#8 Florida SouthWestern On Short End of 83-81 Verdict at Santa Fe
November 5, 2021
Gainesville, FL – Santa Fe CC advances to 3-0 on the young season with a home conquest over FSW. The Saints were “en fuego” from the start, building a 14 point lead, 16-2, just five minutes in. Holding a double digit lead on several occasions, Santa Fe was still leading by nine (30-21) with 7 minutes remaining in the half.
That was about the point were Florida SW started their comeback. Slowly the Santa Fe lead began to shrink, and with a buzzer beater just before the half, the Bucs had taken a three point lead, 43-40 into the locker room.
Although Santa Fe had control and the lead for most of the second half, they never could put serious distance between their opponent. After building, but blowing a big first half lead, the Saints had stabilized and stretched the lead back to nine with just over 9 minutes to play in the game.
Once again, FSW chipped away and the game basically became a two possession game the rest of the way.
With the score knotted at 71, SFC went on a 8-2 mini run to go up 79-73 on back to back treys by Brandon Farmer, a 6’7 SO3 from Leesburg, FL, with about four minutes to go. Over the next couple of minutes, however, SouthWestern got three straight lay-ups to tie things up again at 79 at the 1:44 mark.
On the ensuing possession, Bradley Douglas, the floor general of Santa Fe, was fouled. Hitting just one of the FT’s, the Saints margin was only one, at 80-79.
On the other end, just a few seconds later, FSW regained the lead 81-80 on two FT’s by Justin Archer, the NJCAA 1st Team All-American transfer from Vincennes.
After a blocking lay-in attempt by SFC, the Bucs wasted too much time, launched a desperation three, but the buzzer had sounded for a shot clock violation.
Santa Fe got the ball back with :31 seconds, down by one. Running a set play, Hasan Abdul-Hakim found a wide open Nicolas McClain cutting off a screen down the lane for a two-hand slam giving the home team a one point lead, much to the delight of the sparse, but very boisterous crowd.
On it’s final possession, SouthWestern went for the win on the road, but Tennessee St. transfer Marcus Niblack’s three from the right wing skipped off the rim and the upset was completed. Florida SouthWestern falls to 1-1.
Abdul-Hakim was the star of the game for the Saints. The a 6’7″ FR2 from Toronto tossed in 22 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished out 7 assist. His points and assists were team high. Nicolas McClain (6’3″ FR2 G from Jennings, FL) nailed a career high 16 points, the last two proved to be the winning bucket. Douglas finished with 13.
