Sixth-ranked Fishburne led by as many as 27 and held off a late Massanutten rally to knock off the top-ranked and previously unbeaten Raiders, 102-82, Friday night in Waynesboro.
“Give Massanutten credit. They fought and played hard. But that wasn’t an upset. The better team won tonight,” said FMS coach Ed Huckaby, who posted the first win over a #1 team in the program’s four-year history.
Fishburne took control midway through the first half after the teams traded the lead five times in the opening 10 minutes. It was 24-20 FMS when a fast-break dunk by Kuran Iverson (Memphis) ignited a 21-3 run capped by an Iverson three that made it 45-23 FMS at the 4:10 mark of the opening stanza.
“Defense was the difference there. We just played with energy. We talked about how they were going to come out and try to take it to us, and we needed to play with more energy than they did. And that’s what we did,” Iverson said.
It was 49-29 at the half, and 75-48 at the 10:02 mark of the second half on another Iverson dunk, but Massanutten would make a game of it. Down 86-62, MMA (18-1) went on a 15-0 run to pull to within nine at 86-77 on Deandre Burnett jumper with 4:49 to go.
The lead got down to as little as eight before Fishburne (12-4) could right the ship.
“We were in foul trouble, they were making big shots. We just had to keep our composure,” said Zach Lewis (Canisius), who led FMS with 31 points.
Iverson chipped in 22 for the Caissons. Ahmad Fields led Massanutten with 26 points.
Huckaby motioned to the student section at the final buzzer to have FMS cadets celebrate the big win with the team. The game was played before a standing-room-only crowd, easily the biggest attendance at a postgrad game in the program’s four seasons.
“Shout out to Waynesboro, Fishburne Military School, everybody. This was like our version of Cameron Indoor Stadium,” said Huckaby, who ordered his team down to the lobby after the game to thank fans for coming out to support FMS on the big night.
“The atmosphere was big time. And we did it. We came to play.”
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