Coles: Fletcher’s foul not flagrant

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:26 AM Monday, February 15, 2010

BOWLING GREEN — Miami University basketball coach Charlie Coles and Bowling Green coach Louis Orr had a few heated words with each other during a brief exchange in the second half of their game on Sunday, Feb. 14.

After the game, a 67-64 victory for the host Falcons at Anderson Arena, both coaches said everything is fine.

The exchange took place after Miami senior Adam Fletcher (6-foot-9, 241 pounds) fouled Scott Thomas (6-6, 183) as Thomas was trying to score on a fast break.

Fletcher clearly was going for the block, but it was a hard foul. Thomas went sprawling and both benches became agitated as the officials paused after the whistle, perhaps trying to decide whether to call a flagrant foul, but more likely trying to give Thomas a few extra seconds to recover.

“It was heated,” Coles conceded. “I was mad that everybody thought our guy tried to hurt their guy. I was defending us. It looked like everyone on their bench were asking for a flagrant foul. It wasn’t a flagrant or an intentional foul.”

The officials agreed.

“It was nothing,” Orr said. “Charlie and I are both competitive guys, and we’ve been friendly for a long time. It was the heat of battle. He’s one of the guys I have great respect for ... I just wanted to make sure the officials looked at (the foul).”

Thomas, by the way, missed the first free throw but made the second to give Bowling Green a 57-51 lead with 4:06 remaining.

Thomas finished with six points, going just 2-for-10 from the field. That broke his streak of having scored in double figures in 10 straight games.

Building blocks

Sunday’s game featured the two best shot-blocking teams in the MAC.

Not surprisingly, there were 10 blocked shots in the game by nine different players, including six by the RedHawks, one each by Julian Mavunga, Nick Winbush, Kenny Hayes, Antonio Ballard, Orlando Williams and Adam Fletcher.ern Illinois (12-for-19).

Fans not flocking

Following Miami’s attendance of 1,143 for last week’s Toledo game at Millett Hall, the team’s average home attendance has dropped under the 2,000 mark.

Through 10 home games, the RedHawks’ average attendance is just 1,999. MAC schools with worse numbers are Northern Illinois (1,688), Bowling Green (1,663), Central Michigan (1,521) and Eastern Michigan (881).

The Falcons slightly exceeded their average Sunday with a crowd of 1,867.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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