MELBOURNE, Fla. (Men's Basketball) - Five Panthers finished in double digits as Florida Tech routed Tampa 105-90 Wednesday at the Clemente Center.  

FIT has won three straight games and is now one victory away from clinching at least the No. 8 seed in next week's Sunshine State Conference Tournament.

"Tonight I thought we had a great contribution from everybody that played in the basketball game," stated head coach Billy Mims. "We had five players finish in double figures led by Derek Murphy." 

Murphy ended with a team high 25 points on 8-of-9 shooting with six rebounds during 29 minutes of action. The Detroit, Michigan product also had an impressive performance at the charity strip going a perfect 9-of-9. Jordan Majors capped the night off with 22 points while Patrick Anderson notched a double double on 19 points (4-of-4 3pt.), 11 assists and tied for a team high seven rebounds. Rounding out the Panthers in double figures, Sam Daniel finished with 17 points while Robert Booth recorded 10 points and seven boards. 

Shooting, FIT finished with a better percentage from the field with 56.7 percent compared to Tampa's 54.1 percent. The Panthers dominated the boards 38-21, including a 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass that led to 18-second chance points. 

After a back and forth start to the game, the Spartans were able to jump out to a 13-6 advantage at the 15:52 mark of the first half. FIT fought its way back and took its own seven-point lead with 8:39 remaining on the clock. 

The Panthers lead reached 11 points with 5:50 left on the clock in the first half. However, the Spartans made their way back into the game, cutting the deficit to four with 20 seconds left but a pair of free throws by Majors gave FIT a 45-39 lead at the half.

Florida Tech controlled much of the second half building its lead to as much as 13 points on a three-point bucket by Anderson with 15:32 remaining in the stanza. From there the Panthers continued their momentum, ballooning their lead to 16 points at the 7:02 mark.

However, Tampa responded with a 13-2 run and decreased the margin to five with just over four minutes remaining. FIT answered with its own run, outscoring UT 15-5 to build its lead back to double digits, 96-81 with 1:29 left in the game. The Panthers then cruised the rest of the way for their 11th home victory of the season. 

Next up for Florida Tech is its regular season finale and Senior Day game against Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 4 p.m. ET at the Clemente Center. The tipoff is set to follow the Senior Day festivities. Fans can access live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com\live.