Simmons Shines in Sun Belt Opener

Wednesday, December 13

Boca Raton, Fla.

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Troy

12/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Dec. 13, 2006

Box Score

BOCA RATON, FL -- Derrick Simmons stepped up when the Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team needed him the most.

The junior scored 12 points in a span of 6:05 in the second half to spur the Owls to victory over the Troy Trojans, 91-87, at FAU Arena on Wednesday.

"Derrick was great. I challenged him this week, and he responded," FAU Head Coach Rex Walters said. "He's going against players 3-4 inches taller than he is on most nights."

Simmons would lead the team in scoring with a career-high 21 points and four rebounds, his biggest shots coming with the team's top two scorers, Paul Graham and Carlos Monroe, not on the court. Graham left with an ankle injury and Monroe had foul trouble when Simmons made his run.

The win comes in the first Sun Belt Conference game of FAU's initial campaign in the conference, and improves the Owls' record in conference openers to 8-4 all-time.

Graham hit a three at the 12:15 mark and Monroe made a jumper at the 10:45 mark to give FAU a 21-14 lead.

FAU led 47-42 at halftime thanks to a 54.3 percent shooting half. Monroe led all scorers with 16 at the break.

Troy's Boo Ramsey hit a three-point attempt at the 13:22 mark to give the Trojans a 60-54 lead, and the teams would trade buckets over the next three minutes before Simmons took over.

Monroe, who was held without a bucket in the second half for 19:06, made two critical buckets in the last 54 seconds, the first at the 40 second mark coming after a Ramsey three-pointer brought the Trojans within four. Monroe finished with 20 points.

Senior guard Brent Crews played his best game of the season, finishing with an unconventional double-double, scoring 10 points and adding 10 assists. Jeff Parmer finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Trojans were led by Ramsey's 22. They finished with five players scoring in double-figures while FAU finished with four.

The win improves the Owls to 4-5, 1-0 in Sun Belt Conference play. With the loss, Troy falls to 5-6, 0-1 in conference play.

The Owls have a brief break in the schedule before traveling to Chapel Hill, NC to face No. 3 UNC on December 19.