0 - 0 It wasn't pretty but they got the job done and earned a tournament championship. For the second year in a row, the Seminoles won their OOC championship. Last year they defeated the like of Cincinnati and California in the Global Sports Challenge in Las Vegas. If you have access to EPSN360, try and check out this game; it will show you the character of this team.
This was the fourth game in five nights for the Seminoles. The previous three games were low scoring affairs against teams that played a consistent full court press that certainly drained the legs of the Seminoles. It showed. The Golden Eagles out hustled the Seminoles, grabbing loose rebounds and playing press man to man defense. They collapsed on anyone in the post and were over playing the ball.
At the half, Marquette led 30 to 18 and the Seminoles had 13 turnovers. Alabi and Reid combined for 6 turnovers in the first half. Neither team shot well in the first half, shooting in the high 20/low 30% mark. Each time the Seminoles would show life, Marquette would respond and extend their lead. Alabi was ineffective on the offensive end in the first half due to Marquette's defense. He wasn't able to get great position and put the ball on the floor too far away from the basket. This allowed Marquette's smaller guards to force turnovers. Defensively, he continued to shut down the paint. However, Alabi wasn't able to contribute to breaking the press. Too often, he was caught in the middle of the court with no one to pass to. Granted, he should not be the one who ends up with the ball in that situation. Given the limited effectiveness of the big men on offense and how they were being beat off the dribble and run around by Marquette, Hamilton went small.
With about 11:50 to go in the second half, the Seminoles started to claw their way back into the game. Derwin Kitchen hit a huge three point shot that seemed to spark the Seminoles offense. This started the exhausting effort to get back into the game. The Seminoles capitalized on the fact that Marquette started to get tired. The Seminoles showed new life on defense and Jordan Demercy played a long stretch of minutes and had an energizing dunk off a no look Loucks pass.
