It is a situation Shavar Richardson admitted to never being in before, but it was one he found himself in. Game on the line. Down one. Three free throw attempts. 1.1 seconds left.
Despite his lack of in-game experience in the role, Richardson’s teammates knew the ball was in the right man’s hands.
“We do a drill in practice to see who can make the most free throws,” point guard Ray Taylor said. “He currently leads with 86 free throws in a row. So if I could have anybody on the team in that situation, I would pick Shavar.”
“He just said, ‘Shavar we do this everyday in practice,’” Richardson said of teammate Greg Gantt’s advice. “‘Just make the free throws.’”
He did and FAU survived for the victory.
With the Owls trailing by one, senior guard Shavar Richardson was fouled on a corner 3-point attempt with 1.1 seconds left, nailing two out of three, to send FAU to a 72-71 victory over Denver at The Burrow.
“I didn’t want to lose the game for us,” Richardson said. “So it felt real good.”
After making the first free throw, Richardson was relaxed to drain the following attempt.
“You got to focus on making the first free throw,” Richardson said. “That’s the hardest one.”
Richardson deliberately missed the third free throw so time could expire off the clock. The strategy worked, as Denver couldn’t get a shot off.
On the previous possession, FAU immediately fouled Denver’s Brian Stafford, who missed both free throws, giving the Owls one last chance to avoid its first ever home loss to Denver.
After leading by as many as 16 at the half, FAU trailed by four with 14 seconds left.
The game appeared to be slipping away after point guard Ray Taylor fouled Denver’s Chris Udofia with the 14 seconds remaining and the Owls down by three. Udofia would make just the front end of the free throws. FAU raced down the court and Gantt knocked down a 3-pointer at the top of the key from Alex Tucker to trim the deficit to 71-70 with 8.8 seconds left.
Senior point guard Alex Tucker, who set up the game winning free throws, is now FAU’s all-time leader in assists with 507. To Tucker, the significance of the milestone means nothing without consistent support from his teammates.
“It means I’ve got a great group of guys around me,” Tucker said. “Coming off every game since my freshman year, I’ve had guys put the ball in the basket for me. The easiest thing is getting them the ball where they want it and then they do all the hard work by putting it in the basket…It’s a good accomplishment. It’s a team accomplishment.”
Tucker finished the game with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.
FAU hung on for a victory despite Denver shooting 17-21 (81 percent) in the second half. The Owls, despite holding Denver to 42 percent shooting in the first half en route to a 15 point halftime lead, were ready for a battle in the final 20 minutes.
“They’re coming off beating them [Middle Tennessee] by 15, so we knew they weren’t going to quit,” Taylor said. “Thankfully, we were able to withstand their run and go on a run a little bit at the end of the game.”
Greg Gantt led the team in scoring with 18 points, adding five rebounds. Ray Taylor had 14 points, four rebounds and three assists.
FAU out-rebounded Denver 31-26 despite being severely undersized compared to the Pioneers, whose shortest starter stood just at 6 foot 4 inches. FAU, in contrast, started two players under 6 feet (Ray Taylor and Alex Tucker). The Owls held the bigger Pioneers to just three second chance points.
“The difference between tonight and the other night was we had a good first half,” head coach Mike Jarvis said. “And then we had a good close. So that’s a heck of a lot better than the other night.”
The way in which the win came may have been far from ideal, but after a two-game losing streak, Jarvis will take it.
