Panthers Score Big Win Over Tampa
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| Derek Murphy - Credit: James Ragan Photography |
The Florida Tech Panthers got a big win on Wednesday, with a
105-90 triumph over the Tampa Spartans at the Clemente Center. The team was in
a must-win situation, as they try to claw their way into the Sunshine State
Conference tournament next week and they got the job done, with six players
scoring in double figures.
Derek Murphy
scored a team-high 24 points to lead the Panthers. He was 8-for-9 from the
field and hit all eight of his free-throws. Just for good measure he had six
rebounds and one steal.
“Every game he seems to get better and this was the
best game of his career,” said Panthers coach Billy Mims. “He’s a sophomore who’s
really coming into his own.”
Jordan Majors had 22, Patrick
Anderson added a double-double with 19 points and 11 assists. He was 6-for-9
from the floor and hit all four of his shots behind the arc. Sam Daniel scored 17 points and Rafael Casanova and Robert Booth chipped in with 10 apiece.
Booth had seven rebounds as well.
Anderson and Majors played 40 minutes, with Daniel playing
39. Majors was on the floor for a bit with 12:15 to go in the game after he was
hammered by Austin Rettig with 12:15 to go in the game, resulting in a
technical foul. Majors missed both free-throws, but stayed in the game.
The Panthers (15-12, 7-10 SSC) got off to a bit of a slow
start, as Duke Shelton started strong, putting down two dunks and helping the
Spartans jump out to a 13-6 lead with 4:08 gone in the first half. Shelton
finished the first half with 11 points.
“We were playing okay, it just looked like we hadn’t settled
into our game plan yet,” said Mims. “Once we settled into everything we’d
worked on for the last couple days, I thought we really played well.”
Anderson’s three-pointer with 12:25 left to go in the half,
put the Panthers up 20-18, before Rettig gave Tampa the lead back, with a
three. Rettig was 6-of-8 from the field in the first half, including 4-of-6
behind the arc, accounting for 17 of the Spartans 39 first half points.
The game was tied at 25 with 10:43 to go in the half, before
the Panthers went on a 7-0 run. A three by Rettig broke that up and cut the
lead to 32-28, with 8:27 to go, but FIT got a steal and a bucket from Anderson
and they were off and running, again with another 7-0 spurt.
Those two runs helped the Panthers finish the first half
with a 45-39 advantage, thanks in large part to Anderson’s 11 points and Majors
10. Florida Tech shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) in the first half, while the
Spartans 12-of-25, 48 percent.
The second half was dominated early by the Panthers, taking
a 59-46 lead after another Anderson 3-ball, with 4:28 having elapsed. Another
Anderson three with 9:07 to go, pushed the lead to 74-59.
Tampa (16-11, 9-8 SSC) went on a 13-2 run to cut the lead to 86-79 with 2:49
to go, after a three by Mekhi Biffle. That was as close as the Spartans would
get, with the Panthers going on a 15-5 run and just like that, it was 96-81.
Florida Tech closed the deal from the free-throw line.
For more info: Tampa
@ Florida Tech Box Score
“It was a huge win for us tonight,” Mims said. “We made 61
percent of our shots in the second half and 57 percent for the game. Nine
players played in the game and positive contributions from all nine, even if
they were only on the floor for a few seconds."
As it stands now, with this win over Tampa, the Panthers now
hold the final spot in the conference tournament. This per information provided
by Jerry Durney (@JerryDurneyPBP on Twitter).
A win over Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday in
the regular season finale, or a loss by Saint Leo to Rollins, would secure the
Panthers spot in the tourney.
Saturday’s finale tips at 4:00 p.m., following Senior Day
activities.
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