Patriots Win Capel's Debut as Coach
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 9 -- Fayetteville held off a furious North Charleston rally in the final two minutes to hand Jeff Capel an 82-78 victory Wednesday in his NBDL debut as head coach of the Patriots.
Fayetteville's second consecutive victory over North Charleston lifted Fayetteville to 6-17 overall. The Lowgators dropped to 16-9 while losing for the sixth time in their last eight home games.
"I just wanted to see us play hard and I'm very proud of our effort," Capel said. "When North Charleston made their run at I saw that look in our players' eyes, but I told them to get that look out of their eyes, that we were going to win."
Omar Cook made Capel a prophet after the Lowgators had cut the Fayetteville lead to 80-78 on a jumper by Sedric Webber with 49 seconds left in the game.
Darryl Johns missed a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left that could have put the game away for Fayetteville. North Charleston called time out to set up a possible game-winner, but Cook stole the ball and passed to McIntyre, who was fouled and iced the game with a pair of free throws with five seconds to play.
"We knew they would make a run," McIntyre said, "but we just had to get stops and rebound the ball."
"Coach Capel plays guys who play hard. We played real hard tonight as a team," forward Greg Stempin. "The second half of the season is starting and we have set a goal to be the best team in the second half of the year."
Down 45-34 at the half and 74-61 with 2:53 to play in the game, North Charleston started its run with a pair of three-pointers from Webber. The Lowgators connected on just 3 of 12 three-point attempts to add to a miserable 23-percent shooting night from the floor.
"We waited until the last two minutes to play basketball and that is not how you play this game," North Charleston head coach Alex English said. "We didn't finish the easy baskets and we had too many one-and-ones on the offensive end.
"You have to come to play every night," English said. "We are not good enough to take a night off. They just kicked our butts."
Stempin led Fayetteville with 25 points, followed by McIntyre with 16. Johns recorded a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Cook chipped in 10 points for the Patriots.
Galen Young had 15 points to pace the Lowgators, followed by Webber with 14. Makhtar N'Diaye contributed 11 points, collected 11 rebounds and blocked four shots. C.J. Black also added 11 points for North Charleston.
