Posted: Feb 05, 2022
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The last time the #16 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers played at home in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, they suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to #3 Indian River for their first conference loss of the season. Saturday night in their return to their friendly confines, the Bucs took out their week long frustrations on the unsuspecting State College of Florida Manatees as FSW led 7-0 after just one minute of play and never looked back, going on to a 107-69 blowout to win their 19th game of the season.
FSW led the game for 39:54 of the 40:00 of the contest, the only six seconds it was tied was how long it took the Bucs to get their first three points of the game, a three from Rhyjon Blackwell in a prequel of what was to come the rest of the night. A Bucs steal and score made it a 5-0 lead 30 seconds in and after an SCF miss, the Bucs raced the other way and got a three from Jonathan Dos Anjos to make it 7-0 FSW just 60 seconds after tip off. The Bucs continued to pad their lead taking a 12 point lead on another Blackwell triple five minutes in and stretching it to a 25 point game at 31-6 when Marcus Niblack picked off a pass and went the other way for a windmill dunk with 9:30 remaining in the half. It was more of the same over the next 10 minutes as Justin Archer got a pair of easy buckets and then Bryant Selebangue grabbed an offensive board and put it back in to make it 39-12 with just over five minutes to go in the first. A late two from Niblack capped off a 49 point half for the Bucs who led SCF by 30, 49-19 after 20 minutes of action.
An early old fashioned three point play by Blackwell early in the second put the Bucs up 33 at 61-28 and FSW continued to pour it on, doubling up the Manatees 73-37 at the 12 minute mark of the half. The Bucs took their largest lead of the game at 39 when Klein Alexandre got a tough two and FSW hit the century mark with 1:45 remaining when Jordan Mitchell glided to the hole and finished to put the Bucs up 101-67. The Bucs added six more to that total, eventually settling for a 107-69 win to send the Manatees back North unhappy.
The Bucs scorched the nets for 59% shooting in the win and also hit on 45% from deep and 86% from the line in the victory. Blackwell exploded for a career high 20 on 6-10 shooting while Archer added 17 in 21 minutes off the bench and Selebangue just missed a double-double with 14 points and 8 rebounds.
The Bucs move to 19-3 overall and 6-1 in Southern Conference play with their 18th straight win over the Manatees. State College of Florida falls to 12-14 overall and 1-7 in league action.
The win sets up a showdown for the Bucs Monday night in Fort Pierce where they take on #2 Indian River in the second of the two teams' three meetings on the hardwood this season.