Rhyjon Blackwell (Photo by Brad Young/BradYoungPhoto.com)
Posted: Feb 24, 2022
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #14 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers put on a show for their big home crowd of almost 1,600 Thursday night, putting up 115 points in a 115-74 win over Pasco-Hernando on Fan Appreciation Night in Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
The Bucs got off to a hot start and never looked back against the Bobcats Thursday night, jumping out to a quick 13-4 lead highlighted by a pair of Bryant Selebangue dunks before stretching their lead to 14 at 20-6 six minutes in after an offensive rebound and putback by Jonathan Dos Anjos. Pasco put together their best stretch of the night over the next five minutes, hitting a barrage of threes to cut the Bucs lead in half to 32-25 with just under 8:00 to go in the half. A pair of threes from Aahmod Scarbrough put the Bucs back up a dozen and a triple at the first half horn from Jordan Mitchell made it 57-40 FSW at the break.
To get the second half going, it was the Rhyjon Blackwell show. The Bucs guard drilled five threes over a 3:30 span turning a 66-46 game to an 85-52 game in the blink of an eye. Mitchell assisted on all five threes and also provided the alley on an alley-oop to Dos Anjos to tie the program's single game record with his 15th assist of the night. Moments later Mitchell pulled down a rebound and launched a full court pass the other way for a two handed slam by Kaiyem Cleary to give him the record to himself. The Bucs hit the century mark with 7:40 to go when Mitchell connected with Cameron Stitt for another alley-oop to make it 101-60 and the Bucs threw it in cruise control from there, finishing off a 115-74 win at the final horn.
FSW finished the night shooting a scorching 59% from the field and 49% from the three point line. Blackwell led the Bucs with a career high 28 points on 9-12 shooting including 8-11 from three to tie a program record for triples, while Dos Anjos added 22 on 9-11 from the field. Mitchell finished with a program record 17 assists, the most in a game by any player in the NJCAA Division I ranks this season.
The Bucs close the regular season 23-5 while Pasco heads to the playoffs with a 15-13 mark.
With the victory, FSW Head Coach Eric Murphy earns his 100th career win in just his fourth season on the end of the Buccaneers bench.
FSW will now set their sights on the postseason where they begin tournament play Wednesday at 9 PM (EST) in Niceville, Florida when they take on Santa Fe in the FCSAA State Tournament Quarterfinals.
If you can't make it to Niceville for the tournament, the Bucs have you covered. Head over to Buckett's where they will host the Bucs' official watch party with 15% of all tickets going straight back to FSW Athletics.