Frogs Fall Short of Sydney Kings, 128-118
8/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 20, 2002
Sydney, Australia - TCU's second half rally fell short as the Sydney Kings defeated TCU, 128-118 Tuesday at Sutherland Stadium. The Frogs drop to 2-3 after five of six games in Australia.
Down by 28 points at the half, the Frogs outscored the Kings by 18 points in the second half. But, the Frogs could never get any closer than 10 points in the final minutes of the game.
The Kings opened the contest red hot from the field as they quickly jumped out to an early 12-2 lead. The lead grew to 20 points, 46-26, at the end of the first quarter as the Kings shot 64 percent from the field. In the second quarter, the shooting would only improve for the Kings as they knocked down 15-of-20 shots from the field, raising the first half field goal percentage to 68 percent, and increasing the lead to 85-57.
Three Sydney players recorded double-doubles, including a 33 point, 13 rebounds effort by former UAB star Chris Williams. Also recording double-doubles were Michael Kingma (22 points and 10 rebounds) and Garry Boodnikoff (11 points and 13 rebounds). Former Minnesota Timberwolves guard Shane Heal narrowly missed a double-double as he ended the night with 12 points and nine assists.
In the second half, TCU played perhaps their best half of the trip as they outscored the Kings 61-43. The Frogs outscored the Kings by four points in the third quarter, and 14 points in the fourth. Senior forward Bingo Merriex scored 16 of his team-high 22 points in the second half as the Frogs trimmed the deficit to as low as 10 points. After hitting only 40 percent from the field in the first half, the Frogs knocked down 47 percent in the second half. Defensively, the Frogs turned it up a notch in the second half, holding the Kings to 43 points.
"We competed in the second half," said head coach Neil Dougherty. "The second half gives us a starting point to build a foundation. In the first half, we did not play hard enough to be coached."
Including Merriex, six Frogs ended the night in double figures. James Davis came off the bench to score 19 points, Ronald Hobbs and Junior Blount scored 17 points apiece, while Corey Santee added 14 points, including 11 in the second half. Nucleus Smith added 10 points. Free throw shooting woes hurt the Frogs as they converted 58.1 percent (25-of-43) from the line, while the Kings made 27 free throws in 36 attempts.
The Frogs wil return to action on Thursday, August 22, when they face the Wollongong Hawks in the final exhibtion contest. On Wednesday, TCU will travel to Canberra, where they will attend a reception, hosted by United States Ambassador Tom Schieffer, at the US Embassy.
Scoring: 1st Q-2nd Q-3rd Q-4th Q = Final
TCU: 26-31-30-31 = 118
Sydney Kings 46-39-26-17 = 128
Individual Scoring
TCU - Bingo Merriex 22, James Davis 19, Ronald Hobbs 17, Junior Blount 17, Corey Santee 14, Marcus Sloan 11, Nucleus Smith 10, Corey Valsin 5, Brian Carter 3.
Sydney Kings - Chris Williams 33, Kavossy Franklin 27, Michael Kingma 22, Shane Heal 12, Chris Stauber 12, Garry Boodnikoff 11, Travis Lane 5, Bradley Sheridan 4, BJ Carter 2
