Coley’s MVP performance leads FIU to Sun & Fun title

Photo by Kristi Camara

The Golden Panthers were striving to earn their first tournament championship since the 2005-06 season, but they would first have to go through a tough and rugged Auburn team.

Thankfully, for the Panthers, 2011 would end on a high note as FIU won the Sun & Fun Classic title beating the Tigers 64-55.

“It feels great. We needed to keep that championship here. I was tired of seeing runner up. It feels real good… It was a great,” Coach Cindy Russo said.

Sophomore Jerica Coley was named the Most Valuable Player of the Sun & Fun Classic, finishing the tournament with 43 points and 2 blocks in 78 minutes.

“Every game we wanna go out and win,” Coley said. “We just ran our sets and got open and we made shots and played the game coach told us to.”

When these two teams last met in 2008, the Panthers fell to the Auburn Tigers 63-52. FIU made sure that the loss would be nothing more than a distant memory as the Panthers controlled every facet of the game from the opening tip. Throughout the first period, the Panther’s defense smothered any shot Auburn threw up, causing the Tigers to play outside of themselves, resorting to long distance three-point shots that rarely went in.

“We played really nice defense. We made them play our tempo of the game,” Russo said.

One of the key players for FIU was Fanni Hutlassa, who finished the tournament with four blocks (three against Auburn) to go along with 32 points in the two-game event.

“It’s the middle of the season so everybody has to step up and they played very good defense on Jerica, so I felt I needed to help her and step up and take some pressure off of her,” Hutlassa said.

Auburn showed signs of life as they began capitalizing on FIU’s mistakes in the first half. At moments, FIU gave up second opportunity rebounds that allowed Auburn to make a comeback. But the early charge by FIU proved to be too much for the Tigers as FIU went in to the dressing room with a considerable 31-22 advantage. In the second half FIU’s defense forced Auburn to score only seven points in the first eight minutes of the half, building their lead to as high as 17.

While FIU continued to apply the pressure on Auburn, the Tigers would continue to battle back, cutting FIU’s lead down to six, 57-51. Coley, who earned MVP honors, picked up the pace by hitting a crucial three-pointer to hault late charge by the Tigers. Coley, a sophomore, finished up the ball game with 28 points, leading the Panthers their 13th Sun & Fun Classic championship.

The Panthers will begin the new year ending their non-conference schedule as they face Morgan State Jan. 3 at home.