Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
Arkansas State
Florida Atlantic Falls Just Short at Arkansas State
1/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2009
JONESBORO, AR - A tying attempt by Paul Graham III fell short at the buzzer and Arkansas State escaped with a 62-60 victory over Florida Atlantic Saturday as a live television audience courtesy of CSS watched FAU nearly erase an 11-point deficit at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro.
Arkansas State (13-7; 5-4 Sun Belt) got a career-high 26 points from 6-foot-6 senior forward Yima Chia-Kur. The Red Wolves have won nine of its 10 home games.
FAU (4-17; 0-9 Sun Belt) - a team limited to eight scholarship players - received 16 points apiece from freshmen guards Shavar Richardson and Alex Tucker.
"I am really proud of our freshmen guards," said FAU associate head coach Mike Jarvis II after the game. "They are getting an unbelievable opportunity to lay the foundation, at least for their careers here over the next three years. They have had some great games for us, scoring and making big plays."
The ASU lead was nine, 49-40, with 10:23 left when one of Tucker's six field goals cut it to seven and Richardson followed with a 3-pointer in transition moments later to pull FAU to within four, 49-45.
"We wanted that game bad," said Tucker. "We were fighting to comeback and I saw some open lanes and was able to get to the basket."
A driving lay-up by Tucker closed the cap to three 52-49 with 5:56 remaining, prompting an ASU timeout. Tucker - who was coming off a 12-point, 11-assist performance against ULM Thursday - finished with a career-high 16 points while distributing eight assists.
After Richardson made his third triple with 52 seconds left, FAU was a possession away from completing the comeback. With 21 seconds on the clock FAU rebounded a missed shot by Chia-Kur and had a chance to tie or take the lead.
Without a timeout, the ball found its way to Graham who drove the lane in the final seconds and got off a contested shot as the horn sounded, which fell short.
"Most every game that we have played, if it is against Arkansas State, Kentucky, Miami, all the games have come down to a three to four minute swing which we have had an opportunity to take control of the game and we have just not got it done," said Jarvis II.
FAU plays twice at home next week, hosting Arkansas-Little Rock Thursday, January 29th, and Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday the 31st. Both games will tip at 7 p.m. ET.
"Our future is bright even though it may not look like it on paper," Jarvis II added. "We have a chance to keep improving and if we can win a couple games in a row you never know down the stretch."
