"We were down with two of our starters and we needed the next man to step it up," said head coach Tom Parks. "We dug ourselves a hole early in the game, but our guys fought as hard as they could, especially in the last 10 minutes. In the last seven minutes on defensive, we held them for three points, and that's what helped us win that game."
Going into the first half, the Highlanders shot 3-pointer after 3-pointer, predominately from sophomore Seth Brown-Carter. The Manatees did manage to cut the deficit briefly, but the Highlanders were barely fazed as they pulled away in the first half leading 50-36.
"We just wanted to keep chipping away a little bit at a time," said Parks on the overall game. "We talked about what we needed the score to be after 15 (minutes) and in the next 10 minutes in the game. We didn't accomplish the goal for the game, but what we talked about was rebounding and containing the ball, and those are two things we didn't control. Those are what we didn't do in the first half. In the second half, especially 10 minutes into the second half, we cleaned up the glass and played our hearts out,"
Going into the second half, despite struggling, the Manatees took advantages of some of the Highlanders costly mistakes, including several fouls, bad passes and poor shot decisions.
On the offensive front, it was the duo of freshman Isiah Dasher and sophomore DeAndre Osuigwe that stepped it up a notch for the Manatees as they took advantage of set screens from freshman Christnoff Scarborough. Along with Dasher and Osuigwe, sophomores Cyrus Barnes and Tre Alexandrea also played key elements as all four cut the deficit to three points and eventually tied the score 70-70 before taking their first lead of the game to make it 72-70 SCF.
After another basket, Gordon State then issued a costly technical foul, which sent freshman Remy Robert II to the line to make one of his two free throws before the Highlanders cut it back to two after a Manatee foul and a pair of free throws to make it 73-72.
With less than 30 seconds left in the game, Osuigwe was sent to the line to make one of two free throws. 11 seconds later, Brown-Carter attempted a 3-point shot at the wing for the win, but to no success as Scarborough secured the final rebound and was sent to the line with 1.3 seconds left in the game. With a final push, Scarborough made both free throws in success for the Manatee won.
Dasher and Osuigwe led the Manatees with a combined 46 points (Dasher, 24; Osuigwe, 22) while Barnes followed with 14, Alexandrea with 10 and Scarborough with three. Dasher, Osuigwe, Barnes and Scarborough each had seven rebounds. Scarborough also added four blocks.
Robert II was held to only one point while fellow freshman Max Richards added two points and four rebounds. Both had the only points off the bench.
"Hats off to guys like Remy, Cyrus, DeAndre and Chris for getting that last rebound and two free throws, but the boards from Isiah really did stepped up to help us get the win," said Parks on his players.
The Manatees, who snapped a two-game losing streak, played without sophomores D'Moi Hodge and Joel Coffey. Hodge is averaging 18.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
"D'Moi is such a versatile player. He does so much for us as one of our best rebounders and one of our best offensive players," said Parks on Hodge. "One of our deficiencies on our team is rebounding and it was tough without him and we struggled earlier on the glass and we're use to having him clean up on that, but he wasn't there to do it, but we found a way in the second half to make our rebounding more effective."
Up Next:
The Manatees head back to Ocala as they face College of Central Florida (CCF) (8-7) on Saturday, December 15 at 4 P.M. for their final game before the winter break.
"Despite their record, CCF is a good team," said Parks on CCF. "They played a lot of good opponents, and right now, they're really hungry to get the win before winter break, so by no means it's not gonna be an easy game. Right now, our focus is getting better every single day, and if we play our best and we lose, we can't hang our heads because we got better and our goal is to play the best possible basketball when we go to the Suncoast Conference Tournament."
*side note: This was my first interview with coach Parks and the first recap for SCF.
With less than 30 seconds left in the game, Osuigwe was sent to the line to make one of two free throws. 11 seconds later, Brown-Carter attempted a 3-point shot at the wing for the win, but to no success as Scarborough secured the final rebound and was sent to the line with 1.3 seconds left in the game. With a final push, Scarborough made both free throws in success for the Manatee won.
Dasher and Osuigwe led the Manatees with a combined 46 points (Dasher, 24; Osuigwe, 22) while Barnes followed with 14, Alexandrea with 10 and Scarborough with three. Dasher, Osuigwe, Barnes and Scarborough each had seven rebounds. Scarborough also added four blocks.
Robert II was held to only one point while fellow freshman Max Richards added two points and four rebounds. Both had the only points off the bench.
"Hats off to guys like Remy, Cyrus, DeAndre and Chris for getting that last rebound and two free throws, but the boards from Isiah really did stepped up to help us get the win," said Parks on his players.
The Manatees, who snapped a two-game losing streak, played without sophomores D'Moi Hodge and Joel Coffey. Hodge is averaging 18.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
"D'Moi is such a versatile player. He does so much for us as one of our best rebounders and one of our best offensive players," said Parks on Hodge. "One of our deficiencies on our team is rebounding and it was tough without him and we struggled earlier on the glass and we're use to having him clean up on that, but he wasn't there to do it, but we found a way in the second half to make our rebounding more effective."
Up Next:
The Manatees head back to Ocala as they face College of Central Florida (CCF) (8-7) on Saturday, December 15 at 4 P.M. for their final game before the winter break.
"Despite their record, CCF is a good team," said Parks on CCF. "They played a lot of good opponents, and right now, they're really hungry to get the win before winter break, so by no means it's not gonna be an easy game. Right now, our focus is getting better every single day, and if we play our best and we lose, we can't hang our heads because we got better and our goal is to play the best possible basketball when we go to the Suncoast Conference Tournament."
*side note: This was my first interview with coach Parks and the first recap for SCF.
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