panthers await final seeding for SSC Tournament
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – The Florida Tech men’s basketball team dominated Tampa in their regular season finale on Saturday night at the Clemente Center. Before tip-off, the Panthers celebrated their graduating seniors.
Both teams exchanged shots and possession to begin the game. A monster fast break dunk by David McCullough put the Panthers on top, 9-5, with 14:46 on the clock.
Just over a minute later, a three-point jumper from Stephen Merritt extended Tech’s lead to 14-7.
With a 19-12 lead at the 10-minute mark, the Panthers rattled off an 11-3 run, capped off by a McCullough triple to make it a 30-15 game with 8:20 to go until halftime.
The teams would once again trade baskets for a few minutes, a three-point jumper from Niall Harris gave the Panthers a 36-21 lead at the 5:44 mark of the half.
A quick 4-0 run for Tampa cut the lead down to 36-25, but the Panthers would answer with back-to-back trey balls to make it a 45-27 game with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
Rahsaan Edwards knocked down Tech’s 12th made three-point jumper of the first half to close out the period and send the teams into halftime with a score of 48-29.
SECOND HALF:
The teams came out trading baskets to begin the second half. Back-to-back jumpers for the Spartans made it a 58-29 game heading into the first media timeout of the half.
Harris converted a three-point play at the 13:16 mark to give the Panthers a 68-45 lead.
A few minutes later, a quick 7-0 run for Tampa brought the lead back down to 19, 75-56, with just under 10 minutes to play.
Tech would use a 16-2 run to jump back out to a 91-58 lead over the next three minutes. Harris sank four triples during the run, and on his final one eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career.
Both teams continued to trade baskets for the rest of the match. The Spartans battled back over the final few minutes, but could not get the game closer than 95-78 with just a minute left to play.
Darragh O’Sullivan added a three-point jumper in the game’s waning moments to give it a final score of 100-79.
UP NEXT: Florida Tech awaits final seeding for the SSC Tournament. The tournament is set to begin with the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, March 5.
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