Canes Win Double-Overtime Thriller, 93-90, at Orange Bowl Classic

Box Score | Season Stats

Coach L Quotes | Kadji/Johnson Quotes

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Center Reggie Johnson made his season debut to give the Miami Hurricanes a lift, and they overcame the heroics of freshman Omari Grier to beat Florida Atlantic in double overtime on Saturday 93-90.

Johnson, back after undergoing right knee surgery in June, came off the bench and had 15 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and five assists.

Grier, making his first start, scored a season-high 27 points. He sank a 3-pointer for the final points in regulation, and another 3 to force the second overtime.

Miami (6-4) shot 62 percent, including 14 for 20 from 3-point range. Florida Atlantic (4-7) went 15 for 29 on 3-pointers.

The Hurricanes’ Kenny Kadji scored 21 points and was chosen as the game’s most valuable player in the Orange Bowl Classic game. He went 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

Durand Scott added 18 points, and reserve Rion Brown scored 15 in 27 minutes.

Raymond Taylor had 20 points and nine assists for Florida Atlantic. Leading scorer Greg Gantt sat out because of a sprained left ankle.

The narrow defeat was the second in a row for the Owls against an opponent from a major conference. They led at Mississippi State with less than 10 minutes left Tuesday before losing.

Florida Atlantic fell to 1-21 against Miami.

Malcolm Grant’s 3-pointer with 3:20 left in the game put the Hurricanes ahead to stay, 87-84. Grant then fed Scott for a layup, and Kadji and Scott each made two free throws in the final 68 seconds.

Even so, the Owls had a chance to send the game to a third OT, but Taylor missed a 25-footer with one second left.

Florida Atlantic trailed 71-65 before sinking three baskets in the final 40 seconds of the second half to force overtime. Grier’s 3-pointer with less than 2 seconds left made it 72-all.

Grier sank another 3-pointer to tie the game again at 82 with 33 seconds left in the first overtime. He finished 7 of 12 from behind the arc.

Scott made a pair of 3-pointers to help the Hurricanes take a 10-2 lead, and their biggest margin was 25-15. Grier hit consecutive 3-pointers and Taylor hit a driving layup during an 8-0 run that gave the Owls their largest lead at 48-43.

Game Notes

– Coach Jim Larranaga is the first Miami coach to win his Orange Bowl Basketball Classic debut. Leonard Hamilton lost to UNLV in the inaugural 1994 event, Perry Clark lost to Nebraska in 2000 and Frank Haith lost to Xavier in 2004.

– Miami’s starters for the game were Malcolm Grant, Durand Scott, Trey McKinney Jones, Erik Swoope and Kenny Kadji. Coach Jim Larranaga has now used this starting five for two-straight games.

– R-Sophomore Kenny Kadji  was named the MetroPCS Orange Bowl Basketball Classic MVP of the game. He was 7-of-11 from the field, including his second-straight game hitting 3-of-3 from the arc, on his way to a career-high 21 points. Kadji also was 4-of-5 from the FT line and had three rebounds, a trio of blocks and a pair of steals.

– Junior center Reggie Johnson stepped on the court for the first time this season just six minutes into the game against FAU. Johnson ended the night with 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five blocks and a steal. He was 4-of-6 from the field.  Johnson has been out the previous nine games after having surgery on the meniscus in his right knee in June.  Against the Owls, Johnson missed his first shot, but on the next possession, ran the court after a UM turnover and blocked the FAU shot attempt off the glass. The next play Johnson grabbed the defensive rebound for the Canes.

– Junior Durand Scott notched 18 points, the most since he had 19 against Rutgers in the second game of the season.

– Sophomore guard Rion Brown connected on 4-of-5 shots from long range on his way to 15 points, a season high.

– Five players scored in double-digits for Miami for the first time this season. The last time five Canes scored at least 10 points was against Maryland on March 2, 2011: Rion Brown – 19, Malcolm Grant – 16, Durand Scott – 15, Adrian Thomas – 12, Reggie Johnson – 12.

– Senior guard Malcolm Grant scored nine points against FAU to become the Canes’ 32nd player to score 1,000 points. Grant entered the game with 992 points in three seasons with the Hurricanes. In his first season, Grant notched 318 points in 33 games (8 starts), then drained 532 points last season in 36 games. This season he is averaging 15.1 points per game and 84 of his 151 points (55.6 percent) have come from long range.

– Malcolm Grant has made a three-pointer in 32-straight games dating back to the Dec. 30, 2009 outing against Pepperdine. Grant is now tied for 17th on the ACC’s list of consecutive games hitting a three-pointer. He is second in Miami’s record books, only trailing Jack McClinton, who had 35-straight in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

Team Notes
– Miami drained 14 three pointers in the game, the most since the 2009-10 season when the Canes hit 14 against Nova Southeastern (11/16/09), then 15 against South Carolina State (12/12/09). The Canes hit 70 percent (14-20) from long range, topping their previous season high of 47.1 percent (8-17) against UMass on Dec. 3, 2011. Since the 2005-06 season, Miami’s top three-point percentage was 63.2 (12-19) against Maryland on Jan. 7, 2006.

– The Canes shot 62.0 percent (31-50) from the field, the best shooting since Miami hit 24-of-38 (63.2%) against Virginia Tech on Jan. 31, 2010.

– The Hurricanes scored 93 points against the Owls, the most points scored since Miami notched 94 against Pepperdine on Dec. 30, 2010.

– Miami recorded 20 handouts in the game against FAU, the most since the Canes had 20 against Maryland on March 2, 2011.

– Miami is 21-1 against Florida Atlantic since the series began in 1989. The Canes last defeated the Owls in the NIT last season, 85-62, in Coral Gables.

– Miami is 6-11 in the Orange Bowl Classic since the 1994 season. UM defeated FAU, 87-69, in the Classic on Dec. 19, 2009.

– This was the fourth overtime game in Orange Bowl Basketball Classic history and the first since Xavier’s 2004 win over Miami. Additionally, 2002’s 2OT Florida win over Miami and 1999’s St. Bonaventure victory over FIU required additional time.

– This was only the second game in Orange Bowl Basketball Classic history where both teams eclipsed the 80-point plateau, joining Florida’s 94-93 2OT win over Miami in 2002.

– Miami’s season-high 93 points were one shy of the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic record of 94 set by Florida in 2002.

– The game set Orange Bowl Basketball Classic records for most assists (41) and 3-pointers made (29) and tied for most field goals made (63) and 3-pointers attempted (49).

– Miami’s field goal percentage of 62.0 and 3-point field goal percentage (70.0) obliterated the previous Orange Bowl Basketball Classic records. FAU’s 15 3-point field goals matched the record set by Nebraska in 2006, also against UM.

– Reggie Johnson’s five blocked shots for UM tie for third in the event’s history.

– The Hurricanes are now 2-2 against in-state opponents in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic, also beating FAU in 2009 but losing to Florida in 2002 and UCF in 2010.