FORT MYERS, FLA.- The #10 FSW Bucs were a little bit slow getting out of the gates Tuesday night against ASA Miami, leading by just five at the break, but as the second half got going, they got going, lighting up the scoreboard for 49 in the final 20 minutes of action to run away with an 86-64 win to improve to 7-0 on the year.
Maddox Daniels was ready at the opening tip for the Bucs, scoring FSW's first five points of the contest to give them an early 5-2 lead. That lead didn't last long though as ASA Miami came back to tie the score up at 5 and then go ahead at the 16 minute mark by a count of 7-5.
The teams traded leads for the next six minutes as they approached the midway point of the first half and at the 10 minute mark the Silver Storm retook a two point advantage at 20-18.
A three from Charles Manning Jr. with 8:54 to go in the half put FSW back on top and they stretched their lead to six on back to back buckets from Terence Lewis II with just over 5 minutes to go in the period.
The Bucs took their largest lead of the half at seven on another Manning Jr. hoop before ASA Miami got a pair of free throws before the horn to cut it to a 37-32 lead for FSW at the break.
ASA's Gabe Casey singlehandedly kept the Silver Storm in the game early in the second half as FSW was unable to pull away.
Up just two after another Casey three, FSW Head Coach Eric Murphy challenged his team during a timeout and they responded. Manning Jr. quickly scored four points while looking like a man on a mission and Lewis II got a pair of putbacks to push the Buc lead to seven once again.
A one handed slam by Manning Jr. and a two handed flush by Lewis II made it a 60-51 game in favor of the Bucs with 12 minutes to go and they extended upon their lead when Daniels hit a free throw line jumper to give them their first double digit lead of the night at the 9:04 mark.
The Silver Storm scored with 8:24 remaining on the clock to make it a nine point game, but FSW turned up the heat on the defensive end from there. The Bucs held ASA Miami without a point for the next six minutes, going on an 11-0 run during the stretch to blow their lead open from nine to 20 as the game entered its final minutes.
A steal by Jalen Finch and pass up the court to Manning Jr. who punched it home put the exclamation point on the win for the Bucs as they went on to take it 86-64 at the final horn.
The FSW bench came up big in the victory, outscoring the ASA bench 57-18 on the night. The Bucs won every category on the night including fast break points 35-6, points off turnovers 25-9, points in the paint 60-26, and second chance points 14-3. FSW shot 57% in the second half to finish at just under 50% on the night overall while holding ASA to just 39% shooting from the floor.
Manning Jr. led the way individually with 23 while Lewis II finished with 16 points and 6 rebounds, and Daniels added 11.
The Bucs improve to a perfect 7-0 with the victory while ASA Miami falls to 1-7 on the year.
FSW will take a week off before returning to action on Tuesday, November 27th when they host Miami Dade in a 7:30 tip from Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
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SUNCOAST CREDIT UNION ARENA
The Buccaneers compete in the brand new Suncoast Credit Union Arena. Suncoast Credit Union Arena is approximately 75,000 square feet and is home to the FSW basketball teams and a student athletic center. The arena seats approximately 3,300 fans and includes six skyboxes, a hospitality event center, competition courts that convert into recreational courts, athletic office space, student, faculty and staff wellness, and an athletic center with a fitness pavilion, men's and women's locker rooms and a weight training area. The arena has two Daktronics displays, on the north and south walls, that each measure 10 feet high by 20 feet wide. Both displays incorporate variable content zoning to each show one large image or they can be divided into multiple windows to show any variety of live video, instant replays, up-to-the-minute statistics, graphics and animations, and sponsorship messages. One-hundred feet of ribbon displays have been installed on the east and west walls of the arena. The ribbons provide the opportunity to supplement the content on the main displays as well as highlight sponsors throughout events.