Panthers Fade in Regular Season Finale

Sam Daniel - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

The Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish put a damper on Florida Tech’s Senior Day Saturday, beating the Panthers 80-76 in the regular season finale for both teams. Sam Daniel led the home team with 25 points, but FIT couldn’t overcome a sluggish second half that saw them get outscored 47-36.

“In the second half, they forced us into a lot of turnovers,” said Panthers head coach Billy Mims. “We were real sloppy and they pressed us, turned it into a full-court game and we didn’t take advantage of the pressure.”

To Mims point, his team turned it over 13 times in the second half, while only forcing eight.
Senior Robert Booth finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Patrick Anderson chipped in 13 and Jordan Majors had 10.

The game was even for much of the first half, before the Panthers before Anderson and Majors hit consecutive threes to get Florida Tech a 31-20 lead. After Dakota Zinser hit one for PBA, senior Rafael Casanova answered for the Panthers, making it 33-23, with 3:09 to go in the half.

In what Mims called the key moment in the game, with 2:16 to go, Zinser attempted a layup and the ball was still on the rim when Shavanno Cooper slammed it home. The entire crowd reacted, waiting for the goaltending call that never came. Mims immediately went to the referee, asking about the non-call and was given a technical foul.

“I was asking how he didn’t call goaltending,” Mims said. “I didn’t leave my box, I didn’t say anything nasty and I received a technical foul. With the two points they got for the goaltending and the two for the technical, there’s the four points right there.”

Instead of being 44-29 at the half, that technical made it 40-33. “That was the only thing in the first half that hurt us,” Mims said. “Not smart on my part, but I thought I needed to make the point and I thought I was doing it professionally enough to get away with it, but I didn’t and I hate that because in this kind of game, I cost our team a turnover.”

Despite their second half struggles, the Panthers did keep it close throughout, losing the lead with 4:43 to go when the Sailfish took a 65-63 lead. Derek Murphy hit two free-throws to tie it again. The Sailfish hit a bucket and got a turnover to take a 69-65 lead.

Daniel hit a three with 2:36 left to make it 69-68, but another turnover gave PBA an easy bucket and the lead was 71-68. Anderson got two back, but a three by the Sailfish made it 75-71. Daniel got another triple, to cut it to one, but two straight buckets for Palm Beach Atlantic made it a five-point game, with 34 seconds left, making it 78-76.

Majors tried for the steal and had his hands on the ball with 11 seconds left, but couldn’t save it from going out of bounds. That would be the last chance for the Panthers.

For more info: Palm Beach Atlantic @ Florida Tech Box Score

Florida Tech (15-13-7-11) did get some good news, despite losing the regular season finale. By virtue of a Saint Leo loss on Saturday, the Panthers clinched the eighth seed in the Sunshine State Conference tournament. They will face regular season champion, Barry on Wednesday March 1, at 7:00 p.m. The game will be played in Miami Shores.

“I think they’re 15-2 at home or something like that,” said Mims. “So, we’re going to the toughest place in this league to win, against maybe one of the 10 best teams in the country. That’s a mountain, but ya know what, it’s five guys against five guys for 40 minutes and upsets happen, we have to find a way to play the best game we played all season.”



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