The Tale From Two Teams Following One Game
Feb 7, 2022
(Accounts from both sidelines following #2 Indian River vs. #10 Florida SouthWestern part II)
First, here’s Roy Allen – FSW Sports Information:
Niblack’s Career Night Not Enough As Bucs Fall In Top 10 Match-Up with Indian River
FORT PIERCE, Fla.– Marcus Niblack scored a career high 31 points, but it wasn’t enough as the #10 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers came up on the short end of a key Southern Conference matchup 83-78 to #2 Indian River Monday night in Fort Pierce.
The Bucs got off to a scalding hot start as Rhyjon Blackwell nailed a three on the first possession of the game and FSW led it 11-4 just four minutes in. Slowly the Pioneers began their comeback cutting the Bucs lead in half at 20-16 by the first media timeout and then leveling the score at 26 midway through the period.
After trading the lead back and forth for the next few minutes, the Bucs looked to have grabbed the momentum once again, going on a 7-0 run, capped by a three point play by Bryant Selebangue, to put FSW up 36-29 with 5:00 to go in the half. They couldn’t sustain the momentum into the break though as Indian River roared back and tied the score at 41 as the teams headed to the locker room at the half.
It remained a nip and tuck battle early in the second as a reserve lay in from Kai Cleary gave the Bucs the lead back at 51-49 five minutes into the period. But once again, the Bucs couldn’t string together enough stops to create any distance between themselves and the Pioneers and three minutes later, Indian River had the lead back at 58-54.
The Bucs went ice cold from there, watching as the Pioneers started to pull away, going up by as many as 14 with 8:00 to go. Just when it looked like FSW was out of it, the Bucs made one last push, getting four straight from Cleary to make it a single digit game and then a tough two from Niblack with under 3:00 remaining to get them to within five.
The Bucs got a bucket and a stop to make it a two point game with under 30 seconds remaining, but they threw the ball away on an entry pass into the post and had to play the free throw game from there, with Indian River coming up clutch at the stripe to eventually close them out 83-78 for the win.
Niblack continued his strong play of late with a career high 31 for FSW. Cleary finished with 11 and Selebangue had 10. No other statistics were available at the time of press.
The Bucs lose for just the second time in their past 16 contests, both coming to Indian River and both coming by 83-78 finals.
FSW falls to 19-4 overall and 6-2 in Southern Conference play while the Pioneers improve to 23-2 overall and a perfect 8-0 in conference play with four games remaining.
The Bucs will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when they return home to Suncoast Credit Union Arena to host the Hillsborough Hawks in a noon tip off in Fort Myers.
From Indian River Sports Information
IRSC Men Defeat Florida Southwestern In Top 10 Match-up
(Feb 7, 2022) Fort Pierce, Florida – In a match-up between to National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) “Top 10” teams the #2 ranked Pioneers defeated the #10 ranked Florida Southwestern College 83-78. This was the second meeting between the two Southern Conference foes with Indian River State College (IRSC) winning the first game in overtime by the exact same score, 83-78.
Florida Southwestern jumped on IRSC from the tip and took an early 13-4 lead, but IRSC continued to attack the basket and tied the score at 24 on an A.J. Cajuste layup. The remainder of the half saw each team trading baskets as the score was knotted at 41 at the half.
The second half saw several lead changes before the Pioneers went on a 14-2 run capped off by a Cajuste steal and lay-up making the score 67-56. IRSC pushed the lead to 14, 74-60 with 6:29 remaining in the game, but Florida Southwestern kept chipping away at the lead and pulled to within two points, 78-76 with 20 seconds left in the contest. Florida Southwestern quickly fouled Jonathan Cisse sending him to the line for a 1 and 1 free-throw opportunity.
Cisse hit the first free-throw giving IRSC a three-point lead 79-76 but missed the second. Cajuste fouled the ballhandler sending Florida Southwestern to the line, but they were unable to capitalize, and the Pioneers were able to secure the rebound. Florida Southwestern was forced to foul, and IRSC took advantage hitting all four free-throws to come away with the 83-78 victory.
Jacob Tracey had a career high for the Pioneers with 21 points, and also pulled in 7 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. Cajuste and Cisse both scored 19 with Kyle Feit and Benji Pierre adding 11 points in the win. Pierre had a team high 10 rebounds. It is a short turnaround for IRSC (23-2, 8-0 Southern Conference) as they have a conference match-up on Wednesday February 9th when they take on Hillsborough College on the Massey Campus in Fort Pierce.
