Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe College Saints finished their season in style Wednesday night in Gainesville, defeating archrivals the College of Central Florida 102-82. The 100-point game was the first surrendered by CF since 2012.
“Great team win for our guys tonight,” said SF Coach Chris Mowry. “I’m really proud of their effort and their level of play. To know that our season was over after tonight and for them to come out and play the way they did is a testament to how much they wanted this one.”
D-Juan Taylor-Hodge had the best game of his collegiate career, scoring 30 points to go with 13 rebounds. He was 15-for-15 from the free throw line, one short of the single game record set by SF Athletics Hall of Famer and men’s basketball all-time leading scorer George Gilmore back in 1990 against Lake City CC.
The game was close through the first 20 minutes, with eight ties in the first half. Santa Fe gained the edge at the end of the first period, scoring the final four points on free throws by Nick Grier and a second chance opportunity by Jakob Dawkins.
“At halftime, we talked about doing a better job of boxing them out and keeping them off the offensive glass,” said Mowry. “We came out and did a much better job of also finding mismatches that we could exploit, shot the ball great from the three-point line, and played very unselfishly.”
The Saints were on a different level in the second half, scoring 58 points to pull away for the 20-point victory. SF was 35-for-38 from the free throw line, led by perfect efforts from five players, including Taylor-Hodge (15-for-15) and Nick Grier (8-for-8).
“D-Juan was phenomenal tonight,” said Mowry. “He did just about everything right, there’s not much more we could have asked of him. David-Lee Jones didn’t have his best shooting night but made up for it with 10 assists and great defense, Jakob Dawkins stepped up again for us, and Nick Grier played maybe his best game of the season. Darrell Jones stats don’t jump off the page at you, but he’s a guy that was vital to our success tonight.”
Grier finished with a season high 23 points and nine rebounds, David-Lee Jones had 15 points and 10 assists, and Dawkins scored 17.
As a team the Saints made 11 three pointers and held CF, a very good outside shooting team, to just 6-of-29 from behind the three-point line. Santa Fe assisted on 19 of 28 made baskets and forced 15 Patriot turnovers.
Santa Fe ends their season with an 18-11 overall record and a 3-6 mark in the Mid-Florida Conference.
For complete schedules, stats and more information please visit www.santafesaints.com.