SANTA FE MEN BOUNCE BACK FOR BIG WIN, 78-69

February 17, 2010

February 17, 2010 Contact: Scott Jamison 352-395-5616 scott.jamison@sfcollege.edu

SF MEN'S BASKETBALL

SANTA FE BOUNCES BACK FOR BIG WIN, 78-69

Gainesville, FL -The Santa Fe Saints bounced back following two tough defeats last week to take down Florida State College-Jacksonville in the teams last regular season game of the year.

“This was a good win for our team,” said Coach Chris Mowry.  “We had been struggling to shoot the last three games or so and it was nice to shoot the ball well in the second half of this game.”

SF put forth a balanced scoring effort with five players in double figures, and ten players scoring overall.  Iran Hollis led the way, going for 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and was 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

The Saints started slow and trailed by as many as eight in the first half, but turned things around with a 16-0 run to go up 30-22 with four minutes to go.  FSC-J tightened up and cut the lead to 36-33 at the half. 

Santa Fe started the second half on fire, hitting three three pointers in the first four minutes to build a 50-40 lead. 

With 13 minutes left sophomore guard Chuck Ford decided to take over the game, nailing four three pointers over a six minute span to help put the Saints up 73-54.  FSC-J didn't give up and stayed in the game but couldn't get the lead to single digits until their final shot at the buzzer.

“Iran gave us a nice boost off the bench in the first half with 11 points and Chuck's four threes in the second half gave us that push we needed down the stretch,” said Mowry.

Hollis led SF with 15 points and eight rebounds, Chris Baez and Chad Renfro each had 13, Chuck Ford scored 12 and Branimir Mikulic had 10.

Next up for the Saints is a Mid-Florida Conference tournament game at home on Monday, February 22 against either St. John's River CC or Florida State College-Jacksonville.  The opponent will be determined by a coin flip since both teams have one MFC win, both coming against each other.

“Hopefully we can keep the momentum from this game going into the MFC Tournament game,” said Mowry.  “It will take a great effort against either FSC-J or St. John's.  Both of them are talented teams.”

Daytona State College defeated Central Florida CC on Wednesday night to win the MFC, setting up CFCC as the #2 seed in the MFC tournament.  The winner of the tournament will represent the conference as the #2 seed at the FCCAA State Tournament.  Daytona is the #1 seed.

The winners of the two first round games on Monday will meet on Tuesday for the right to play in the State Tournament.

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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