TCU’s Vasean Allette scored 14 points off the bench Friday night as the Horned Frogs used a late second-half surge to beat Florida Gulf Coast 67-51 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Trazarien White and Micah Robinson each had nine points for the Horned Frogs (2-0), who also got eight points and nine rebounds from Brendan Wenzel.
Keeshawn Kellman led FGCU with 18 points and nine rebounds and Jevin Muniz had 10 points and five assists.
TCU pulled away with a 23-7 run that Robinson capped with a fastbreak dunk for a 63-49 lead with 3:53 left in the game. The Horned Frogs forced the Eagles (0-2) into 11 second-half turnovers.
Early on, the game had all the makings of a Power 4 team playing a mid-major for an early-season tuneup. Big 12 member TCU jumped out to a 9-1 lead that forced Atlantic Sun squad FGCU to call an early timeout.
But the Eagles’ pesky defense and constant movement on offense eventually led to a Kellman layup that tied the game at 21 with 7:48 left in the first half.
About three minutes later, Kellman slammed home FGCU’s third dunk as the Eagles extended their lead to 26-22. A corner three by Michael Duax (seven points) at 4:12 of the first half gave FGCU its largest lead of the game at 29-24.
The Horned Frogs took their first lead since 8:30, when it was 21-19, on a Noah Reynolds (seven points) layup that gave TCU a 30-29 edge it would take into halftime.
But FGCU wouldn’t go away.
A steal and layup by Zavian Mclean tied the game at 40, and a subsequent Horned Frogs turnover led to a thunderous two-hand slam by Kellman that gave the Eagles a 42-40 lead with 12:45 left.
Ernest Udeh Jr. (seven points, seven rebounds) answered for TCU with a dunk on an alley-oop lob from Allette outside the 3-point line that tied the game at 42-42 and triggered the decisive surge.
-Field Level Media
