MIAMI, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers took care of what they thought was going to be the hard part of their final week of Southern Conference play on Wednesday, defeating #18 Indian River to take over first place in the conference standings, but little did they know, Saturday's matchup against Miami Dade, who had won just one conference game all season going into the afternoon, would be the ones to dash their hopes as the Sharks raced out to a 25 point second half lead before holding off a late comeback by FSW for a 67-65 win. After 40 grueling minutes against the Sharks Saturday, the Bucs now turn to Miami Dade fans as their Conference Championship hopes lie in the Sharks' fins.  A Miami Dade win over Indian River Monday gives the Bucs the Southern crown while a Pioneer victory would send the title to Fort Pierce.  

 

The Bucs got off to a good start, scoring on their first two possessions of the game to take a quick 4-0 lead.  They continued to lead it 7-4 when a 7-0 Miami Dade run gave the Sharks their first lead of the game at 11-7 with 3:30 to go in the first.  It was a two point game heading into the final minute of the quarter when Miami Dade sunk a three from the top of the key to give the Sharks a 17-12 lead after one quarter of action. 

 

The Bucs deficit quickly grew to 10 as the second quarter began and a 3:30 scoreless draught for FSW allowed the Sharks to pad their cushion to 31-16.  A drive and score from Geovana Rios and a bucket from Tashun Bryson drew FSW back to within single digits, but Miami Dade scored the final four points of the half to take a 36-23 lead into the break. 

 

Miami Dade came out of the break on fire, scoring the first nine of the second half to open up a 22 point lead just 1:35 into the period. The Bucs deficit grew to 25 with 4:24 to go in the third before showing some life in the final four minutes to trim seven off the Shark lead before the end of three as Miami Dade took a 58-40 lead into the final 10 minutes of action.  

 

The Bucs sped the game up in the fourth and forced and capitalized on a number of Miami Dade turnovers to get back to within nine at 62-53 with five minutes to go. They later cut it to a five point game at 64-59 on a basket from Sheslanie Laureano, and made it a one possession game with under a minute to go. But they just couldn't get over the hump late as Miami Dade finished the Bucs off 67-65 to stun FSW and turn the Bucs into Shark fans for Monday night.  

 

The loss drops FSW to 12-5 on the year and is a devastating blow in the Southern Conference standings where the Bucs finish 6-3 in their first year back down South.  Miami Dade earns their best win of the season, improving to 6-9 overall and 2-6 in conference play on the season. 

 

FSW will wrap up the regular season on Monday when they host DME in an added contest at 4:30 in Suncoast Credit Union Arena.