Poor Shooting Dooms Florida SouthWestern In Loss To Spartanburg Methodist
(Roy Allen – FSW Athletic)
FORT MYERS, Fla.– The #19 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers couldn’t slow down a hot shooting Spartanburg Methodist team in the second half Saturday afternoon in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, watching the Pioneers torch the nets for 52 points in the final 20 minutes in route to an 85-71 win to bring a five game winning streak to an end for the Bucs.
The Bucs started slow, needing almost three and a half minutes to get on the board for the first time, but their defense kept them in it and at the 14:00 mark of the first, FSW had a 7-4 lead. A steal by Kaiyem Cleary and a bucket by Marcus Niblack on the other end pushed the Bucs lead to 13-5 two minutes later, but an assault from the outside by the Pioneers quickly level the score back out at 13 at the midway point of the first. Spartanburg took a 26-23 lead with 4:38 remaining in the half on their fifth three of the half, but FSW outscored the Pioneers 14-4 the rest of the way into the half to take a 37-33 lead into the break.
Cleary came out of the break on fire for the Bucs, pouring in eight points in just 2:42 to up the FSW lead to 47-39 early in the half. The Bucs took their largest lead of the game in style with 13:04 to go when Jordan Mitchell connected with Bryant Selebangue on an alley oop to put FSW in front 57-48. But just when it looked like FSW was in control of the low scoring affair, Spartanburg found another gear and the Bucs couldn’t put themselves into gear.
The Bucs were held off the scoreboard for the next 4:20 while the Pioneers trimmed their lead to just one. A bucket from Jonathan Dos Anjos ended the drought, but they went right back into another one, going without a field goal for over four minutes as Spartanburg took their largest lead of the game at seven with 5:15 to go. The Bucs cut it to a 68-64 game with a three from Aahmod Scarbrough, but they could do nothing to slow down the Pioneer attack as Spartanburg quickly ballooned the lead back to 14 and finished FSW off 85-71 to bring the Bucs five game win streak to a screeching halt.
The Bucs managed just three field goals over the final 13:04 to finish the second half shooting 37% and 41% for the game. Spartanburg on the other hand was on fire, shooting 58% from the field in the second half and 64% from three to finish the game at 48% and 47% respectively.
Cleary led the Bucs with a career high 27 points, going 9-11 from the field and 7-9 from three in the win. Selebangue posted his second straight double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds while Mitchell just missed a double-double of his own with 13 points and 9 rebounds.
The Bucs drop to 5-2 on the season with the loss, while Spartanburg improves to 6-1.
FSW will look to get back in the win column Tuesday when they travel up the coast to St. Petersburg to take on the Titans in non-conference action.
