5 Score In Double Figures As Men’s Basketball Wins Big Sunday Afternoon
Farooq, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound redshirt sophomore guard from Houston, was 9-for-13 for a 69.2 field goal shooting percentage including 1-of-2 from long range and 1-of-3 from the free throw line. TSU (2-7) had four others in double-digit scoring including Joirdon Karl Nicholas, Zytarious Mortle, Shaqir O’Neal and Kolby Granger. Nicholas was outstanding in all facets of the game going for 16 points along with 12 rebounds for a double-double. Nicholas also added four assists, four steals and two blocks.
NAU (0-9) was led by Jalon Clark with 11 points to accompany Kiante Kizzie’s 10 rebounds.
Farooq and Mortle just missed out on a double-double of their own with nine rebounds each. O’Neal also had a great night on the boards as well hauling in seven rebounds to go along with the 12 points in the start. Granger also added a 12-point performance but also led the Tigers with three blocked shots.
Four Tigers tied for team highs in assists with four including Nicholas, O’Neal, Granger and John Walker III.
As one can tell by a lopsided score especially with one team having doubled up the other, a big run broke open the game and it was smooth sailing from there. NAU’s Clark made a layup with 11:55 to go in the first half to cut TSU’s lead down to 16-15. The one-point margin was short-lived as Farooq answered with an unassisted layup just 22 seconds later to start what will be one of the largest scoring runs of the season as the Tigers would go on a 40-3 run from the 10:45 mark of the first half to the 14:53 mark of the second half. The 15:52 second scoring run saw TSU go 17-for-33 from the field, 2-for-9 from threes and 4-for-6 from the free throw line with eight steals.
The Stallions (0-9) were just 1-for-23 from the field during the run and kept hurting themselves with 13 turnovers to just two steals.
UP NEXT
TSU will have a couple of days to prepare for and travel to Las Vegas for the 2022 Chris Paul HBCU Challenge on December 17-18 along with Norfolk State, Hampton and North Carolina A&T. The Tigers will play North Carolina A&T on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. CST and will turn around and play Hampton the following day at 1:30 p.m. CST.
All four games of the Chris Paul HBCU Challenge will be streamed on the ESPN Family of Networks with both games Saturday on ESPN+ and both Sunday contests on ESPNU.
Courtesy: TSUSports.com
