Thursday, December 04, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The gold jerseys must have some mystical powers for the JU men's basketball team.

Trailing by 19 points at halftime, Ben Smith capped an epic comeback with a pair of free throws with 6.6 seconds left to give the Dolphins an epic 65-64 win over three-time Atlantic Sun Conference champions Belmont at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on Thursday night.

The Dolphins (1-5, 1-0 A-Sun) have won all four games in which they have donned the gold unis, which were worn for the first time in school history last season.

Smith scored 16 points, with 11 of those coming in the second half – hitting 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Senior forward Marcus Allen had his best night of the season thus far, scoring a game-high 21 points to go along with five rebounds.

“I’m really proud of how our guys fought back in the second half,” said JU head coach Cliff Warren. “We had a great crowd that was able to get behind us and became a sixth man for us late in the game.

“We can’t rest on this win. We have to keep improving each day.”

The defense stole the show and in the end, won the game for JU in the second half.

Trailing 41-22 at the intermission, JU put on a stellar defensive effort in the second half – holding the usually hot-shooting Bruins (3-3, 0-1 A-Sun) to just 5-of-22 shooting from the floor.

After Smith hit his free throws with 6.6 seconds left, Andy Wicke drove the lane, but had his potential game-winning jumper blocked by Allen. Henry Harris’ toss at the buzzer clanged off the rim and the JU bench poured onto the floor in celebration.