Patriots rally to beat Charleston
Published on November 29, 2003 under NBA G League (G League)
Fayetteville Patriots News Release
The Fayetteville Patriots rallied from a 15-point second half deficit to down the Charleston Lowgators 102-98 Saturday night at the Crown Coliseum. The win improves the Patriots record at 1-1, while the Lowgators fall to 0-2 on the season. Jason Collier led the Patriots with 26 points, 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter. Patriots forward Bryan Lucas notched the fourth double-double of his career for Fayetteville as he finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Newcomer Britton Johnsen also had a double-double for the Patriots in his first game as a Patriot as he finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out. Tierre Brown and Alpha Bangura had 19 points apiece for the Lowgators.
"We went to a zone and started putting pressure on the ball after made baskets,'' Collier said. "That seemed to throw them out of the rhythm they were in, and were able to rally. Plus, we got to the line and made our free throws tonight."
The Patriots did to Charleston what the Roanoke Dazzle did to the Patriots on Opening Night. The Patriots shot just 39 percent in the fourth quarter last Saturday as their lead evaporated. It was Charleston's turn to collapse on Saturday. Ime Udoke gave the Lowgators a 15-point lead with two free throws late in the third quarter.
The Lowgators lead was 12 going into the fourth quarter, and still led by nine with less than five minutes remaining in the game. But that's when Collier started to cause the Lowgators problems. In the last 4:29 of the game, Collier made eight straight free throws. His two free throws with 2:33 remaining cut the Lowgators lead to three, 95-92.
Greg Stevenson then hit a short jumper with two minutes left to go to cut the lead to one. Stevenson then hit another jump shot to give the Patriots their first lead since the start of the second quarter.
"You've got to give those guys credit,'' Lowgators coach Doug Marty said. "They kept fighting back and fighting back and we didn't put up much resistance."
Tierre Brown was able to get the Lowgators to within one, 98-97, with less than a minute remaining. But Omar Cook put the game away with one of his game-11 assists to Lucas as Lucas' shot danced around the rim and fell in for a three-point lead with 40.8 seconds remaining.
"The thing we had to do tonight was get the ball into Jason's hands,'' Capel said. "Once he has it down there, we know some positive things are going to happen. I think it hurt us when he got into foul trouble. He helped us once he was back on the floor."
The Patriots head up to Roanoke to play the Dazzle today at 4 p.m. The Lowgators travel to Asheville to play the Altitude on Tuesday.
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