Shooting woes halt Cougars’ winning streak

Just when it looked like the Frederick Community College men's basketball team's four-game win streak was on the verge of being snapped, the Cougars stormed back against Northern Virginia.

After FCC's defense forced a turnover, Justin Morrisey fed a nice pass to Jaden Arrington, who promptly hit a layup with 10 minutes 52 seconds left to give the Cougars their first lead of the second half.

FCC's recent string of wins hinged on just that type of play. Unfortunately, the Cougars couldn't consistently produce such sequences or shake off shooting woes that plagued them for most of the night.

Led by Corey Caulker's 31-point performance, Northern Virginia fended off the Cougars en route to an 84-75 win on Wednesday.

This was the final game for FCC (4-5) before the winter break. The setback reinforced the importance of basics like sound defense and hitting free throws — the Cougars shot 12-of-25 from the line on a night when Caulker hit all 14 of his foul shots. Then again, at least the Cougars know they're capable of doing such things.

"We lost a game tonight, but we're pleased in a sense of how we've been fighting the last couple weeks," Cougars coach Darryl Whiten said.

That fight was present in the second half. Trailing by as many 12 in the first half, FCC kept the Nighthawks from pulling away and eventually chipped away at the lead.

Morrisey, a Frederick Christian Academy grad who has emerged as reliable weapon for FCC, played a prominent role in the comeback. His aforementioned fast-break assist to Arrington capped a 10-2 run that gave the Cougars a 55-54 lead, and Morrisey scored six of his team-high 27 points during that stretch.

The run hinged on FCC's defense, which not only got stops but forced turnovers.

"We just started getting to the things that we do well. We say that disciplined defense equals wins," Whiten said. "We wanted our defense to feed our offense, and it did. But we have to do a much better job to stay focused on the things that actually got us the lead and got us into the game"

Down the stretch, the Cougars committed several fouls while trying to get defensive stops. And on the other side of the floor, shots continued to miss. Throughout the game, the Cougars had trouble hitting layups and jumpers.

"Not only shooting problems, but we had problems at the free-throw line," Whiten said. "The things that we work on, repetitious in practice every day."

Meanwhile, Caulker continued to do damage. He hit 5-of-10 3-pointers and kept getting to the line, where he refused to miss.

"We knew what kind of player he was. We threw players at him," Whiten said. "He's a good ballplayer. We have some real good ballplayers, too. We're looking forward to after the break, to bring back some of the pieces we're missing."

Morrisey had a team-high seven rebounds along with three assists and three steals. Nate Owusu had 10 points. Arrington had six assists. Cole McKeever had three assists. Terrell Neal had nine points and five rebounds.

Like his coach, Morrisey felt good about the team's future this season.

"We definitely committed too many fouls. We need to defend without fouling," Morrisey said. "And we couldn't make shots down the stretch, but we'll be all right."

Written by: By John Cannon for the Frederick News Post (Full Article: https://www.fredericknewspost.com/sports/level/collegiate/shooting-woes-halt-cougars-winning-streak/article_fc83d526-15f4-5006-a190-e60cdf92262d.html)