Majors Strong Second Half Propels Panthers

The Florida Tech Panthers overcame a 15 point second half deficit on Wednesday and hung on to beat the Eckerd Tritons in a Sunshine State Conference Men’s basketball showdown. Jordan Majors led the Panthers with 35 points.

"I have to take my hat off to Jordan Majors, that was a monster game,” said Florida Tech head coach Billy Mims in his post-game interview with Paul Van Scott. “That’s the way we always knew he was capable of playing. He had a great night. They have him for five turnovers, but that’s the way it’s gonna be when you play Eckerd.

In a game that saw six ties and six lead changes, the Panthers found themselves down 10 points 41-31, with three minutes left. They chipped away, helped by a Majors three to get it to 41-36. Sam Daniel, who led the Panthers with 22 points in Monday’s win, then hit a free-throw to cut it to four, with 49 seconds left in the half.

The lead was extended to seven on a fluke play at the end of the half. There was a loose ball on the floor that Majors got a hand on and couldn’t come up with it, Eckerd’s Obi Kei comes up with it and dishes to the Tritons best shooter, Kevin Walsh, who drains a three at the buzzer and extends the lead to seven.

The Panthers changed their defense in the second half, after Walsh went off for 16 points in the first half, including 5-of-10 from three-point range.

“We went to box-and-one,” said Mims. “We put four guys in the paint and said let the other guys shoot it and if they beat us, they beat us.” It worked, because Walsh was limited to just two threes’ in the second half.

The second half was all about point swings and it started with Eckerd, who got up by as many as 15, with 4:36 gone in the half. A three by Majors less than three minutes later, cut it to 12 and the Panthers got it down to 10 before allowing a basket with 11:30 to go. A three by Antonis Pefanis seven seconds later, cut the lead to single digits and started a 10-point run for Florida Tech.

“We were shooting it great to start the second half, but we couldn’t get stops,” said Mims. “We were just trading baskets and that’s how we found ourselves down.”

With 9:30 to go, following that run, the Panthers found themselves down 61-59. After an Eckerd, free throw stopped the bleeding for the Tritons and upped the lead to three, FIT put the pedal to the metal again and ripped off 13 straight points, to go up 72-62.

The run was highlighted by good defense, free-throw shooting and points inside. Daniel hit a three with 3:15 to go, putting the Panthers up by 10 again and a Pefanis layup made it an 11-point game with 2:25 left. The Tritons knew they had to make a move and they did, cutting it to six, 79-73 with 1:24 left.

“It was an amazing second half turnaround,” Mims said. “I think we held them for six or seven minutes without a field goal.”

The game went back-and-forth for a bit, but with 35 seconds left and suddenly the Panthers were clinging to an 83-77 lead. A turnover by Majors was followed by a layup and it was a four-point contest. After a couple free-throws by Patrick Anderson, the Tritons cut it to 85-81 and got a huge three-pointer by Blake Morrow with three seconds left, to make it a one point game.

Eckerd had to foul and they put Rafael Casanova on the line with 1.5 seconds left. He made one and missed the second, but the Tritons were unable to get off a shot before the final horn sounded, allowing the Panthers to escape with a two-point victory.

For more info: Florida Tech @ Eckerd Box Score

“Something I was very proud of is, throughout the game against all that pressure, we shot 54 percent on their floor,” said Mims. “In the second half of the game we hit 58 percent of our shots and we held Eckerd to 38 percent in the second half and for the ballgame, Eckerd only shot 44.6 percent.”

Daniel had 19 points and Anderson added 18. Robert Booth, who fouled out of the game late only shot 1-for-4, for two points, but he led the Panthers with eight rebounds.

“His eight boards were huge,” said Mims. “We can’t win this game tonight without Robert’s presence on the glass and his presence in the paint.”

The Panthers are now 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the SSC. They will now turn their attention to Barry, who will visit the Clemente Center Saturday, in another conference battle. The tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

This blog is an extension of our website - Sportslowdown.com