Melbourne, Fla. – Despite a strong offensive showing, the Panthers couldn't overcome a first-half deficit, falling 97-84 to Palm Beach Atlantic behind a career-high from Logan Allen with 21 points and a career-high from Manos Dimou with 14 points.

FINAL: Florida Tech 84, PBA 97
Records: Florida Tech (5-22, 2-17 SSC) PBA (17-10, 10-9 SSC)
Locations: Melbourne, Fla | Clemente Center
 
STATS OF THE MATCH:

First Half:

• Max Polk started the day with a three-point to give Tech their first lead of the matchup, 3-2.
• Coming off his best game of the season, Logan Allen got his night going with back-to-back jumpers for the Panthers, but they would trail early to the Sailfish, 15-7.
• Can Kaan Turgut, Xavier Ford-Belton, and Donovan Brown registered buckets for the Panthers as their deficit grew larger, 24-14.
• The lead for the Sailfish grew as high as 17 but after Polk was fouled on a three-pointer and Manos Dimou subbed into the lineup and drilled back-to-back three-pointers, Tech managed to cut the deficit heading into halftime down 13, 49-36.

 
Second Half:

• The Sailfish started the second half on a 6-1 run expanding their lead up to 18 points, 55-37.
• In response, Tech delivered a 13-4 run cutting the Sailfish lead to nine points, 59-50 the closest the game had been since early in the first quarter.
• During this run, it would be a flurry of points coming from Allen, Polk, and Brown leading the way for the Panthers.
• The game would have a back-and-forth exchange of buckets from Tech and the Sailfish until just under 10 minutes when Tech cut the lead to just seven, courtesy of a Dimou three-pointer and Brown layup unanswered, 73-66.
• The Sailfish in response raised their lead to 16 with just over five minutes remaining.
• In a last-chance effort, Dimou scored eight straight points for the Panthers cutting the lead back to eight and after a Turgut three, the lead would be seven, 88-81.
• With just over two minutes and 30 seconds, the Panthers would be outscored 9-3 to the finish and suffer the loss, 97-84.

 
NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• Logan Allen finished with a career-high and game-high 21 points on 61% (8/13) shooting and 50% (2/4) from behind the arc while collecting two blocks and an assist.
• Manos Dimou registered a career-high 14 points on 83% (5/6) shooting from the field and 75% (3/4) from the three-point line while delivering his first block of the season.
• Max Polk downed four three-pointers tying for the lead in the game and finished with 20 points.

COACHES CORNER:

• "For the second straight game in a row, we dug ourselves a deep hole in the first half and tried to play catch up the entire second half." Said Head Coach Billy Mims. "We got down by 20 late in the first half, and there's an old saying, " It's one thing to come back, but it's another to come back and win." We battled the entire second half and cut it to seven twice but couldn't get any closer. Offensively we were pretty good tonight. We made one more three than PBA and eight more free throws, but PBA won the battle of the two's out scoring us 50-30 on points in the paint. We had one of our poorest defensive performances of the season tonight and couldn't seem to string together enough stops. PBA shot 52% from the field, 53% from three and 92% at the line! That's amazing shooting, especially when they're on the road. My player of the game for us had to be Logan Allen. The sophomore scored a new career-high for the second game in a row with 21 points after scoring 18 last Saturday at No. 2 Nova, and he pulled down six rebounds. Logan also had a huge game highlight with one of the best-blocked shots I've seen all season! Max Polk had another big night with 20 points and knocking down 4-8 from three. Max leads the SSC in 3-point FG% shooting at 45% which had him ranked 14 in the nation entering tonight's game. Manos Dimou also gave us a big boost off the bench with 14 points, making 5-6 shots and 3-4 from beyond the arc. I'd like to thank the crowd who came out to support our team tonight and all season. It was a nice atmosphere in Clemente Center with our loyal fans, a great spirit squad, and the best pep band in the SSC! I wish we could have given them a home win to end the season.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:

• All-time vs. Palm Beach Atlantic: 27-20.
• Since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Sailfish hold a now 14-8 advantage in the series.
• Tech is 16-9 all-time at home against PBA.

 
UP NEXT: The Panthers will finish the season with a trip to Saint Leo, Florida as they take on the Saint Leo Lions on Saturday, March 1, with tip-off at 4:30 PM.

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