ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.- The #2 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers took the floor for the first time in the 2022-2023 season Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg and came away with a grinding 66-63 win over the host St. Petersburg Titans behind a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double from newcomer Jadrian Tracey in his FSW debut. 

 

The first half was a defensive struggle on both sides of the floor with FSW holding a slight 32-30 lead after 20 minutes of action.  The Bucs shot just 35% from the floor in the first half while St. Pete shot 43% but was just 1-11 from downtown in the first 20 minutes.

 

The Bucs were slowly able to get things going a little bit in the second half, but the Titans remained pesky, not allowing FSW to break away. The game came down to the final moments, but in the end the Bucs held the Titans off to win it 66-63.  

 

FSW finished the game shooting 47% from the field while St. Pete hit in 41% of their attempts on the afternoon.  Jadrian Tracey had quite the memorable FSW debut, putting up a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double while also picking off 5 steals on the defensive end.  Bradley Douglas was the only other Bucs in double figures in scoring as he put up 13 in his maiden game with the Bucs.  Dezdrick Lindsay chipped in 8 points on a perfect 4-4 shooting for FSW off the bench.  

 

The Bucs start the 2022-2023 season 1-0 while St. Petersburg falls to 0-2. 

 

FSW will hit the road, or more accurately the skies, for their next contests as they make a visit to Utah where they will play three games in four days starting on Friday when they battle Utah State-Eastern in a 7 PM EST tip.