Central Florida Defeats Saints 93-79 Despite Hunter's 37
January 22, 2013
SF MEN'S BASKETBALL - 1/19/2013
Gainesville, FL – Bobby Hunter and the Saints gave a valiant effort on Saturday afternoon against the nations #21 ranked team College of Central Florida, but the 20-2 Patriots were too much, defeating SF 93-79 in the first Mid-Florida Conference game of the season for both teams.
"I thought we played real hard today," said SF Coach Chris Mowry. "We had some opportunities to win this game but turned it over a little too much down the stretch."
Hunter kept Santa Fe (11-10, 0-1 MFC) in the game in the first half, hitting 24 points, including six three pointers. The Saints trailed by as many as eight in the first half but fought back to tie it up with five second left. On the ensuing inbounds pass the Patriots forced a steal and layup to take a 44-42 lead in to the break.
SF picked up where they left off to start the second period going on an 11-2 run right out of the gates, sparked by four points from Roody Saint-Germain to grab a 53-46 advantage at the 17:15 mark.
Central Florida (20-2, 1-0 MFC) flipped a switch and showed why they are one of the top teams in the country, outscoring the Saints 33-9 over the next ten minutes to take their largest lead of the game 79-62 with 7:18 left.
"We didn't knock down as many threes in the second half and turned the ball over too many times over that ten minute stretch where they pulled away," said Mowry. "Once they got it to double digits it makes it tough to come back on a team of that caliber."
The Patriots held on to their lead and made free throws down the stretch to ice the game.
The nation's leading scorer Bobby Hunter led all players with 37 points. Roody Saint-Germain was the only other Saint in double figures with 11 and Takija Knight had eight points and 11 rebounds.
"Bobby really helped keep us in it in the first half with his shooting," said Mowry. "We also had the rest of our guys contribute in some nice ways."
The Saints return to action on Wednesday, January 23 against Florida State College-Jacksonville at 8:00 PM in a Mid-Florida Conference match-up.
For complete schedules and more information on Men's Basketball, please visit santafesaints.com. To see game photos and other updates, follow Santa Fe College Athletics on Facebook.
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