Bucs Beat Manatees to Advance in Florida State Tourney

April 8, 2021

NICEVILLE, Fla.– The #25 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers are moving on at the FCSAA State Tournament in Niceville after an 81-67 victory over Southern Conference rival State College of Florida Thursday afternoon at Raider Arena.  
It was a slow start for both sides as FSW managed just a single bucket through the first five minutes of action, while State College of Florida only dropped in two themselves as they led 4-2 at the 15:00 mark. A drive and score from Terry Roberts got the Bucs going and FSW scored the next seven to push in front 9-4.  SCF pushed back and took a 15-14 lead of their own on a thunderous dunk, but their momentum didn’t last long as the Bucs answered back with an old fashioned three point play to retake the lead, and Cameron Stitt connected from the outside to put the Purple and Aqua ahead 29-17 with 4:26 to go in the half.  The Manatees cut it back to a five point game with just over a minute to go before the break, but FSW outscored SCF 7-2 in the final 1:05 to stretch their lead back to double digits at the half 37-27.  

With their season on the line, the Manatees came out of the break with their hair on fire, scoring 10 of the first 13 of the period to trim the Bucs lead to just three at 40-37.  A big dunk in transition from Kario Oquendo got FSW back on the right track and in two minutes time it was back to a 10 point lead for the Bucs at 47-37.  Another huge throwdown from Oquendo gave the Bucs their largest lead of the game to that point at 56-40 and the Manatees never threatened again.  A three from Klein Alexandre made it an 18 point game with 10:50 to go and FSW put it on cruise control from there, finishing off SCF 81-67 to advance to the tournament semifinals.  

The Bucs were efficient offensively, shooting 49% from the field and 48% from three while connecting on 75% from the free throw line on 20 attempts.  Jaden Campbell led the Bucs with 20 points in the win while Oquendo had 17 off the bench and CJ Lane chipped in 15 on 5-8 shooting.  Roberts had a slow shooting night, but still finished with 11 points and a team best eight rebounds for the Bucs.  

FSW improves to 18-4 on the year with the win while SCF sees their season come to an end at 11-8.  

The Bucs advance to the semifinals on Friday where they will take on another Southern Conference foe in #17 Indian River with tip from Raider Arena set for 6 PM Central Time.