Panthers Snap the Streak and Defeat Barry 80-72
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (Men’s Basketball) – Thirteen turned out to be Florida Tech’s lucky number Saturday as the men’s basketball team took
down the Buccaneers of Barry University 80-72 to end a 12-game win streak by BU. Led by senior Carl McNally’s 16-point, 14-rebound
performance, the Panthers start the Sunshine State Conference season 1-0 and extend their unblemished record to an impressive 7-0. “We had a great
week of practice preparing for this game,” said head coach Billy Mims. “All week long I told our guys that we were talented enough to win,
big enough to win and deep enough to win, but I had one question for them: ‘Are we tough enough to win?’ Today they answered that question for me.”
With a 20-point lead heading into the second half, the game seemed all but decided. The home Buccaneers, however, had other plans for the visiting
Panthers. Tech did take its largest lead of the contest with 17:07 to go in the game when Jod Kelley drained a jumper to make the score
50-27 in favor of the Panthers, but the Bucs weren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. Barry put together a 7-0 spurt over the next minute and a
half to cut Tech’s lead to 16 on a long three by Karega Tucker. After a made free throw by McNally and a couple missed shots, McNally pushed the Panther
lead back to 20 with a steal and fast break dunk on the other end to make it 54-34. At 14:02 E.J. Murray made it a 19-point game for
Florida Tech, but that’s when the Bucs started to climb their way back into the game. Over the next five minutes, Barry went on a 13-1 run to get
within seven of the Panthers – the closest the Bucs had been since early in the first half. From that point on, Tech’s lead flip-flopped between single-
and double-digit leads with the largest being 13 with 2:09 showing on the clock. The lead was sliced to eight with 30 seconds to go, but it proved to be
insurmountable for the home team. It was a see-saw battle to start the game before the Panthers stormed out on a 10-0 run to make the score 18-8 at
the 12-minute mark, forcing a Barry timeout. The Bucs called another timeout with 5:21 to go in the half as Florida Tech took a 33-16 lead, thanks in large
part to a barrage of perimeter shots from Arthur Richardson and Justin Sedlak. Tech’s largest advantage of the period
came with just over a minute to go when Murray buried a trey to make it 44-22. Barry’s Chad Bishop answered with a bucket on the other end and the Panthers
took a 20-point lead into the locker room. “I think our defense tonight was outstanding,” praised Mims. “Our guys held Barry to 39 percent shooting
on their own floor and we made 59 percent of our shots. When you produce those kinds of numbers it’s hard to get beat. “Justin had his normal
outstanding performance, but I thought the two players of the game today were Carl McNally and Arthur Richardson. They played the best game of the season
when it counted.” McNally finished with his first double-double of the season, pulling down a career-high 14 boards, while Richardson added 17
points and Sedlak led the Panthers with 20. Tech held a slight 33-30 edge on the boards in the win. Tucker led all scorers with 28 points in the
effort. The Bucs struggled from the field in the first half, hitting just 30 percent of their shots, but rebounded in the second to shoot over 48 percent.
Florida Tech steps away from SSC action once again on Monday as the Panthers will play host to Palm Beach Atlantic University at 7 p.m. in the Clemente
Center.
