#12 Florida SouthWestern Recovers In Time To Overthrow Hillsborough
(partial content provided by Ray Allen – FSW sports information)
(January 27, 2022) Tampa, FL – For the first 30 minutes of the Florida SouthWestern State game against the Hillsborough Hawks Wednesday night, not much went right for the Bucs, while just about everything went right for the Hawks.
The Hawks led 43-34 at intermission, but it got worse before it got better for the Bucs. With 10 minutes left in the game, HCC held a 13 point lead, and all of the momentum. However, not ready to see their eleven game win streak scrapped…wait for it…click, that’s when the lights came on for FSW. With a gradual, but mad dash toward the finish line, the Buccaneers rallied to send the game to the extra period, eventually completing the comeback and escape with a 93-90 win.
Give Hillsborough credit, they fought hard and had the co-conference leaders on the ropes. HCC had their largest lead of the game (14 points) with a couple minutes to go in period one. They just couldn’t finish the job.
The teams were deadlocked at 76 with 46 seconds left and traded hoops to a 78-78 stalemate with 21 seconds left and the ball in the Bucs hands. Jonathan Dos Anjos hit a three with less than one second remaining on the clock to give the Bucs an 81-78 lead. Bucs win, Bucs win!! Right?
Not so fast…thinking the game was over, the FSW bench flowed onto the court to celebrate, resulting in a technical foul and two free throws for the Hawks. Nailing both throws, HCC pulled within one, 81-80 with .4 of a tick remaining. Game over!! Right? Hold on.
Seemed as if the Hawks were going to need a miracle now, with 94 feet to go and barely enough time to catch and shoot. Needing a miracle, HCC got one. A sneaky, well orchestrated inbounds play caught the Bucs off guard, resulting in a FSW foul. Being in the double bonus, Hillsborough had two tries at the charity stripe to possibly still win the game. Luckily for FSW, the first freebie missed the mark. However, the second connected, thus requiring the extra five minutes.
Not much scoring in the OT, but FSW wins to 5th period 12 to 9 for the win. Kaiyem Cleary went 4-4 from FT line in the final 23 seconds and the Bucs came up with a pair of big stops on the defensive end to salt away the three point victory and remain unbeaten in conference play.
There were a handful of standout stat lines from both sides. For Florida SouthWestern, Reigning FCSAA Player of the Week Bryant Selebangue finished off his ninth straight double-double with a monster inside game, going for 23 points and a program single game record 18 rebounds. Ten 10 on the offensive glass. Marcus Niblack scored 17 second half points to finish with 22, and Jonathan Dos Anjos put together a 20 point, 11 rebound night. Cleary had quite the impressive game of his own, ending with 17 points, 9 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals and five blocked shots.
In the losing effort, Japhet Medor went for 40 points, 9 assists, and 8 steals in a near triple-double for the Hawks. Georden Rogers popped for 19 before fouling out, and Jerome Palm added a dozen with 8 rebounds.
The Bucs win their 12th straight to improve to 17-2 overall and 4-0 in Southern Conference. Hillsborough drops their third straight to fall to 8-11 overall and 2-4 in league action.
Up next for FSW is a big showdown Saturday afternoon in Suncoast Credit Union Arena as #12 FSW will host #3 Indian River in a pairing of the two remaining undefeated teams in Southern Conference. Hillsborough treks it to the deep South for a game vs. Miami Dade.
