West Palm Beach, Fla. – Sunshine State Conference play tipped off this afternoon for Florida Tech Men's Basketball as the Panthers traveled to face Palm Beach Atlantic.
GAME ONE – SSC PLAY
Final: Florida Tech Panthers 69, Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish 97
Records: Florida Tech (0-4, 0-1 SSC)
| Palm Beach Atlantic (3-0, 1-0 SSC)
Location: Rubin Arena
| West Palm Beach, Florida
GAME NOTES:
First Half:
- After PBA opened the scoring, Xavier Ford-Belton got the Panthers on the board with a layup in transition.
- While Ford-Belton got into the lane and finished another layup for Tech, PBA used a 9-0 run to storm ahead 18-4 with 12 minutes left in the first half.
- Ca'Darrius Sowell put an end to the run by getting to the line and sinking two shots, but the Sailfish responded with another big run to extend their lead.
- Ford-Belton continued his strong offensive start to the contest by using his size to finish at the rim, but Tech still trailed 27-8.
- The Panthers got three pointers from Austin White and Grant Lovette plus a Logan Allen layup, however, they could not get stops in bunches as the Sailfish lead remained in double figures with six minutes remaining in the half.
- AJ Lieuwen and Logan Allen added two more buckets in the paint, but the Panthers went into the break down 28.
HALFTIME SCORE - Florida Tech 20, Palm Beach Atlantic 48
Second Half:
- After a slow start to the first half, the Panthers flipped the script in the second. Xavier Ford-Belton scored five straight to open the final 20 and both Greyson Williams and Ca'Darrius Sowell drilled three balls within the first five minutes.
- Despite the offensive success, the Sailfish were not slowing down as they responded to each Tech score with one of their own.
- Even with back-to-back three pointers from Sowell and another Ford-Belton layup, Tech found themselves trailing 75-46 with under ten minutes remaining.
- AJ Lieuwen, Matt Daulerio and Noah Van Bibber hit shots down the stretch but the PBA lead was too big to overcome.
FINAL SCORE - Florida Tech 69, Palm Beach Atlantic 97
NOTABLE PANTHERS:
UP NEXT: Florida Tech's long road trip to open the season continues as the Panthers will head back to Georgia for three games over Thanksgiving week. Tech will open the week in Americas, Georgia, for two games against Auburn Montgomery and Georgia Southwestern before wrapping up the week at Albany State. These contests are slated for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday during the holiday week.
For the latest news, updates and information on the Florida Tech Men's Basketball, 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.
