University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Drop 96-92 Decision in Dominican Republic Exhibition
October 16, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 16, 2003
LA ROMANA, DOMINCAN REPUBLIC - Tennessee shot just 43 percent from the free throw line in falling 96-92 to Libre, a local team made up of junior national players from the Dominican Republic, in the Vols' first of two exhibition games here.
Libre led the scoring for much of the game and withstood a third quarter Tennessee rally that saw the Vols go on a 9-0 run to take a 57-56 lead. The two teams battled back-and-forth before Libre retained the lead for good. Tennessee had one last chance when Scooter McFadgon stole the ball at midcourt and Stanley Asumnu was fouled on the layup with 12.7 seconds left and the Vols trailing 91-94. Asumnu made one of the two free throws to cut the lead to two points. Libre's Carlos Sanchez sealed the win for the Dominican team by making a pair of free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining.
"This was a great experience," head coach Buzz Peterson said. "They were a very quick team and that kind of affected us. We were trying to push the ball up the court and run tonight. I am very encouraged with what I saw tonight. We just need to keep our focus for a full 40 minutes.
McFadgon, who was making his debut in a Tennessee uniform after sitting out last season as a transfer, scored a game-high 36 points 14-of-23 (61 percent) shooting from the field. Twenty-five of the junior guard's points came in the second half.
Brandon Crump added 16 points and eight rebounds while Asumnu had 10. Jemere Hendrix, who was also making his debut in a Vol uniform after sitting out a year after transferring from Clemson, finished the contest with nine points and eight rebounds.
The Vols were hurt by poor free throw shooting, only converting 43 percent of their attempts. Tennessee shot 50 percent from the field for the game.
An hour prior to the game the Vols held a clinic for youth in the La Romana area. Tennessee players and coaches spent time with more than 200 children teaching them some of the basics of basketball.
"I thought that was a real neat experience," Peterson said. "There were some kids who had dribbled a basketball a little before and some who had never touched a ball before. They were very polite and had a lot of smiles on their faces. It was difficult to communicate with them because they didn't speak English but I think everyone enjoyed it a lot.
The Vols will play one more exhibition game in the Dominican Republic before returning to Tennessee on Sunday. On Friday, Tennessee will play its second and final game on its trip when the Vols travel to Santo Domingo to play at 5 p.m.
