The shooting stroke was Tru on Friday night.
Skyhawks men’s basketball fifth year guard Tru Allen had his best game of the season against Emporia State inside Brownson Arena in Grand Junction. Allen showed off his finishing ability and couldn’t be contained driving to the basket, either finishing strong or getting to the free-throw line. He hit two 3-pointers at a critical time in the second half to push FLC ahead.
The Skyhawks trailed by 11 points early in the second half. But Allen’s 23 points led FLC to an 82-71 win against Emporia State.
“Our offensive ball movement in the first half was very poor, which led to them getting easy transition points,” FLC head coach Jordan Mast said. “We took a lot of tough individual shots and when we do that we're not very good. We were turning the ball over and not finishing at a high level … our defense has been saving us. Our guys are really connected. We were flying around, forcing turnovers and our pressure is getting to teams. We just need to be better on the offensive side and to their credit, we were in the second half.”
FLC improved to 4-3 overall after it shot 45% from the field, 28% from 3-point range and 72% from the free-throw line.
Emporia State fell to 1-4 overall after it shot 39% from the field, 32% from 3-point range and 70% from the free-throw line.
Allen’s season-high 23 points came from 7-9 shooting from the field, 2-4 from 3-point range and 7-10 from the free-throw line. Senior guard Biko Johnson struggled with foul trouble but still finished with 18 points on 6-16 shooting from the field, 2-7 from the 3-point line and 4-4 from the free-throw line along with seven rebounds. Senior forward Chuol Deng finished with 16 points on 5-12 shooting from the field, 1-4 from 3-point range, 5-6 from the free-throw line and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Emporia State was led by Malik Edwards’ 19 points on 7-11 shooting from the field, 1-3 from 3-point range and 4-5 from the free-throw line.
Other than Allen, the defense led the way for FLC as the Skyhawks forced 23 Emporia State turnovers.
The Skyhawks did well early to speed up Emporia State on defense with their press, forcing a lot of midrange jump shots. In the half-court, FLC forced Emporia State to throw a lot of bad passes out of bounds.
Deng got the ball inside a lot early in the first half. He either drew the foul or finished inside to put FLC ahead. The Skyhawks led 13-7 with 13 minutes left.
The Skyhawks then started to struggle with turnovers in the half-court. Emporia State hit a few 3-pointers and the Skyhawks fouled multiple 3-point shooters in the middle of the first half. Emporia State led 19-14 with nine minutes left.
FLC’s offense struggled in part because Deng went away from playing inside. He shot two 3-pointers in a row and missed them. His shooting stroke doesn’t look bad but Deng was shooting 22% from 3-point range heading into the game.
The one constant for the Skyhawks’ offense at the time was Allen getting to the basket. He was great at driving to the basket, causing contact with his powerful frame and drawing fouls.
“What he's been doing a really good job of since our first two games is not settling,” Mast said about Allen. “We were talking to him early in the season when he was really seeking his 3-point shot and now he's really trying to get to the rack. When he's focused there, then teams are so worried about it because he's got an elite quick first step and that opens up 3-pointers. We're fine with him shooting them. We want him to be seeking the rim first and putting pressure on the rim. When he does that, he's a really good player.”
FLC’s players were active and caused turnovers at the end of the half as the Skyhawks struggled to shoot. Emporia State led at halftime 37-33.
Emporia State opened up an 11-point lead early in the second half thanks to some FLC turnovers and some Emporia State 3-pointers.
FLC responded with its first 3-pointer of the game by Johnson to cut the Emporia State lead to 45-39 with 16:30 to go.
Once one 3-pointer fell for FLC, the floodgates opened. FLC continued to turnover Emporia State and the Skyhawks made three 3-pointers in 30 seconds to go on a 9-0 run to go up 53-48 with 14:26 to go.
FLC kept its lead thanks to some good ball movement from its guards. Johnson sat during the middle of the half with four fouls but showed off his offensive skill set once he got back in.
He cut backdoor and finished after junior guard Malachi Coleman found him with a beautiful bounce pass. Johnson then got an isolation matchup on the baseline in the next possession. He posted up, turned to his right shoulder and made a beautiful fadeaway to put FLC up 79-70 with 3:29 to go.
The Skyhawks play on Saturday night against Bowie State inside Brownson Arena at 5:30 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
