Florida Takes Down Tulsa

ESTERO, Fla., Jan. 19 – Eight players were enough for the second straight night as the Florida Flame, playing with a depleted roster, defeated the Tulsa 66ers 114-108 on Thursday evening at Germain Arena.

The victory was the sixth straight for the Flame (15-7), which sets a franchise record for consecutive wins.

Theron Smith continued his hot scoring trend with a team-high 26 points. Hiram Fuller posted his second double-double in as many nights, and his 10th of the season, with 23 points and 13 rebounds for Florida.

Otis George returned to the lineup for Tulsa (10-13) and responded with a game-high 28 points along with eight rebounds.

The Flame finished a stretch of six games in eight days with a perfect record over that span. Florida earned back-to-back wins over Roanoke on Jan. 12 and 13, then posted victories over Fayetteville and Arkansas at the MLK Showcase, and finished off the 6-0 run with consecutive wins over Tulsa in Southwest Florida on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The winning streak clearly impressed Florida Head Coach Jeff Malone.

“This was a pretty special thing for us to accomplish,” said Malone. “All eight players played big roles in this win streak and they should be proud of their effort and results. But, we have to keep it going. We start a four-game road trip next week which will be a big challenge.”

For the second consecutive game, Florida held a big advantage early in the fourth quarter only to see the 66ers make a run down the stretch. The Flame outscored Tulsa 36-26 in the third quarter behind 10 points from Theron Smith to claim an 86-72 advantage heading into the fourth. An Austin Nichols free throw upped the Florida lead to 17 points, at 91-74 with 9:12 left, but again the 66ers responded.

After Dwayne Jones picked up his fifth foul, Tulsa caught fire, getting easy baskets inside. George, Bernard King, and Torraye Braggs combined for all of the 66ers points in a 17-6 run over the next 3:52 that brought the visitors within six points at 97-91 with 5:20 remaining.

The Flame answered, getting easy baskets inside themselves, as Andre Barrett, Smith, and and Nichols all hit layups on the next three Florida possessions to build the advantage back to 10 points at 104-92 with 3:25 left.

After Tulsa closed within eight points on a Tang Hamilton tip-in, Jones threw down a two-hand jam with 1:47 to go to put the Flame ahead 108-98 and put the game out of reach.

All five starters scored in double figures for Florida. Along with Smith’s 26 and Fuller’s 23 points, Barrett poured in 22 points, Nichols notched a season-high 20, and Jones finished 12 points.

The 66ers had six players in double figures. Along with George’s 28 points, King posted 18 points, Conroy hit for 16, Farmer scored 14 points, while Hamilton and Braggs each notched 11 points in the loss.