Earnest Crumbley led FAU to its only NCAA Tournament appearance. Crumbley is the Owls' all-time leading scorer, but that record is likely to fall to Greg Gantt on Thursday.

Passing the torch

Greg Gantt should become FAU's all-time leading scorer in Thursday's game against Troy. Current record holder Earnest Crumbley is wishing Gantt well.

Originally published on 12/26/2012

by Chuck King

Earnest Crumbley realized Greg Gantt would be a pretty good college basketball player when the two first met.

Gantt was still at Gainesville High School, then, and Crumbley was an assistant coach at the University of North Florida recruiting the left-handed shooting guard.

A former FAU standout, Crumbley didn't mind it that much when Gantt decided to become an Owl instead of an Osprey.

"I thought that was a good pick-up for them," said Crumbley who last played for FAU in 2004 and was a key part of the Owls' lone NCAA Tournament team. "I knew FAU was going to be a good fit for him."

Crumbley and Gantt will cross paths again on Thursday - this time in the FAU record book. FAU's leading scorer, Gantt needs only four points against Troy to pass Crumbley's 1,559 points and become FAU's all-time leading scorer.

Gantt, currently the nation's eighth-leading scorer  at 21.8 ppg,  said he and Crumbley have traded the occasional message on Facebook over the last four years, but Crumbley didn't realize his record was in jeopardy until a couple of days ago.

"I wasn't really a big record guy," Crumbley said on Wednesday. "It was a good accomplishment. I'm more happy about graduating from FAU and helping my team get to the national tournament."

Now the head coach at Redlands Community College in Oklahoma after spending three years there as an assistant, Crumbley isn't able to follow FAU on a daily basis but still checks on the Owls' progress whenever possible.

Crumbley did say he will try to find a way to catch some of the Owls' game against Troy and he plans to call Gantt after the record is broken.

"He's a good kid. He has a good head on his shoulders - that's usually half the battle," said Crumbley, who has aspirations of becoming a Division I head coach. "I'm proud of Greg and this is going to be a good accomplishment for him. I wish him the best."

Need To Knows: FAU at Troy

 @
  FAU  (5-7, 1-1 Sun Belt)
at Troy (5-8, 0-2 Sun Belt)

• When: Thursday, 8 p.m.
• Where: Trojan Arena Troy, Ala.
• Radio: ESPN 760-AM
• Streaming audio: FAUSports.com, ESPN760.com
  
• Scouting the opponent: TroyTrojans.com

About the Owls: Guards Stefan Moody and Cavon Baker will be serving the final game of their three-game suspension for a violation of team rules. ...Without Moody and Baker, Greg Gantt was forced to play the point at times against Indiana. He impressed FAU coaches, so look for him to do it again against Troy. ...The suspensions afforded walk-on guard Richard Morrow more playing time and he responded with 8 points against Indiana - second on the Owls only to Gantt. ...FAU's current three-game losing streak is its longest of the season.

About the Trojans: Troy is coming off a 67-64 overtime loss to Utah State on December 19. ...Emil Jones (10.2 ppg) is the only Trojan averaging double figures in scoring. ...He's also tied with Ray Chambers for the team lead in rebounds (6.2 rpg). ...Troy leads the all-time series 19-10.
 

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