McCann's Late Free Throws Lift FBU To Its First SLIAC Win Against MacMurray

ST. LOUIS, Mo.— The Fontbonne University men's basketball team picked up its first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) win on Saturday as they held on for the wild 78-77 win over MacMurray.

With 24.0 seconds remaining, the game was tied at 76-76. After a MacMurray timeout, Kris McCann got the ball and drove to the basket but was fouled on the play.

The O'Fallon, Missouri, native, knocked in both of his free throws to give them a 78-76 lead. MacMurray had the chance to tie or take the lead with just 3.0 seconds left.

Kendall Davis' 3-pointer missed but Brent Long got the offensive board and he was fouled on the play with 1.0 second on the clock. When he stepped to the line, Long was dominant all afternoon with his 31 points on 14-of-19 shooting.

He went on to make the first free throw and head coach Lance Thornhill called a timeout. After the short break, Long looked to make it and force overtime but his attempt missed and that gave FBU the one-point win.

After an up-and-down first half, the Griffins (3-10; 1-5 SLIAC) picked it up in the second half shooting 57.7 percent from the floor and 53.8 percent from downtown. Those numbers pushed its overall total to 50.0 percent from the field and 47.6 percent from 3-point land. The team also took care of the ball on the offensive end with its season-low six turnovers.  

Individually, Luke DeLine led with his team-high 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including hitting five 3-pointers. Jared Woodcock tied his season-high with 17 off the bench, while Kris McCann netted 14 and dished out seven assists.

MacMurray (4-8; 1-5 SLIAC), shot 57.4 percent and out-rebounded the Griffins 37-21. Long closed out his day for MacMurray with a game-high 32 points and 11 rebounds. Marshall Corbin contributed 13 points on 50.0 percent (5-of-10) shooting. Wade Fox, meanwhile, added 10 points of his own.

In the first half, the Highlanders opened with a 12-3 lead on Corbin's jumper at the 14:40 mark. They maintained its double-digit advantage over the next 11:00 minutes, until Noah Coddington earned the old-fashioned 3-point play to cut the deficit down to 34-27.

With the momentum Fontbonne tried to gain late in the half, the Highlanders had an answer and that allowed them to take a 42-35 lead into the break.

In the second half, the Griffins pace of play picked up as they went on a 7-0 run in less than two minutes to tie the game at 42-42 on McCann's lay-up.

The two teams continued to battle with the clock ticking away, however, the Griffins still led 60-53 on Tristan Baker's 3-pointer at 11:16.

Trailing 62-58 with 10:18 to go, MacMurray went on a 6-0 run in one minute and 52 seconds to take a 64-62 lead. They went on to trade lead changes over the final minutes, though MacMurray still led 71-69 with just under 4:30 on the clock.

Then, consecutive 3-pointers from DeLine put the home team back out in front 75-71. MacMurray stayed right with Fontbonne as they tied the game at 76-76 (1:12) on Michael Cameron going 1-of-2 from the line.

That'd be the final tie, though with McCann knocking in two clutch free throws to give them a 78-77 victory.

The team looks for its second straight win on Wednesday night when they'll visit Iowa Wesleyan. Tip-off at 8 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the men's basketball team.