FMS climbs out of early hole to win big in Tip-Off opener

The game was barely two minutes old, Southern Tech was up 12-2, and Fishburne had already committed five turnovers.

“We’ve had a lot of slow starts. We’ve got to work on that. Because against good teams like this, this is what can happen,” said point guard Teven Jones (a UVa. commit) after the postgrad team’s 95-75 win Friday night in the opener of the FMS Tip-Off Challenge.

After coach Ed Huckaby called a timeout, Jackson Trapp (Winthrop) hit a long three that ignited a 14-3 Caisson run that put Fishburne in the lead at 16-15 with 13:14 left. Another Trapp three less than a minute later made it 19-17, and FMS never again trailed in the game.

Trapp was a key reason why – lighting up the scoreboard with 19 points in the first half and a team-high 24 for the game, including bookend threes at the first-half buzzer and on the first possession of the second half that extended the Fishburne lead to double digits for the first time.

“Me hitting threes like that opened up the middle and allowed our bigs to take over in the second half,” said Trapp, who sank six shots from behind the arc on the game and showed his athleticism on a second-half breakaway dunk for good measure.

Chris Bryant (Florida Atlantic) had 20 points for Fishburne. Karl Ziegler (uncommitted) added 16 points and Khalil Alford (Rider) had 11 for FMS, which improved to 4-0 on the young season.

Southern Tech’s Maiscei Greer led all scorers with a game-high 25 points.

“They have some outstanding shooters, very quick, talented guards. This was our first chance to get hit and respond. I thought we did a good job of regrouping and getting back to playing Fishburne basketball,” FMS assistant coach Derrick Robinson said afterward.

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