November 19, 2011 Contact: Scott Jamison 352.395.5616 scott.jamison@sfcollege.edu
SF MEN’S BASKETBALL
SAINTS DOMINANT IN WIN OVER HILLSBOROUGH CC, 79-63
Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe Saints led by as many as 32 points on Saturday afternoon against Hillsborough CC and cruised in the second half to a 79-63 victory. The win moves the FCSAA #4 Saints to 5-0 on the season.
“Our guys did a super job in the first half,” said SF Coach Chris Mowry. “They defended well, forced some turnovers and finished in transition.”
SF jumped out on the Hawks early on, taking a 17-2 lead just five minutes into the game. The lead grew from there as the Saints pushed the margin to 33-7 at the 8:42 mark on a steal and layup by freshman guard AJ Roberts.
HCC managed to close the gap slightly over the final few minutes of the first half and the Saints took a 43-23 lead in to the locker room.
Santa Fe held the Hawks to just 7-of-26 shooting in the first period, forced 11 turnovers and allowed only two offensive rebounds. The Saints, on the other hand made 16-of-38 shots and outrebounded HCC 30-15, including 10-2 on the offensive end.
“Our success in the first half was a direct result of our defense and rebounding,” said Mowry. “A majority of our offense was produced by our ability to force turnovers and then finish on the offensive end. Our guys were very unselfish and moved the ball around to find the open man.”
The Saints came out firing again in the second half, pushing the lead 59-30 after back to back three pointers by Matt Conway and Brian Holmes at the 16 minute mark. Five straight points by Conway and a layup by Junior McLeod gave Santa Fe their largest lead of the game, 69-37 with 12 minutes to go. Despite the steep deficit Hillsborough kept fighting and outscored SF 26-10 the rest of the way.
“This was a good opportunity for us to get everyone some playing time,” said Mowry. “We were a little sloppy over the final seven minutes, but some of the credit has to go to Hillsborough, they kept working hard.”
Five players scored in double figures for SF and six Saints had at least five rebounds. Santa Fe outrebounded the Hawks 59-35 for the game and forced 17 turnovers.
The Saints won with a very balanced effort as twelve players received playing time and ten played 12 minutes or more. No player saw more than 22 minutes of action.
Brian Holmes and Matt Conway led the Saints in scoring with 17 each, Kevin Harden had 13 and four assists, Junior McLeod scored 12, and Keshaun Hamilton had 11 points and a game high nine rebounds.
Santa Fe travels to Polk State College for their first road test of the year on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:00 PM.
“Polk is a very good team that always plays solid defense game in and game out,” said Mowry. “We’ll see if we can go on the road and keep the momentum going.”
For complete schedules and more information on Saints Men’s Basketball, please visit www.sfcollege.edu/athletics. To see game photos and other updates, follow Santa Fe College Athletics on Facebook.
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