LSUS rallies past conference foe SUNO
February 07, 2005
Southern University of New Orleans had the muscle and the lead, but LSUS made the plays down the stretch Saturday night at The Dock.
Thanks to Fredericko Payne's 26 points and plenty of help from his teammates, the Pilots rallied from behind for a crucial 81-78 victory over SUNO in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference basketball action.
The victory allowed LSUS (20-6, 11-1) to stay on the heels of league-leader Mobile College, which was undefeated entering play Saturday. SUNO fell to 11-7 overall and 6-5 in the conference.
LSUS, trailing 74-70 with 3:37 left on the clock, was able to turn the tide following a time out.
"We executed a set play with Rico (Payne) coming off a double screen to hit a three," LSUS Coach Chad McDowell explained. "They (SUNO) are long and quick. We concentrated on putting a body on everybody. I can't believe we outrebounded them in the first half."
The Pilots finally tied the score at 75-75 on a pair of free throws by who else-Payne. That came with 2:41 remaining.
Travis Cash then put LSU ahead 77-75 on a layup 14 seconds later.
But when Jamal Joseph fired up a 3-point attempt for SUNO with time expiring on the shot clock, he was fouled.
The Knights' guard calmly sank all three free throws to put SUNO back on top 78-77 with 1:54 left.
Justin Collins, a product of Airline High School, sank a pair of free throws to give LSUS the lead for good at 79-78 with 1:44 remaining.
Payne helped ice the game with two more free throws with 7.8 seconds on the clock and the Pilots were able to hold off a desperation 30-footer by SUNO's Deylor Amorin.
"We just don't have a true point guard," said SUNO coach Earl "The Pearl" Hill, a 1968 all-stater at Bossier City's Charlotte Mitchell High School. "That hurts us but we did rebound and get after them better in the second half."
SUNO actually scored six more field goals (28-22) than LSUS, but the Pilots were torrid from the free throw stripe. LSUS shot 84.6 percent (21-25) from the charity line while SUNO hit just 11 of 16.
"We couldn't hit some of our shots in the second half," said Payne, who was 7-of-16 from the field but perfect (9-9) with his free throws. "They (SUNO) played good defense but we were able to make our free throws."
LSUS, which held a 43-40 lead at intermission, stormed to an early lead behind the play of Payne. It was Payne's layup that provided the Pilots with their largest lead (27-17) with 7:36 left in the first half.
Derrick Hill, a 6-foot-8 center, snared a game-high 17 rebounds to help LSUS win the battle of the boards 50-43 over the much bigger Knights. Collins (13), Derrick Sowell (13) and Derrick Rogers (12) were Payne's supporting cast offensively.
