The Santa Fe men’s basketball team (8-11, 1-1 MFC) ran up against a once in a season type game from Daytona State College on Wednesday night, as the Falcons made 21 three pointers in route to the 99-78 win over SF. The Saints made 11 threes of their own, as the two teams combined to go 32-for-81 from deep.
Daytona came right out of the gates making shots from deep and had as much as a 12 point lead in the first half. Josh Hawkins kept SF in it, nailing five straight three-pointers to match the pace set by Kendrick Thompson, who also hit five first half threes to give DSC a 49-40 lead. The two teams combined for 20 first half three-pointers.
In the second half, Daytona (18-3, 2-0 MFC) continued their hot shooting, nailing 10 more threes as they closed out the 99-78 victory.
Hawkins led SF with 19 points, LaBrian Shiflet had 18, and Nick Rosa scored eight. Daytona’s Kendrick Thompson led all scorers with 22.
The Saints will continue in the MFC on Saturday when they battle the College of Central Florida in Ocala at 7:30 p.m.
Earlier in the night the SF women’s team held their own against the 18-1 Daytona Falcons, but in the end, DSC was able to hit some key baskets to pull away in the closing seconds.
The Saints (10-9, 1-1 MFC) trailed by just four at the halftime break, despite shooting 20.9% from the field, thanks to some solid defense, and successful free throw shooting. Rayven Wade finished the first 20 minutes with a double-double, scoring 13 points to go with 10 rebounds.
Daytona took control of the game in the third quarter, starting the period on a 14-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 40-22. The Saints refused to give in and cut the lead all the way to 58-55 on the strength of three-pointers from Bri Roberts and Desa’Rai Shaw.
The Falcons made their free throws down the stretch, and hit a few late buckets to turn what was a close game, into the 11 point final.
Wade finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds, Bri Roberts had 15 points and five rebounds, and Sonya Franklin had 10 points and 10 assists.
The Saints will travel to Ocala on Saturday to take on the College of Central Florida at 5:30 p.m.