja Middleton: "Defense is one of the main things we've worked on with Coach Patterson-Heath. Since preseason that's all we've worked on. I feel like we're getting better game by game on defense."

According to Patterson-Heath, Middleton played her best game of the season. The Richmond, Va. native dominated the paint for most of the second half and had a game-high 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.

"Deja was inspired," Patterson-Heath said. "She was very active on the offensive boards and got put backs. She just did a great job and played good defense on Keyona (Bryant)."

"I was really ready for this game," said Middleton. "All day long I was thinking about playing basketball. I even had a dream last night that I dunked. Since last night, I was just excited."

LaQuasha Jordan had 16 points and four rebounds while LaPorshe Hokett added five points in 10 minutes of action.

Patterson-Heath's team trailed 32-25 at halftime and by as much as 11 in the first half.

FSU has won five of its last seven games over the Falcons and is 9-1 at home this season.

Saturday's game was the second of five-straight contests inside Capel Arena for FSU. The Broncos host Chowan on Monday, Shaw on Thursday and Johnson C. Smith on Feb. 13.

The game on Feb. 13 against JCSU will begin at 2 p.m. Tipoff for FSU's games against Chowan and Shaw is set for 5:30 p.m.

Price said her team can continue to thrive, if they put one thing above all else.

"Focusing is the big key for us," she said. "When everybody comes together and wants to win then all the pieces will fit."

Bryant led SAC with 17 points and eight rebounds.