Alex Brown played the hero for the Santa Fe Saints on Tuesday night in Winter Haven, beating the buzzer with a last second three pointer to complete a 20 point come back, and give the Saints a hard earned victory over Polk State College, 75-72.
The FCSAA #8 Eagles jumped on Santa Fe (6-4) in the first half, leading by 21 points midway through, but the Saints slowly chipped away and headed into the locker room trailing 41-27. SF completed the comeback with eight minutes to go, tying the score at 54-54 thanks in part to tough defense and an aggressive, attacking nature on the offensive end.
Polk answered with a run to go back up by ten, 66-56, but again the Saints refused to quit, mounting another comeback, capped by a game tying three pointer by Brown in transition, with 20 seconds remaining in the game, knotting it up at 72-72.
Needing a stop on the defensive end, Santa Fe did one better, forcing a turnover to set up Brown’s heroics. Brown took the inbounds pass, dribbled in, and pulled up, drilling a three pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining, giving the Saints the thrilling win.
Jarred Anderson led SF with 16 points, Leo Edwards had 15, and Ty Birts and Josh Hawkins had 13 each. Alex Brown finished with eight, six coming in the final 20 seconds.
“Really happy with our guys and the way they fought back,” said DSF Coach Chris Mowry. “We started off a little lethargic, but picked it up and earned a big win against a really good team on the road.”
The Saints will be back on the road on Saturday in Bradenton against State College of Florida at 4 p.m.
For complete schedules, stats, and more information please visit www.santafesaints.com.