INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Florida Tech 81, Auburn-Montgomery 83
Records: Florida Tech (0-1) | Auburn-Montgomery (1-0)
Location: Alfond Sports Center | Winter Park, Fla.

FIRST HALF: 

• Sesan Russell and Mekhii Noble tallied the first two points of the season for the Panthers to put Tech up 4-2 with 17:48 to go in the first half.
• Consecutive buckets by Jeremiah Bozeman and Sam Youngblood gave AUM a 16-11 lead with 13:40 left. However, a short jumper by Mate Papai and a three-point play by Runako Ziegler even the game at 16-16 with 12:38 left on the clock. 
• A 6-0 run by Tech, on baskets by Ameer Bennett, Russell, and Niall Harris, gave the Panthers a 22-20 advantage with 10: 42 to go. The Panthers carried that momentum and grabbed its largest lead of the first half, 30-27, with 8:21 left.
• The Warhawks answered with their own 7-0 run, capped off by a Youngblood three, to grab a 34-30 edge at the 5:57 mark. 
• The Panthers tied the game at 36-36 just over two minutes later. The teams exchanged baskets the rest of the way and Tech took a 44-42 advantage into halftime.

SECOND HALF: 

• Tech led for much of the second half, building its lead to as much as five, 64-59, on a layup by Harris with 8:06 to go.  
• A late 7-0 run by AUM gave them their first lead of the half, 74-70, following a three-point play by Isiah Hart with 3:25 remaining. Hart then pushed the Warhawks advantage to six, 81-75, on a fastbreak layup with 1:03 left on the clock. 
• Tech was able to cut the deficit to 81-79 on a pair of free throws by Sean Houpt with 14 seconds to go. 
• Bozeman pushed AUM's lead back to four with two makes at the charity stripe with 10 seconds to go. 
• The Warhawks would hold on for the win despite a last second tip-in by Sam Grant as time expired. 

COACHES CORNER:
"I thought we did a really good job in the first half of going inside," said head coach Billy Mims. "We were running plays trying to establish an inside presence with our big three, Mate, Mekhii and Ameer, and I thought they played really well in the first half. We made 54% of our shots in the first half and had 44 points and were up to at the half. So, I thought the game plan in the first half was outstanding. 
 
"In the second half, we got a little rushed on offense, took some bad shots and tried to force some threes that weren't there. We tried to keep getting the ball to our bigs, but they started getting fouled a lot, then we went to the free throw line and didn't make our free throws. For whatever reason it just didn't fall for us tonight. Some of that I think was first-game jitters or whatever, and we just never got through that. And then it was so tight late, that we made a couple of bad decisions with about four minutes to go that gave them a chance to open it up.
 
"I've been doing this 40-plus years now and I know when you have a 2-for-19 night behind the arc and 13 missed free throws, it's going to be tough to win. All the credit to AUM, they played great tonight, but we allowed them to hang around and give themselves a chance to win.  
 
"I am really proud of several things though. We played 14 of our 16 active players tonight and everybody contributed. Niall Harris played well in sparing minutes. Mate Papai was 5-of-5 from the field and had some big rebounds. Mekhii Noble was a beast on both ends. And Sam Grant, a freshman, came off the bench in his first collegiate game and knocked down the only two threes we made all night. Also, my son Josh (Mims) came off the bench and shut down AUM's best shooter, who was killing us from three, and didn't let him make a shot the final minutes of the first half. A lot of guys played limited minutes, but they had a positive net impact for our team tonight."
 
NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• Sesan Russell led Tech with 17 points, four assists, two steals and two rebounds on 7-19 shooting
• Runako Ziegler ended with 12 points and four rebounds on 4-7 shooting
• Mate Papai went 5-5 from the field and finished with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.
• Niall Harris had nine points on 4-5 from the field
• Freshman Sam Grant scored eight points on 3-6 shooting in her first collegiate action, including Tech's only two makes from three-point range.
   

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:

• AUM finished the game shooting 44.8% (30-67) from the field and 33.3% (5-15) from three. Tech ended the contest at 45.7% (32-70) shooting and 10.5% (2-19) beyond the arc. 
• One of the biggest deciders in the game was free throw shooting. The Warhawks made 18-22 (81.8%) from the line while the Panthers hit on just 15-28 (53.6%) attempts. 
• Warhawks finished with an edge in rebounding (44-41) but the Panthers had a 15-13 advantage on the offensive glass.
• Tech ended with a 6-5 assist/turnover ratio compared to 8 assists and 13 turnovers for the Warhawks. 
• Panthers outscored AUM in points off turnovers (18-8), points in the paint (46-38), second chance points (20-12) and bench scoring (23-12). AUM had a slight edge in fastbreak points (21-19).

UP NEXT: Florida Tech is back in action Saturday at the South Region Crossover as the Panthers take Benedict College at 2 p.m. at the Alfond Sports Center. 

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