CHARLOTTE, N.C.- NJCAA Top 25 voters respected the Florida Southwestern State Buccaneers effort enough in a 69-65 defeat against then, #1 Northwest Florida State, that they dropped them only one spot to #6 in the poll released Tuesday.
The Bucs earned their 11th straight victory to open up the year on Saturday, putting together a big second half to blowout Pensacola 72-52. Sunday they ran into a hornets nest as they took on the top ranked Raiders who were coming off of their first loss of the year on Saturday to Eastern Florida State, battling Northwest to the final horn in a narrow four point defeat. FSW sits at 11-1 on the year and will take the court again on Thursday and Friday when they head to the East Coast to take on ASA Miami and Indian River State to wrap up the first half.
With Northwest Florida's loss, South Plains, Vincennes, and Coffeyville moved into the top three positions in the poll. The next three spots are held by Region VIII squads in Northwest, Tallahassee and the Bucs, while Ranger, Hutchinson, Salt Lake, and Trinity Valley round out the top 10.
FOLLOW THE BUCS
For the latest news on FSW Athletics, log on to FSWBucs.com or stay connected to the Bucs on social media. Follow the Buccaneers on Twitter @FSWBucs, on Instagram @FSWBucs, on Facebook at Facebook.com/FSWBucs and on Snapchat at BucsSnaps.
WATCH THE BUCS ONLINE
All of FSW's home games will be available online through FSW Livestream (FSW.edu/livestream), and can be viewed on smartphones, tablets and laptop or desktop computers.
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.