JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Tech men's basketball team traveled up North to take on Division I Jacksonville University on Thursday night, but fell to the Dolphins, 88-67.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Florida Tech 67, Jacksonville 88
Records: Florida Tech (2-5, 0-2 SSC), Jacksonville (5-4, 0-0 ASUN)
Location: Swisher Gymnasium | Jacksonville, Fla.
 
STATS OF THE MATCH:
 
First Half:

• JU began the game on an 8-0 run before Donovan Brown sank the first bucket for the Panthers.
• Brown's basket sparked a 9-0 run for Tech to take a 9-8 lead with just under 13 minutes in the clock.
• Both teams went back and forth until a 7-0 run by the Dolphins put them up 21-13.
• A mid-range jumper and a triple from Max Polk brought the lead down to 21-18 halfway through the period.
• JU jumped back out to a 29-18 lead, but two straight baskets from Elhadji Thiam brought the lead back down to 29-22 with 3:46 remaining in the half.
• Manos Dimou capped off a 7-3 run with a corner three for Tech to bring the game withing three, 32-29, with two minutes to go.
• The teams would trade baskets in the remaining minutes and the Dolphins would take a 38-33 lead into halftime.

 
Second Half:

• The back and forth continued to begin the second half. A powerful dunk through traffic by Xavier Ford-Belton brought Tech within three, 47-44, at the 14:49 mark.
• JU responded with back-to-back triples to go up 53-44.
• Brown converted a three-point play to make it a 57-51 game following the under-12-minute media timeout.
• With just under 10 minutes to play, Jakari Spence made a layup to give the Dolphins a 12-point lead, 66-54.
• A converted three-point play from Brown, cut the lead down to nine, 61-70, with 7:13 on the clock.
• The Dolphins managed to keep Tech off the board over the next few minutes and rattled off a 14-2 run to take a 84-63 lead with under two minutes to go.
• The teams traded a few more baskets in the remaining minutes, Marko Malekinusic knocked down a three on the Panthers' final possession to give the game a final score of 88-67.

 
NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• Donovan Brown led all players with 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting. He also added five rebounds, three assists, and one block to his line.
• Max Polk scored 10 points, grabbed four boards, and dished out two assists.
• Xavier Ford-Belton did a little bit of everything with eight points, six rebounds, two steals, one block, and one assist.
• Elhadji Thiam scored nine points and hauled in eight rebounds.

 
BEYOND THE BOX. SCORE:

• Florida Tech moves to 0-8 all-time against JU. This was the first time the teams have met since the 2010-11 season.
• Donovan Brown is currently second in the SSC in scoring with 21.9 points per game. This was the fourth game this season Brown has totaled at least 20 points.

 
UP NEXT: The Panthers will continue the road trip with an away game against Florida Southern on Saturday, Dec. 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the George W. Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Fla.

For the latest news, updates, and information on the Florida Tech Men's Basketball team, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.