No. 4 Huntington KO’d by Florida Memorial University

by Pat Dailey, BDN Sports Editor
3/11/2007

When asked after Florida Memorial’s 67-64 upset of Huntington (Ind.) on Thursday how the Lions could have possibly lost 12 games, forward Tramaine Stevens said he and his teammates simply didn’t peak until the final stretch run of their schedule.

Good timing.

Florida Memorial (16-12) upped its winning streak to 10 games with one of the most shocking wins in recent tourney history. The Lions’ 16 offensive rebounds told the tale.

“I’d like to thank our coaches for having us so prepared,” said Stevens, the nation’s leading scorer (26.9 avg.) who triggered the upset with a 24-point effort. “We knew Huntington is a great team and we couldn’t let Alex Kock get off like he normally does. We crashed the boards like we always do. Andre Beauford (eight rebounds) and Andre Thomas (11 boards) cleaned up inside.

“We played a pretty rocky schedule, and even though we had everyone coming back we still had to jell and get our chemistry right. It wasn’t like were losing by a lot. It was usually by five or six points. We just had to figure out how to win close games.”

Florida Memorial nearly let this one slip from its grasp as well, squandering almost all of a 13-point, second-half lead. The Foresters (29-5) were as close as two points in the final minutes. Their comeback was hindered by two missed layups by center Doug Sheckler over the final three minutes.

Huntington led the nation in field-goal shooting (.506), but managed just 25-of-57 shooting and committed 18 turnovers.

“We didn’t have any energy,” coach Steve Platt said. “I don’t know why. We played all night long like we were running through sand. We didn’t compete very good. I thought, ‘We surely will get this thing kick-started,’ but we never did.”

Kock collected 26 points and 14 rebounds in the finale of his storied career. Kyle Ganton struggled through a 6-for-15 night and had 14 points.

Please click here to see pictures for this game.