North Charleston Cleans Glass, Gets Win
COLUMBUS, Ga., Nov. 21 -- The Columbus Riverdragons (1-1) suffered their first loss in team history falling 86-79 to the still undefeated North Charleston Lowgators (3-0) in front of 1,457 at the Columbus Civic Center.
Guard Fred House led the Lowgators with 26 points, making 12-of-14 free throws. House, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to push the Lowgators to their third straight victory, has made 24-of-26 free-throw attempts this season. The Lowgators have won all three of their games this season and sit in first place in the NBDL, a 1/2 game ahead of the Asheville Altitude.
The Riverdragons led 60-58 at the end of three quarters but were outscored 28-19 in the fourth. For the second straight game, Columbus allowed 20 or more offensive rebounds, yielding 25 to the Lowgators in tonight's loss and giving up 25 in their 85-82 overtime win over Hunstville last Sunday (11/18).
The Riverdragons defense held the Lowgators to 22-of-77 (28.6 percent) shooting from the floor, but were unable to take advantage off the defensive glass. Columbus had also forced Huntsville into a poor shooting night, as the Flight hit just 27-of-88 (30.1 percent) shots.
Tremaine Fowlkes became the first Riverdragon in team history to score 20 points in a game, leading Columbus with 20 points.
For the second straight game, power forward Gabe Muoneke scored 18 points and eight rebounds. Muoneke hit his first three-pointer of the season with 2:48 to play in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 76-76. The Riverdragons would manage to score just three points the rest of the way as the Lowgators went on a 10-3 run to close out the game.
The Riverdragons also received inspired play from backup point guard Saul Smith, who scored 13 points in 23 minutes of play.
The Riverdragons will travel to Mobile on Thanksgiving Day to prepare for their first road game with the Revelers this Friday, Nov. 23. The Riverdragons return home Saturday, Nov. 24 to face the Huntsville Flight at the Columbus Civic Center at 7 p.m.
Columbus Riverdragons
Head coach Jeff Malone: We didn't finish it tonight so we'll have to get up at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to get it done. How can you hold a team to 28 percent shooting and lose? You can't give up 20 plus rebounds and commit 20 turnovers in back to back games and expect to win both. I'm questioning some guys right now. Hey, that's basketball. I've been there. But we will be working on Thanksgiving.
North Charleston Lowgators
Head coach Alex English: Every night we have a different guy step up and give us a lift. Fred House had another great game, but BJ McKie and Sedric Webber both came off the bench to provide a great spark. Neil Edwards came off the bench to play great defense.
Everybody chipped in. This team has a lot of pride and we had a gutsy performance. That's the way we win, playing as a team with pride and everybody doing their part. There is no quit in these guys.
Fred House: I'm just happy to be playing professional basketball. I made a promise to my family and to myself before this season that I would just play hard, play every game to the final buzzer.
We let too many things other than the other team affect the way we played in the first half. In the second half, we just decided we would play against the five guys that Columbus put out there and not let things we can't control bother us.
