Mens Basketball Takes Home a Victory on Senior Night

MELBOURNE, Fla. (men’s basketball) – In the season finale of the Florida Tech Men’s basketball team, the Panthers brought home the victory 78-73 in a
cat fight against the Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University sending the seniors out with one last hurrah.

Before the game the Panthers recognized five seniors who will be graduating and moving on at the end year. The five seniors were recognized in this order:
Janko Mrksic (Stoney Creek, Ontario), Edmond Parotte (Las Vegas, Nevada), Joe Salls (Homewood, Ala.), Matt Hill (Fort Myers, Fla.), and Damien Clark
(Orange Park, Fla.). Each one of these five seniors will be missed on and off the court and around Florida Tech as they depart heading out into the
world after college basketball.

As the festivities of the night died down, the Panthers were surprised by the quickness and fight of the Wildcats as Johnson and Wales jumped out to an
early 18-9 lead with nine minutes to play in the first half. Over the next three minutes the Panthers defended their ground and went on the attack with a
9-2 run to tie the game up at 20-20 with just over six minutes to play in the half. The Panthers would take their first lead of the game as guard Carl
McNally (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) drove the baseline ending with a monstrous jam to put the Panthers up 23-20. Over those last nine minutes of play, the Panthers
defense only allowed eight points as the Panthers would close out the half with a 25-8 scoring margin taking a 34-26 halftime lead.

The start of the second, the Wildcats went on the attack getting within a point; 38-37 just four minutes in but the Panthers would quickly go back up by
ten at 51-41 with twelve minutes left to play. When the Panthers started to take total control of the game and holding steady with a 14 point lead,
the pesky Wildcats pounced on a 15-8 run to get with three; 66-63 with three minutes left to play. Again the Panthers went to push a ten point lead but
couldn’t hold off the Wildcats as J&W crawled back with in four. With just under ten seconds left to play in regulation, much like the night
started out with the senior class, the game respectively ended with two seniors, Eddy Parotte and Matt Hill hitting the last points of the game from the
free throw line clinching the 78-73 victory over Johnson and Wales University.

Four Tech players scored in double figures on the night with Justin Sedlak (Pezinik, Slovakia) scoring the team high of 16 points shooting .500% from the
floor plus grabbing 5 boards on the night. Ryan Ballard (Melbourne, Fla.) scored 15 points on the night while also compiling 4 assists and 5 steals on the
night. The tag team dual of EJ Murray (Rockledge, Fla.) and Carl McNally scored a combined 26 points; 13 apiece on the night. EJ shot 50% from the floor
while Carl went 4 for 5 from the field and 4 for 5 from the free throw line. Jod Kelley (McCormick, S.C) filled up the stats sheet scoring 7 points,
grabbing 5 boards, and tossed away 5 shots on the night. For the seniors in their last home game of the year, Damien Clark went out with a bang scoring
only 2 points but grabbed 5 boards and also blocked 2 shots on the night. Parotte and Hill combined for 9 points; 5 and 4 respectively while Salls grabbed
4 boards and had an assist on the night.

The Panthers finished off the season with a final record of 9-20 overall and a 4-12 record in the Sunshine State Conference. The team will be waiting to
hear what conference tournament game they will be playing in hosted by Lynn University starting on February 28th.

Newspaper Box Score
Johnson & Wales vs Florida Tech
02/24/07 4:00 pm at Melbourne, Fla. (Clemente Center)
At Melbourne, Fla. (Clemente Center)
FLORIDA TECH 78, JOHNSON & WALES 73
JOHNSON & WALES (12-14, 8-5)
SIMONEAU, Greg 7-13 6-8 20; BOINES, George 6-10 1-1 15; TUCKER, David 4-6
2-2 11; ARCHANGE, David 3-10 1-2 7; DIEUDONNE, Daniel 2-4 0-0 5; JOHNSON,
Jarrod 1-2 2-2 5; POLK, Steve 2-7 0-2 4; DONES, Marquis 1-2 0-0 2; STANLEY,
Matthew 1-6 0-0 2; NUGENT, Donzell 0-7 2-2 2; BLUE, Alex 0-0 0-0 0; MCGEE,
Benjamin 0-0 0-0 0; GARDNER, Steve 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-67 14-19 73.
FLORIDA TECH (9-20, 4-12)
SEDLAK, Justin 7-14 2-2 16; BALLARD, Ryan 4-7 6-6 15; MURRAY, EJ 3-6 5-6 13;
McNALLY, Carl 4-5 4-5 13; KELLEY, Jod 3-7 1-4 7; PAROTTE, Edmond 2-2 1-6 5;
HILL, Matt 1-7 2-4 4; WOODSON, Donovan 0-0 3-4 3; CLARK, Damien 1-4 0-0 2;
RICHARDSON, Arthur 0-0 0-0 0; MRKSIC, Janko 0-0 0-0 0; SALLS, Joe 0-5 0-2 0.
Totals 25-57 24-39 78.
Johnson & Wales…………… 26 47 – 73
Florida Tech……………… 34 44 – 78
3-point goals–Johnson & Wales 5-12 (BOINES, George 2-5; DIEUDONNE, Daniel
1-3; TUCKER, David 1-1; JOHNSON, Jarrod 1-2; STANLEY, Matthew 0-1), Florida
Tech 4-14 (MURRAY, EJ 2-3; BALLARD, Ryan 1-2; McNALLY, Carl 1-1; HILL, Matt
0-4; SALLS, Joe 0-2; SEDLAK, Justin 0-2). Fouled out–Johnson &
Wales-STANLEY, Matthew, Florida Tech-None. Rebounds–Johnson & Wales 46
(ARCHANGE, David 9), Florida Tech 35 (CLARK, Damien 5; KELLEY, Jod 5;
SEDLAK, Justin 5). Assists–Johnson & Wales 11 (STANLEY, Matthew 4; NUGENT,
Donzell 4), Florida Tech 9 (BALLARD, Ryan 4). Total fouls–Johnson & Wales
24, Florida Tech 20. Technical fouls–Johnson & Wales-None, Florida
Tech-None. A-880