By Malcolm Shields / Staff Writer
malcolm.shields@fiusm.com
The Panthers have hit their breaking point. In what was easily the team’s worst week of the season, ended in Jonesboro on Feb. 18. FIU’s inability to put together a complete game continued as its offense was efficient, but defensively Arkansas State’s hot shooting from the three-point line hurt the Panthers the entire game as Arkansas State (12-17, 6-8 SBC) defeated FIU 77-67.
Phil Taylor finished with 17 points for the Panthers. Dominique Ferguson followed with 14 points and 10 rebounds. DeJuan Wright added with 13 points for FIU (7-19, 4-10 SBC) in defeat.
Head coach Isiah Thomas did not coach in the game due to a suspension delivered by the Sun Belt Conference due to his ejection against UALR on Feb. 16 for making contact with an official. Thomas will be on the sidelines in the Panthers next game against Troy on Feb. 23. Assistant coach William Eddie was the acting head coach for the Panthers.
Although the Panthers shot 12-of-25 from the field, they also struggled to contain Red Wolves’ guard Marcus Hooten the entire first half. His 17 points paced Arkansas State to a 36-27 halftime lead. “He was making shots. We gave him too much penetration in the middle,” Eddie said. “We made an adjustment in the second half… going to a box-and-one [defense].”
FIU began the second half on a 19-10 run to tie the game at 46 with less than 14 minutes remaining in the game. The long-range shooting of Trey Finn and Hooten stemmed the Panthers run. Finn conducted his own 6-0 run to give the Red Wolves a 52-46 lead.
His scoring sparked a 15-4 run for Arkansas State to up its lead to 61-50 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. “The only reason why they pushed away was that we lost our composure.” Wright said.
Although the Panthers made attempts to get the score less than 10 points in the final eight minutes of the game, the Red Wolves countered with a buckets and trips to the free-throw line. Hooten finished with a game-high 28 points. Finn followed with 20 points. Combined, both shot 8-of-15 from behind the arch and shot 12-of-17 from the free-throw line in the game.
After having his 44 consecutive games streak in the starting lineup snapped against UALR, Ferguson returned as a starter and recorded his second double-double on the season. “I got open on some cut and DeJuan found me,” Ferguson said. “I got some rebounds and some and-ones.”
Taylor, who was benched for the entire second half against Denver and came off the bench against UALR, was reinserted back into the starting lineup at point guard against the Red Wolves. Taylor had a strong 23 minutes of play, but was ejected with 15:27 remaining in the game when he was called for his second technical foul of the game.
According to Coach Eddie, the referee ejected Taylor for taunting a player on the Arkansas State bench. Because of the ejection, Taylor will not be available to play in the Panthers next game against Troy.
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