MIKULIC SCORES 14 BUT SAINTS FALL TO DAYTONA, 62-60

January 23, 2010

January 23, 2010 Contact: Scott Jamison 352-395-5616 scott.jamison@sfcollege.edu

SF MEN’S BASKETBALL

SAINTS FALL TO DAYTONA STATE, 62-60

Gainesville, FL – The Daytona State College Falcons (16-6, 3-0 MFC) held on in the closing seconds to get a win over the Santa Fe Saints (13-8, 1-1 MFC) on Saturday night.  SF guard Chris Baez’ last second shot went just long as time expired, giving the Falcons their third win in Mid-Florida Conference play.

“This was a tough loss,” said Coach Chris Mowry.  “It was a very competitive, physical game.  I thought we gave great effort throughout but struggled a little bit to defend.  I don’t know if it is possible to lose the game in the first ten minutes, but we didn’t do a very good job defending early on.”

The Saints struggled to shoot from the field, making only 19-of-60 shots (31.7%), and were only 3-for-15 from the three point line.  Daytona was 25-for-51 shooting (49%).

“We didn’t shoot the ball well from outside but I thought we battled with them inside,” said Mowry.  “They had a significant size advantage and we probably took more perimeter shots than we should have, but their size and defensive ability makes it tough to get a lot done at the basket.”

Santa Fe trailed by as many as 13 in the first half, but cut the Falcons lead to 33-28 at halftime.

In the second half, Santa Fe scored the first six points and took their first lead of the game 34-33 on a Chris Baez layup.  DSC bounced back with six straight points to push the lead back to five, 39-34 but the Saints again had an answer, running off nine straight points, capped by two LeVon Hodges free throws to take a 43-39 advantage.

At the seven minute mark Daytona regained the lead and held on for the rest of the game.  Santa Fe cut it to one on four occasions, but couldn’t hit a go ahead basket.

The Santa Fe bench accounted for 39 of the team’s points in the game.  Branimir Mikulic finished with 14 points and six rebounds, Altavious Carter had 10 points and seven rebounds, Chuck Ford scored eight and LeVon Hodges scored seven.  All four players came off the bench.

“Branimir had a solid game in all areas tonight,” said Mowry.  “He scored for us, rebounded well and played good defense.  Altavious did a nice job going 6-of-7 from the free throw line.”

The Saints will travel to Ocala on Wednesday, January 27 to take on Central Florida CC at 8:00pm in a Mid-Florida Conference match-up.

“We have a tough game against a very good Central Florida team on Wednesday,” said Mowry.  We are going to have to shoot better and defend better if we want to give ourselves a chance to win.” 

For complete schedules and more information on Saints Basketball, please visit santafesaints.com.  To see game photos and other updates, follow Santa Fe College Athletics on Facebook.

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