jjohnson@heraldsun.com; 419-6667
DURHAM -- On a night when N.C. Central was looking for its third win of the season at home, Florida Gulf Coast came into McLendon-McDougald Gym and stole the show -- literally.
"We're not valuing the basketball," first-year N.C. Central coach LeVelle Moton said after the Eagles' 76-67 loss. "We just gave it away. They didn't present us anything defensively that we weren't expecting or hadn't worked on in practice."
Florida Gulf Coast forced N.C. Central into 29 turnovers, including 21 that came by steals. The Eagles struggled with foul trouble and finished the game without point guard Michael Glasker and center T.J. Granger, who each fouled out with about six minutes to play.
NCCU also was without guard Vincent Davis, who was away from the team taking care of personal matters with his family.
NCCU was leading 60-59 when Glasker turned over the ball at midcourt and then made it worse when he committed his fifth foul on Derrick O'Neil's on the ensuing layup. Though O'Neil missed the free throw, Florida Gulf Coast never trailed again. Granger, who finished with 10 points, fouled out on Florida Gulf Coast's next trip up the floor as he tried to defend Reed Baker's layup.
"It was tough managing the game without them on the floor," Moton said. "Not having a point guard on the floor hurts because that makes you shift other players into positions they're not comfortable with. A lot of our fouls were based off turnovers. There is no defense for turning the ball over at midcourt."
The closest NCCU (2-8) got was down by a point after C.J. Wilkerson made a pair of free throws to make it 66-65 with 2:43 left. From there, Florida Gulf Coast outscored NCCU 10-2 to claim its third straight win after starting the season 0-6.
The game was marked by a number of momentum swings, with each team building a lead only to see it melt away. NCCU jumped out to a 13-4 lead but soon trailed 31-20 after Baker hit a 3-pointer from the wing, and the score was tied at 39 at halftime.
In the second half, NCCU took control of the early play, building a 49-43 lead on Wilkerson's baseline 3-pointer, one of eight the Eagles hit in the game. But that was the last long-range shot NCCU would hit, and Florida Gulf Coast began chipping away at the lead.
"We turned the ball over too many times," said Wilkerson, who finished with a career-high 26 points. "At the end we just let it get away."
Moton said he would have liked for Wilkerson to have controlled the ball more when the game was on the line.
"C.J. had too many turnovers trying to be unselfish," Moton said.
Moton said he was pretty happy with the way his team defended Florida Gulf Coast in the halfcourt. But because so many turnovers led the easy baskets, Florida Gulf Coast's shooting percentage was artificially high in Moton's mind.
Florida Gulf Coast was 27 of 62 from the floor (43.5 percent) and that included 26 fast-break points. NCCU did win the rebounding battle 48-34, including 19 on the offensive glass.
N.C. Central now embarks on its longest stretch of road games beginning Saturday at Indiana. The Eagles are away for their next six games.
