Crumbley Leads Men's Basketball Past JSU

Monday, January 8

Boca Raton, Fla.

7:00 PM ET

Florida Atlantic

102

Jacksonville St

1/8/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Jan. 8, 2001

Box Score

BOCA RATON, FL -

Earnest Crumbley scored a career-high 31 points to lead host Florida Atlantic University (4-11, 3-1 Trans America Athletic Conference) past Jacksonville State 102-89 Monday night in Boca Raton. The Owls surpassed the 100-point mark for the first time since February 23, 1991, a span of 251 games, and the first time since the team moved to Division I seven seasons ago.

The Owls jumped on the Gamecocks early as they raced to a 54-35 first half lead. It was 40 points more than the team scored in the first half against Samford two nights earlier. FAU was helped by 59-percent shooting before the intermission as well as Crumbley's 19 first half points. FAU's Nick Neumann also had a career high with 16 points to go along with his game-high 11 rebounds.

"We came out and played focused," said FAU head coach Sidney Green. "We played our style of basketball and showed the fans and students how we intend to play in the future. We've been practicing this since day one, and tonight we were finally able to put it all together."

In all, four Owls finished in double figures, with Jeff Cowans finishing with 19 and Daryl Dingle with 13. FAU shot 52-percent for the game while JSU went 44-percent from the field.

FAU built its largest lead, 72-48, with 12:37 left in the game before JSU mounted a rally. The Gamecocks went on a 32-17 run to cut the lead to 89-80. However, that was a close as JSU would get as nine of the Owls' final 13 points came from the free throw line. JSU's largest lead was just two points, the last of which came with 11:15 left in the first half.

Johnny Kilpatrick led JSU (4-9, 1-4 TAAC) with 24 points while teammate Mike McDaniel finished with 22. Brant Harriman had a double-double for the Gamecocks with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

FAU's 3-1 start in the TAAC is the team's best since the 1997-98 season. The Owls will next play at Georgia State Thursday night at 6:00pm.