COLUMBIA, SC – The Panthers traveled to South Carolina to begin its season with two games at the NCAA South Regional Tipoff Challenge. In its first of two games, Florida Tech took care of business by defeating Benedict 67-59 on its home court.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Florida Tech 67, Benedict 59
Records: Florida Tech (1-0, Benedict 0-1)
Location: HRC Arena | Columbia, SC
FIRST HALF:
- The Panthers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead out the gate, as it took the Tigers seven shots to make their first of the game.
- A 9-0 run by Florida Tech aided by back-to-back buckets from Konstantinos Lagos gave it a 16-7 lead at the under-12 media timeout.
- After trading buckets and defensive stops for a couple of minutes Sean Houpt drained his second 3-pointer of the half to push the Panthers lead to double-digits at 26-15.
- Eight straight points for Tech gave it a commanding lead before Benedict hit a shot with 15 seconds remaining to end the run. The damage was done though with the Panthers holding a 34-17 lead at the break.
- Florida Tech's defense forced six turnovers and held Benedict to just 22.2% from the field.
SECOND HALF:
- Benedict came out of the locker room a new team offensively making contested shots to cut the lead to 39-30 four minutes into the second half. The Tigers continued to battle back making four of their first five 3-pointers in the half to cut the lead to 46-42.
- Florida Tech responded out of a timeout with Houpt and Niall Harris drilling 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to double-digits.
- Every time the Panthers tried to pull away, the Tigers would not back down. With just under two minutes left in the game they knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 60-53.
- Benedict pressured Florida Tech aggressively full-court, but the Panthers weathered it and made free throws to pull out the 67-59 win
NOTABLE PANTHERS:
- Houpt started his senior year with a bang, leading the way with 23 points which included four triples.
- Scoring 14 points coming off the bench was Niall Harris. On the glass, Harris brought down eight boards.
- Also, in double-figures for the Panthers was, Konstantinos Lagos in his first collegiate game with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
- Sesan Russell had nine points on the night and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. He also brought down 10 rebounds which tied a team-high.
- Sam Grant reached double-figures on the glass with 10 rebounds.
COACHES CORNER:
"We gave up only 17 points in 20 minutes on the road, which is one of the best opening game defensive efforts I think I've seen in a long time," said head coach Billy Mims. "What I thought was tremendous though in the first half was that Benedict shot 24% from the field and 22% from behind the arc and this is their house."
"We had a great game plan coming, our assistant coaches did a great job preparing our team for this tough game," Mims said. "We didn't shoot it as well as we can, but we brought a good team up here shorthanded in some spots that played hard and played together."
"It was a tremendous game from Sean Houpt, he had 23 points with four shots made behind the arc," Mims said. "Niall Harris was typical Niall Harris coming off the bench and playing different positions and just do what he has to do to help us win, 14 points and eight rebounds."
"Sesan Russell and Sam Grant had big rebounding games while Elias Martin had tremendous rebounding and shot-blocking and owned the paint for a majority of the game." Mims said. "I also got to mention Konstantinos Lagos, a true freshman from Greece, had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, two steals, and executed our game plan well defensively in his first collegiate game."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- The Panthers shot 35.5% from the field (22-63) and 31.8% (7-22) from behind the 3-point line. Benedict was 33.3% shooting (22-66) and 42.1% (8-19) from behind the arc.
- On the boards it was a close matchup with Florida Tech edging out Benedict 48-44 in rebounds.
- The Panthers had 11 assists and 15 turnovers while the Tigers had 12 assists and 14 turnovers.
UP NEXT: Florida Tech will play its second and final game of the NCAA South Regional Tipoff Challenge tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Auburn Montgomery.
