Newcomer helps Flame rip RimRockers

ESTERO — Newcomer Duane Erwin proved to be just as strong of a complement to Dwayne Jones on the boards and guards Andre Barrett and Bracey Wright handled most of the scoring duties Tuesday night as the Florida Flame rolled to a 101-91 victory over the Arkansas RimRockers in front of 847 fans at Germain Arena.

Erwin, who was signed away from the Fayetteville Patriots last week by Flame head coach Jeff Malone, grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds to go along with Jones' 16 and Barrett and Wright each poured in 30 points to help Florida (19-10) win its third straight game and remain in first place in the NBA Development League.

"We're a good rebounding team and we have the best rebounder in the league in Dwayne," Malone said. "Even Andre had eight, and Duane (pronounced D-WAni), I saw him when we played Fayetteville and I thought he was the perfect guy to bring in after Hiram (Fuller) left (for France). He's exceeded all our expectations."

Arkansas (14-16) hung tough throughout the game despite being outrebounded 55-34 and going to the free-throw line 16 fewer times than the Flame. The RimRockers actually led 75-73 going into the fourth quarter but couldn't pull away.

The Flame tied it at 77-77 in the first minute and took a 79-78 lead on a layup by Andre Barrett, before Arkansas' Chris Shumate answered. Barrett answered right back for an 81-80 lead and then raced down the floor again for his sixth straight point in a short span for an 83-80 Flame lead with 9:27 left.

"I feel comfortable when I get the ball off the block, I start posting up, but I figured I needed to just get him the ball because he was on a roll," said Erwin, who played his college ball at the University of Memphis, where he was recruited by John Calipari. "I don't want to mess up the flow. Him and Bracey were just going crazy, so I just rebounded and let them do their thing."

Florida continued to roll, pulling out to an 88-82 lead before the RimRockers went on a 6-0 run to cut it to 90-88 with just over five minutes remaining. After two missed free throws, Wright drained a long-range jumper from the right corner to make it 92-88.

The Flame finished on an 11-3 run in the final five minutes.

Florida jumped out to a fast start, taking an early 7-0 lead before Arkansas' Lawrence Roberts drained a baby hook from in the paint. Following a lay-up by the Flame's Austin Nichols, Roberts hit a jumper down on the other end but came up lame and favoring his right leg. He stayed in the game.

With 5:58 left in the opening quarter the Flame held a 13-8 lead, but Arkansas whittled away at the lead and twice cut the deficit to three points, at 19-16 and 21-18. Anthony Roberson's first hoop with just under two minutes to go cut it to 23-20.

The Flame then went on a 5-2 to run to open up a six-point lead before Arkansas' Brian Jackson hit a long-range jumper before the buzzer to make it a 28-24 game after one.

Jackson had a chance to cut it to a basket from the free-throw line early in the second but missed one of two. Roberson came up with back-to-back steals on Florida's next two possessions and sped down the other end for two easy layups to give the RimRockers their first lead at 29-28 with 10:59 left in the first half.

A jumper from the right corner shortly after the Flame came out of a full timeout allowed Florida to retake the lead by a point, and then it was up-and-down basketball for the next couple of minutes before Arkansas went on a 8-0 run to take a 39-32 lead. A running layup by Florida's Bracey Wright with 6:40 left stopped the run and the teams traded baskets until the officials had to converse to determine possession with 6:12 left and awarded the ball to the RimRockers.

"We played well early, just like we did Sunday (in a 112-105 win)," said Wright, who was 11-of-18 from the field and hit his team's only 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter. "They came back and matched that, and in the second quarter they really took it to us on the inside. We had eight turnovers in that quarter and but we turned it back around late in the third and the fourth."

Malone called a 20-second timeout to question the call and after further conversation the call was reversed, giving possession to the Flame. Wright scored and then after an Arkansas miss, Dwayne converted a miss into a monster dunk, cutting the deficit to 41-38.

Arkansas scored the next five points, including a 3-pointer by Brandon Dean, the first of the game for either team, and held a six-point lead (48-42) with 1:34 left before halftime. The Flames cut it to 48-44 then had the final possession of the half. E.J. Rowland's 3-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out and the half came to an end.

Florida scored the first six points of the second half to storm to a 50-48 lead before Jackson hit a short jumper to tie it at 50-50 with just under 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Then scored the next basket to retake the lead at 52-50 before a timeout. The RimRockers then continued on a 12-1 run to take a 60-51 lead with 6:17 left.

The Flame then went on a 10-3 run to trim the deficit to three points at 63-61 before a goaltending and a missed breakaway dunk by Rowland allowed Arkansas to come back and regain a seven-point lead at 68-61 with 2:47 left before a Flame timeout. Arkansas scored coming out of the timeout to make it 70-61 before Wright hit two free throws.

Lots of offense down the stretch as Roberson and Wright traded 3-pointers in the closing seconds, with Wright's falling in at the buzzer to make it 75-73 in favor of Arkansas.

Flame 101 , Rimrockers 91

Arkansas (14-16)

Jackson 9 5-9 23, Smith 6 1-2 13, Roberts 13 3-4 29, Reid 1 0-0 2, Dean 1 0-0 3, Roberson 4 1-2 10, Allen 3 0-0 6, Famutimi 1 0-0 2, Shumate 1 1-2 3 Totals 39 11-19 91

Florida (19-10)

Nichols 4 2-2 10, Erwin 2 4-4 8, Jones 1 5-6 7, Wright 11 7-8 30, Barrett 13 4-7 30, Stokes 2 0-2 4, Thomas 2 4-6 8, Rowland 1 0-0 2, Jones 1 0-0 2, Moore 0 0-0 0 Totals 37 26-35 101

Arkansas - 24 - 24 - 27 - 16 —91

Florida - 28 - 16 - 29 - 28 —101

3-point goals — Arkansas 2-12 (Dean, Roberson); Florida 1-4 (Wright). Total Fouls — Arkansas 26; Florida 17. Fouled out — None. Technicals - None. Rebounds - Arkansas 34 (Jackson 13); Florida 55 (Erwin 18). Assists — Arkansas 28 (Reid 13); Florida 28 (Barrett 7). A - 847