Five Falcons scored in double figures, but it was freshman
Quinntez Grimes who led the way with 16 points. The Falcons held UT Tyler to just 37.5 percent shooting for the evening in the 76-68 win to open the season.
"I thought Quinntez played really well and impacted the game on both ends of the floor," said Head Coach
Josh Newman. "It's always great to see a freshman have success. He's worked really hard and has been very coachable."
Things started slowly on both sides, with the score tied at eight just over six minutes into the game. The Falcons went on a run when
Fermandez Jones knocked down a three.
Malik Brikat layed it in for two and
Trevion Lamar followed with a bucket to grab a seven-point lead. The teams traded buckets for the remainder of the first half, but the Falcons never surrendered the lead and went into the locker rooms up 33-30.
The Falcons opened the second half with a run to push the lead back to seven. A bucket by Jones after a turnover pushed the Falcons to their biggest lead of the game at eight. With seven-and-a-half minutes to play the lead was down to three, before the Falcons pulled away. Grimes buried a three and Jones followed with a lay-up. After a technical foul,
Jordan Horn hit a pair of free throws. Horn's lay-up on the next possession pushed the lead to its largest of 13 for the night. The Falcons didn't relinquish the lead the rest of the way, holding on for the 76-68 win.
Grimes scored his 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Brikat, Horn, Jones, and
Trevion Lamar all finished in double figures. Horn and Brikat both came a rebound shy of a double-double.
Wesley Hayes scored eight points off the bench in his debut.
The Falcons held the Patriots to 30.6 percent shooting in the first half and 37.5 percent for the game. The Patriots shot poorly from three, going 6-for-32 from beyond the arc. The Falcons also forced 20 turnovers in the season opener.
"Plain and simple the defense won us the game," said Newman. "I thought our guys did an exceptional job executing our defensive game plan. On a night when our offense was out of sync and shot weren't falling, we hung our hat on the defensive end!"
The Falcons and Patriots are back in action tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM.
