Jags Ring Out The New Year With Another Win
We hope everyone in Jaguar Nation had a fun and safe new years celebration. Ronnie Arrow and the Jaguars got to celebrate a little early on New Years Eve with a victory over Florida International to kick off their two game Sun Belt road swing through Florida, 71-59. This improves the Jags record to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in the Sun Belt. FIU under first year head coach Isiah Thomas drops to 4-12 overall and 1-2 in the Sun Belt.
Coming off the big win over 18th ranked Florida before Christmas, the Jags had some time to reflect and regain their emotions for the FIU game. And it showed. They held the Panthers to only 16 points in the first half on 25% shooting and only just over 35% for the game. The Jags also forced 19 turnovers in the game as well as a season high seven blocked shots.
Tim Williams led the trio of Jags in double figures with 18 points. Freshman Martino Brock added 15 points and a game high eight rebounds while Senior Bryan Sherrer scored 10 points.
After letting the Panthers get close, the Jags held held them without a score for the final 6:23 of the game to go on a 13-0 run into the locker room up 31-16.
The Jags would push their lead to 18 with just over 14:00 to go, but FIU would try to rally going on an 8-0 run all scored by Marvin Roberts. However, the Jags would not let them cut the lead into single digits. The Jags would go on a 6-1 run to put the game away in the end.
Coach Arrow was quite happy with the teams performance to end the new year. “It’s great to win the final game of the old year and go into the new year on a good note,” he said. “Our defense played well – we held them to 35 percent and they hit some big shots at the end or it would have been even lower. We got some key steals at the end of the first half that ignited our offense. I think our guys are finally understanding what it’s all about defensively.”
The Jags return to action Saturday night when the travel to Florida Atlantic for a 7pm tip-off.
Go Jags!