Fishburne threes sink Rise

If a Fishburne player is open, the light is green.

“We tell the guys, If you’re open, shoot it. We did that tonight, and had some good open looks,” said FMS postgrad assistant coach Brian Benator after the Caissons drained 13 three-pointers to key a 97-58 win over Rise Academy Friday night on day two of the FMS Holiday Inn Express Tip-Off Challenge.

Zach Lewis led a balanced FMS attack with 15 points. Daniel Dixon added 14 points, including converting a team-high four three-pointers. Alassane Kah and Kuran Iverson each had 10 points.

The Caissons pushed tempo by design – to try to get ahead of Rise Academy’s stifling 2-3 matchup zone.

“The way to beat a zone is to get out in transition and attack before they can set up,” Benator said.

It was a pair of threes from Dixon, a William and Mary commit, that gave Fishburne (4-0) its first bit of breathing space. Dixon knocked down back-to-back long-range shots to give FMS a 20-9 lead at the 13:22 mark of the first half.

Another pair of Dixon threes six minutes later extended a 12-point lead to 18 at 34-16 with 6:43 to go in the opening half.

All told, Fishburne made eight three-pointers in the first half en route to posting a 45-27 lead at the break.

The second half would play out in much the same way as the first. This time, it was Will Darley who connected on three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to extend the Fishburne lead to 25 at 54-29 three minutes into the second 20 minutes.

“I struggled early, but I stayed confident, got some open shots, and knocked some of them down,” said Darley, who finished with eight points on the night.

Fishburne plays in the Tip-Off Challenge finale Saturday at 4 p.m. against Southern Tech Prep. Both squads are ranked in the top 10 of the PG Sportswriters national poll of postgraduate teams.