Fishburne rolls in Tip-Off Challenge opener, 111-53

Richard Bland Community College gave the Fishburne Military School postgraduate basketball team all it could handle in a five-point loss in a scrimmage last month.

You could say that Bland got the Caissons’ attention.

“Coach wanted us to play aggressive and play defense,” said Alassane Kah, a 6’10” forward from Columbus, Ohio, who scored 16 points off the bench in the 111-53 Fishburne win in the opening game of the FMS Holiday Inn Express Tip-Off Challenge on Thursday.

Memphis recruit Kuran Iverson led three FMS double-digit scorers with 25 points. Zak Kirkbride added 11 points for Fishburne, ranked #3 in the nation in this week’s PG Sportswriters Top 10.

An early 12-0 run that gave the Caissons a 20-6 lead five minutes in broke the game open. A long three from Iverson, a 6’10” forward from Hartford, Conn., extened the lead to 39-21 with 8:47 left in the first half and fueled a 25-11 run to cloee out the half that pushed FMS to a 61-32 lead at the break.

A 28-7 scoring burst to open the second stanza erased the sliver of doubt as to the final outcome that remained.

The final margin and the point total shouldn’t obscure the role that defense played in the rout.

“Defense is what we’ve been preaching here since Labor Day. That’s what we hang our hat on here at Fishburne,” assistant coach Derrick Robinson said.

Fishburne plays next in the FMS Holiday Inn Express Tip-Off Challenge at 8 p.m. on Friday against Rise Academy.

On Saturday, the Caissons close out the tourney at 4 p.m. against Southern Tech Prep, the #7 team in the PG Sportswriters Top 10 national poll.