FORT PIERCE, Fla.- The #17 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers led by five with under 30 seconds to go and led by four with less than 15 seconds to go Wednesday night on the road at Indian River, but with 0 seconds to go, the Bucs were on the short end of a 63-62 decision as the Pioneers rained in nine points in the game's final 27 seconds to stun the Bucs in FSW's penultimate game of the 2022 regular season. 

 

After embarrassing the Pioneers the last time the two teams met two weeks ago in Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, the Bucs knew they would get Indian River's best shot Wednesday as the Pioneers celebrated their sophomore night in their final home game of the season. Indian River came out ready to go as expected, jumping out to a 19-15 lead after one quarter of action. 

 

The Bucs slowed down the Pioneers in the second, but they struggled to find the hoop themselves, managing just four field goals in the period to cut the Indian River lead by just one before the break to make it a 29-26 game in favor of the Pioneers after 20 minutes of action. 

 

FSW finally got going in the third, drawing back to even with 4:00 to go in the period before a jumper from Tashun Bryson with 3:31 left in the quarter put the Bucs ahead 39-37.  They ended up outscoring the Pioneers by seven in the third, taking a 46-42 lead after three.  

 

The momentum stayed on the Bucs side for most of the fourth quarter as well as they upped their lead to six with just over a minute to go and continued to lead by five at 59-54 with just 27 seconds left.  A three by the Pioneers cut it to a two point game, but a pair of FSW free throws pushed the lead back to four with 20 seconds remaining.  The Bucs let Indian River get loose beyond the arc again for a three to make it a one point game with 12 seconds to go.  The Bucs were fouled on the ensuing inbounds but managed just one of two from the line to bump the lead to 62-60.  Indian River looked like they were in trouble on their next possession as with time winding down they fumbled the ball before recovering it, but just before the final horn sounded, they knifed through the Bucs defense for an easy bucket and FSW inexplicably fouled the Pioneer shooter to put them on the line in a tie game with just 0.3 seconds remaining. With the game on the line, the Pioneers cashed in the freebie and the Bucs were unable to get a shot on their final trip and were stunned with 0.00 on the clock and the scoreboard reading 63-62 in favor of the home team.  

 

Macarena Retamales led the Bucs with 20 points while Jayla Murray finished with 15 and Sariana Rodriguez 9.  Those were the only statistics available at time of release.  

 

FSW drops their first Southern Conference game of the year, falling to 20-5 overall and 7-1 in league play while Indian River improves to 19-8 overall and 6-2 in conference action.  

 

The Bucs return home for their final game of the regular season Saturday at Suncoast Credit Union Arena with a chance to win the Southern Conference Championship outright against Miami Dade at noon. Prior to the game, the Bucs will honor their six sophomores playing in their last games in Fort Myers for FSW in their annual Sophomore Day ceremony.