Panthers Hold Off Furious Sailfish Rally

Jordan Majors - James Ragan Photograaphy
The Florida Tech Panthers took all the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish could dish out on Saturday, withstanding a late charge by the home team, to earn a 76-73 Sunshine State Conference victory.

“I was really, really pleased with how we never quit,” said Florida Tech coach Billy Mims, in his post-game interview with Jim Mitchell. “Guys could’ve given up, one more mistake could’ve killed us.”

Florida Tech (11-6, 4-4 SSC) was led by Jordan Majors 22 points and got 18 from Sam Daniel, who also had 14 rebounds. In the end, this game came down to free-throws, with the Sailfish missing three of their final four free-throws down the stretch and going 8-for-19 overall. On the flip side, the Panthers were 7-for-7 for the game, hitting just two from the charity stripe in the second half.

The Sailfish (7-9, 3-6 SSC) led 5-3 with 18:29 left in the first half and never led again. The Panthers got off to a fast start, with Majors, Pat Anderson and Daniel all hitting threes’ early and jumping out to a 9-5 lead. A scoring drought that lasted 4:18 and four turnovers in that stretch, allowed the Sailfish back into the game, as they cut the Panthers lead to 13-12.

Rafael Casanova was good on a layup that made it 15-12 and then hit a three pointer to close a 9-0 run for the Panthers, with 9:47 to go in the first half. The Sailfish would keep hovering around six or seven down, before Florida Tech regained their 10-point lead on a three-pointer by Daniel, with 2:33 to go. Free throws by Derek Murphy made it a 41-29 game, giving the visitors their biggest lead of the night.

The Panthers would take a 41-31 lead into the locker room and things were looking good for the Panthers, who were trying to snap a four-game road losing streak.
The second half started well for the Panthers, who led 50-38, thanks to another Majors three, with 15:27 to go. Palm Beach Atlantic battled back and hit five-of-seven shots, but they were still down 59-49 with 10:30 left. Then, they kicked it into high gear.



The Sailfish went on an 18-8 run over a six-minute span and cut the lead to 68-67 on a three-ball by Dakota Zinser, with 4:13 to go. Zinser finished with a career-high 18 points.

Despite a couple turnovers, the Panthers got the lead back up to five, 74-69, with 44 seconds left on Majors bucket. A couple more turnovers and a late foul on Majors as he was in pursuit of a ball that had he just let it go out of bounds, would’ve been a backcourt violation, hurt Florida Tech.

That combined with a couple late turnovers would’ve hurt more if Bakari Warthen, who is a 77 percent free-throw shooter, would’ve hit either of the free-throws he took with seven seconds left. He missed them both and Majors got the rebound, setting up Patrick Anderson’s two free-throws with 2.6 seconds left, to ice the game. Those were the only free-throws for the Panthers in the second half.

“The basketball Gods must’ve been with us,” said Mims about the missed free-throws by Warthen. “When you’re livin’ right, you’re playin’ right and you’re playing hard, maybe you deserve some things you didn’t get. In the end, the basketball Gods took over and fortunately, Warthen missed two free-throws and we got a huge rebound on the play.”

Palm Beach Atlantic went long on the inbounds after the free-throws, but Sam Daniel looked like he got a hand on it and kept the Sailfish from getting a final shot.
The Panthers won the rebounding battle 37-27 and scored 20 second chance points, to Palm Beach Atlantic’s four. That was a huge reason why the Panthers earned this victory on the road.

For more info: Florida Tech @PBA Box Score

The Panthers return home Wednesday to face the Saint Leo Lions in another Sunshine State Conference match-up. That game will get underway just after 7:30 p.m.




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