Bucs Avenge Earlier Season Loss to Wonder Boys
By Stephen Fuller

Memphis, TN--After an early January loss to GSC rival Arkansas Tech in Russelville, AR, the Christian Brothers University men’s basketball team welcomed the Wonder Boys to Memphis tonight inside De La Salle Gymnasium with a thrilling and offensively driven battle. It was a battle the Buccaneers would drive to an 87-85 victory.

Matt Francis jumped high to grab a rebound after an errant three point attempt by ATU’s Jeremy Johnson with 40 seconds to play. Johnson fouled Francis sending the sophomore guard to the free throw line with the Bucs down by one. Francis sank both ends of the one and one to put CBU up by one. Clint Dowdle would sink another free throw with five seconds left in the contest, icing the 87-85 Buc victory.

ATU would lead all but one minute of the first half on 19-of-24 shooting for an unbelievable 79.2 field goal percentage. CBU would shoot also shoot well connecting on 18-of-31 field goal attempts for a 58.1 shooting percentage. A last second basket by ATU’s Lloyd Fusilie would give the visitors a 47-45 lead at intermission.

In the second half, CBU would prove to be the aggressor outscoring ATU 42-38. With three minutes remaining, and the Bucs in command with a 84-78 advantage, the Wonder Boys made their move behind a 7-0 run to take the lead momentarily 85-84 with one minute to play.

That is until Francis stepped up with the rebound and helped lead the Bucs to victory. For the game, the Bucs would force 20 turnovers and out-rebound the Wonder Boys 29-25.

Christian Brothers University improves to a 6-13 record overall and a 3-6 mark in the GSC standings, while Arkansas Tech falls to 9-10 overall, 5-4 in league action.

Adam Heitzman (Memphis, TN) would lead all scorers with 29 points on 12-of-20 shooting. Francis (New Orleans, LA) would finish the contest with 26 points and would lead all players with 7 caroms. Clint Dowdle (Cordova, TN) and Jake Bazeley (Cincinnati, OH) would each contribute 10 points.

Jeremy Johnson would lead ATU with 22 points while Dustin Smith led all players with 9 assists. Tim Black and Steven Willis each scored 21 points and Ernie Prude had double digit scoring with 14 points.

Christian Brothers will return to action on the road in Monticello, AR in a GSC match-up against Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday, February 2nd at 4:00 PM.