The Santa Fe Saints opened the 2016-17 season on the road for the first time in nearly a decade in Pensacola, and played the high powered Pirates tough, dropping the closely contested game 64-62. The Saints had the ball down by two with three seconds remaining, but the desperation heave came up just short off the front of the rim.
Santa Fe (0-1) trailed by just two at the half, 21-19, despite 15 turnovers. Pensacola came out hot in the second half and led by as many as 15 with nine minutes to go. The Saints rallied, getting all the way back to within two and had the ball with a chance to win or tie, but couldn’t come up with the bucket.
“I’m very proud of how hard our guys fought, and how they continued to fight even when we were down double digits in the second half,” said SF Coach Chris Mowry. “We will get another chance tomorrow against a good Gulf Coast State team.”
Darrell Jones led all Saints scorers with 13 points, including two three pointers. Also in double figures for SF were Dylan Causewell 11, David Jones 11, and Nick Grier 10. Santa Fe outrebounded the Pirates 53-46, but turned it over nine more times.
SF will stay in Pensacola to play Gulf Coast on November 4 at 6:30 p.m. EST and Faith Baptist on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
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