De’Shayne Montgomery preparing to slam one home. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie Wright-Daniel)
The University of Dayton spent an eternity at the foul line Tuesday night in UD Arena as Florida State was whistled 31 times for fouls and the Flyers made 40 of 47 to hand the Seminoles a fifth straight loss, 97-69 and lift UD’s record to 9-3 with one game remaining before Atlantic 10 play begins.
Dayton, OH. — Once upon a time, the Florida State University basketball program was a blue blood.
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Not this season.
The Seminoles are more like a black-and-blue team, a team that likes to raise lumps and cause bruises.
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So if watching the University of Dayton practice free throws during a game, wear out the boards at the free throw line and play a game that induces yawns, then UD Arena was the place to watch a lot of inertia Tuesday night.
Florida State, losers of four straight coming in, applied a defense that was push, shove, grab and yank.
The three officials blew their whistles as if they were paid by the toot. They called 31 fouls on FSU and five Seminoles fouled out.
The Flyers shot 47 free throws and made 40 en route to a 97-69 win.
Malcolm Thomas executes one of his patented dunks.
And the Flyers did some reciprocation by fouling the 5-and-6 Seminoles 18 times and FSU was 19 of 27 from the foul line.
In between foul shooting, a few baskets were made as the Flyers lifted their work sheet to 9-3.
When they weren’t at the foul line, UD’s usual strangling and harassing defense forced 20 FSU turnovers and the transition from those turnovers produced 22 Flyer points.
The 47 free throws eclipsed the last known game of its type, 46 free throws shot by the 2007 Flyers against Loyola Maryland.
The Seminoles began the season 5-and-1 against inferior foes, then lost four straight to UMass (103-95), Houston (82-67), Georgia 107-73 and Texas A&M 95-59.
It hasn’t been pretty, so they came into UD Arena with chips on their shoulders, mayhem in mind on the court and a lot of smart alecky talk.
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If they were trying to evoke a response from the Flyers, lure them into distraction, it didn’t work.
The Flyers just kept walking to the foul line and dropping the ball monotonously and relentlessly through the rim.
Jordan Derkack eyes the basket before he takes the shot for two.
Javon Bennett was off target on his three-point shooting (3 for 12), but was perfect at the foul line, 12 for 12 on his way to game-high 25 points.
Jordan Derkack has had his problems at the foul line for most of the season, but was on the mark Tuesday, 8 for 10 on a 13-point night.
The next charity case was DeShayne Montgomery, 5 for 7 from the line and 7 for 10 from the field for 20 points.
Malcolm Thomas was only 1 for 2 from the foul line, but came off the bench to awaken any fans dozing off with three more high-crescendo dunks.
With Florida State hacking away, the Flyers built a 30-12 lead with back-to-back fast break slam dunks by Montgomery forcing a timeout by FSU.
After going 5 1/2 minutes without a basket, FSU went on a 9-0 run, cutting UD’s advantage to 30-21 with five minutes left in the half.
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Another drive to the basket and a three-pointer, both by Montgomery, helped the Flyers rebuild the lead to 42-31 at the half.
Early in the second half, the Seminoles drew within 44-36. . .then it was lights out, the party’s over.
Keonte Jones works his way around two Seminole defenders.
A 16-9 Flyers spurt pushed the lead to 65-45 and the parade to the foul line went on and on and on.
To their credit, the Flyers kept their cool. . .except for one moment late in the game.
With four minutes to go, Derkack drove for the basket and was fouled. And then he was knocked to the floor after the whistle. He bolted quickly to his feet, ready to retaliate, but caught himself.
“I got fouled in the middle of the court and then somebody on the other team decided to play after the whistle,” said Derkack. “He bumped me a little bit, so I fell down. My immediate reaction was to get up as quickly as I can. Then I saw a teammate’s face and decided it was not a good idea to get any closer so I moved away.”
That face probably belonged to Montgomery, a teammate who rushed to Derkack’s side to ward off further trouble.
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“Yeah, ya gotta hold De’Shayne back,” said Derkack.
“I don’t like when people pick on my teammate,” said Montgomery. “I know (Derkack) wasn’t gonna be picked on, but they were playing after the whistle and I didn’t like that.”
Javon Bennett makes one of his three-point shots in the second half.
The Flyers were prepared for FSU’s back alley style.
“We watched film and knew we’d be at the free throw line a bit,” said Derkack. A bit? “We just tried to execute when we got there.”
And 40 for 47 says they executed. . .they executed the Seminoles.
Montgomery said the Flyers were prepared to make those free throws, “Because the other day coach (Anthony Grant) had us shoot 100 free throws apiece in practice.”
And of FSU’s rough-‘em-up and make ‘em mad approach, Derkack said, “We just came in today and did our best to keep focused at all times, which was to win the game.”
When the Seminoles weren’t chopping and hacking, they were talking, obviously forgetting to look at the scoreboard.
“We played as a team and didn’t care what they were saying,” said Montgomery. “At the end of the day, we knew we were going to win the game. We focused on winning the game and showing ‘em up on the scoreboard.”
Seminole defenders were a constant threat to Amaël L’Etang.
About his Flyers refusing to be distracted by the heavy-handed fouling, coach Anthony Grant said, “I was proud of our team for being able to do that.
“We knew it was a team coming in with a chip on its shoulder, not feeling good about the outcomes they’ve had their past few games,” he said.
“They were playing from a somewhat desperate standpoint,” he added. “Whatever that brought, we needed to be prepared for that.”
It was shooting free throws. Nothing says preparation better than 40 for 47.
The Flyers return to UD Arena Saturday afternoon for a 12:30 game against Liberty University, a different challenge, one that won’t involve spending the majority of their time shooting free throws or watching teammates shoot free throws.
Coach Anthony Grant sending out a play to his team.
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