Fort Lauderdale Rallies to Defeat Men's Basketball

Doane Men's Basketball opened the Webber International Warrior Classic on Monday by taking on Fort Lauderdale. The Tigers jumped out early but a late scoring-drought would allow the Eagles to rally for a 74-68 win.

The first basket of the game went to Fort Lauderdale two minutes into the game. Doane scored their first points after three minutes of play as Nick Saiz hit a 3-point basket to give the Tigers the lead. The Tigers remained in front the rest of the half as Cooper Sheldon hit a 3-point basket to set up a 21-5 run as Doane built a 14-point lead, 21-7, with 10:39 to play.

Doane was held to nine points over the second 10 minutes of the first half but would lead 30-22 at the break. The half ended with Brady Timm grabbing a rebound and pushing the ball forward on a fast-break, dropping off a pass to Alec Oberhauser, who laid the ball into the hoop as time expired to give the Tigers an eight-point lead.

The second half started with the teams exchanging baskets as Doane led 40-30 with 14:52 to play following a Brady Timm jumper in the lane. Fort Lauderdale answered with a 10-0 run over a two minute stretch to tie the game only to see the Tigers strike with six straight points to regain the lead, 46-40. 

The Eagles tied the game at 49-all but Timm would put the Tigers back up with a 3-point basket. Fort Lauderdale scored on back-to-back possessions with seven minutes to play to take their first lead since the opening basket of the game, 53-52. Doane relied heavily on Timm to stay in the game as he scored 14 straight points and had the Tigers even, 60-all, with 4:03 to play.

Fort Lauderdale would regain the lead on a 3-point basket by Audrey Washington II with 3:34 remaining. Doane was held scoreless over the next three minutes and the Eagles extended their lead to eight points, 68-60. Nick Saiz hit a 3-point basket to snap the drought but a timeout called from the bench resulted in a technical as Doane was out of timeouts. The Eagles made both free throws and would make 6-of-8 free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds to hold on for the win.

The Tigers were led by Timm with 32 points on 14-of-20 shooting from the floor. He also had a team-high five assists and tied a career-high with eight rebounds. Sheldon added 10 points for Doane and Oberhauser pulled in a team-leading 11 rebounds to go with four assists. Turnovers proved costly for the Tigers as they committed 21 which led to 18 Eagle-points.

For the game, Doane shot 52-percent from the floor (28-of-54), 34-percent from behind the arc (10-of-29), and 33-percent at the free throw line (2-of-6). Fort Lauderdale shot 41-percent from the floor (28-of-68), 44-percent from 3-point range (7-of-16), and 69-percent at the free throw line (11-of-16).

The Eagles were led in scoring by Kemari Brown with 12 points as five players finished in double figures. Brahin Riley posted 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Benez Woodard finished with 10 points and a team-leading four assists.

Doane will look to bounce back on Tuesday, December 20, as they take on Webber International at 3:00 PM (CST).