ATLANTA, Ga. (Men's Basketball) – Opening the 2016-17 season at the NCAA South Regional Tipoff Classic, Florida Tech's inability to clean the glass proved to be costly in a 79-68 loss to Morehouse Friday night at Forbes Arena.
Despite holding a notable size advantage over the Maroon Tigers, the Panthers were outrebounded 46-35 in the contest, giving up 15 offensive boards while claiming just seven of their own.
Sam Daniel led the way for FIT with 23 points, coming up just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds.
Patrick Anderson chipped in 12 points and five assists, while
Jordan Majors rounded out the Panthers in double figures with 10 points and five assists but also five turnovers.
Martravious Little and his 18 points led a balanced attack for Morehouse, which had five players in double figures. Duby Maduegbunam (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Omar Alston (13 points, 11 rebounds) both registered double-doubles, while Tyrius Walker and Jordan Wallace had 10 and 13 points, respectively.
Both teams started off sluggishly, with the Maroon Tigers recording the first points of the game just under two and half minutes in. FIT played from behind early on, not taking its first lead until the 10:49 mark of the half, when an Anderson jumper gave the Panthers a 17-16 advantage.
MC, though, reclaimed the lead shortly thereafter and kept the Crimson and Gray at a distance, going into the break with a 34-27 lead after Wallace drilled a three at the halftime buzzer.
The Panthers (39.3%, 27.3%) actually outshot Morehouse (35.9%, 15.4%) from the field and from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes. However, 10 Panther turnovers to just four committed by the Maroon Tigers allowed MC to take 11 additional shots.
Four minutes into the second half, Jordan Murphy pulled FIT within four on a shot from distance. Unfortunately, the momentum didn't last as MC rattled off eight straight to bolster the lead, never letting the Panthers cut the deficit to less than seven points the rest of the way.
"To be honest I thought we were outplayed all night long," said head coach
Billy Mims. "The number one thing we said we had to do well was transition defense. Morehouse had 12 points on transition layups and offensive rebounds, second chance put backs."
FIT will have an opportunity to get back on track in quick order, taking on Clark Atlanta Saturday at 2 p.m. ET to finish out competition at the NCAA South Regional Tipoff Classic. Jim Mitchell will have the call on your radio dial at FloridaTechSports.com/live.
