Rhyjon Blackwell (Photo by Jonathan Burke/@jc95_action)
Posted: Jan 17, 2022
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Playing for the second time in three days, the #16 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers showed few signs of fatigue Monday afternoon in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, keeping the scoreboard busy in a 90-66 blowout of the visiting Hillsborough Hawks to earn their 10th consecutive win and improve to 15-2 overall and 2-0 in Southern Conference play on the year.
It took the Bucs a while to get going Monday as they were scoreless through three minutes of action and trailed 10-8 five minutes in against a Hillsborough squad looking to make their mark in their first year in the Southern Conference. Rhyjon Blackwell got in a passing lane and picked off a pass for FSW and raced it the other way, getting the ball to Jordan Mitchell for a floater to tie the score at 10 and start the Bucs on a 7-0 run to give them their first lead of the game at 15-10. A three from Kaiyem Cleary extended the Bucs lead to eight moments later and FSW took their first double digit lead of the game with 4:04 remaining in the half when Marcus Niblack knifed through the lane for two to make it 34-24 Bucs. Bryant Selebangue's third dunk of the half pushed the Bucs lead to 14 and the teams traded threes in the final minute to send the game to the half with FSW in front 43-29.
Hillsborough came out in the second ready to go, quickly trimming the Bucs lead back to single digits at 45-36 in the opening moments of the period. A big putback dunk from Jonathan Dos Anjos spurred the Bucs on a 9-0 lead over the next 3:15 to open their lead to 56-38 before four straight from Phillip Smith ballooned FSW's advantage to 23. The Hawks never threatened again as the Bucs went up by as many as 28 late on a pair of free throws from Cameron Stitt before finishing off a 90-66 win at the final horn.
The Bucs shot 49% from the field in the win while holding Hillsborough to just 40% overall and 22% from three. Selebangue posted his seventh straight double-double, recording a game high 16 points and 11 rebounds while Dos Anjos went for 16 points and 7 boards. The FSW bench outscored the Hawk bench 46-27 on the afternoon and the Bucs owned a 42-26 advantage in points in the paint.
FSW wins their 10th straight to improve to 15-2 overall and 2-0 in Southern Conference play on the year while Hillsborough sees a two game win streak come to a screeching halt, falling to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in league play.
The Bucs continue a busy schedule on Wednesday when they hit the road for the first time in conference action to take on State College of Florida in Bradenton in a 7 PM tip off.
