The SCF basketball team (12-9, 3-1 Suncoast) fought tooth and nail in Suncoast play and were able to pull away with a nail-biting win over Polk State (10-11, 3-2 Suncoast) by a score of 87-85 in overtime. With the win, the Manatees are now 8-16 against the Eagles and their first overtime win this season.
"There was a lot of ups and downs, peaks and valleys and runs from both teams," said head coach Tom Parks. "It was kind of like who is gonna make our last run and the last defensive stance, and I think offensively and defensively we did that down the stretch to be able to force overtime. It's crazy how it happened, but it is and we talked about 'Alright, we get five more extra minutes, the crowd gets five more extra minutes and their moneys worth in our gym.' We had to come out strong the first four minutes of overtime and we did. We let it slip a little bit, but we came out really strong and without that first run, who knows what the outcome will be."
"I think anytime you go into overtime, especially on the road or at home, you did something right," said Parks on the overtime win. "I know a lot of people look at it in a negative way and rather play in regulation and so would I, however, overtime is something that occurs only a hand full of times."
"It was a good game," said freshman D'Moi Hodge. "We started off really slow and some of our starters were in foul trouble."
"It was a tough game," said redshirt sophomore Tre Alexandrea. "We just wanted to stay in tune and we really wanted this win. They beat us the first time during winter break, so we owed them one and we really wanted to establish that one early and we were gonna play hard. We're coming into February wanting to play our best basketball. We learned from our mistakes in overtime and the first two minutes are big and we wanted to jump on them first."
In the first two minutes, the Eagles were holding onto a 2-0 lead after a hook shot by freshman Bernat Vanaclocha until sophomore DeAndre Osuigwe gave the Manatees the lead with 3-pointer along with a Hodge layup. Another successful layup from Hodge gave the Manatees a 7-2 lead before Polk State head coach Brandon Giles called timeout.
After the timeout and two successful free throws made by sophomore Alsean Evans, Osuigwe would get two successful free throws of his own. Defense continued to help the Manatees on the scoreboard after several steals from Alexandrea and Hodge, a block by sophomore Joel Coffey and several rebounds on the offensive and defensive front to give the Manatees a 13-4 lead.
With the score then 17-6 after a dunk by Barnes and 13 minutes left, the Eagles then took matters into their own hands and pulled off a 6-0 run to cut the Manatees' lead to five until freshman Isiah Dasher brought the lead back by seven.
The Eagles would then get a big push from freshman Tekorian "TK" Smith. Smith, their original starter, would connect with a 3-pointer to cut the Manatees' lead to four while taking advantage of some charges and missed shots before freshman Marlon Suarez cut the deficit by two with two successful free throws before sophomore Miles Wilson brought the lead back to four with two successful free throws of his own.
With the score 23-19 still in favor of SCF, freshman Max Richards would re-extend the lead to seven with a 3-pointer of his own, but freshman Janiel Jafet "JJ" Romer Rosario would cut the deficit to four with a 3-pointer of his own. Smith would then cut the deficit to one after making one of two free throws.
With five minutes left, the Eagles would cut the deficit by one point yet again after a 3-point shot by sophomore Milz Tatum. With less than a minute left in the first half, Smith would score six straight points from two baskets and a free throw before the end of the first half with Polk State leading 43-41.
As the second half went underway, the Eagles began with a layup by Vanaclocha before Hodges drew a foul and hit two free throws, but then Evans shot a 3-pointer to extend the lead to five. Five minutes later, freshman Leighton Elliott-Sewell would hit a 3-pointer for a nine-point Polk, but Alexandrea would not let up after a jumpshot of his own. But as the Manatees tried to cut the deficit, the Eagles continued to extend their lead and the Manatees had to push twice as hard defensively with Alexandrea and Hodge taking the reins, despite Hodge being in foul trouble.
With the score 63-55 Polk State, the Manatees continued to fight with Alexandrea showing his defensive side before cutting the lead to five with a 3-pointer.
"Defensively and offensively, Tre (Alexandrea) really stepped it up," said Parks on Alexandrea. "It was good to see. Tre is not somebody who I recruited and did have the option of not coming back because he was involved in an interview process in terms of leaving and going elsewhere after meeting all the candidates, but when I got the job, he signed the next day and that really showed his faith in me."
"I did get on him hard during a timeout and he responded. He was saying 'Alright coach, I got you' and he just went out and he really started the dominoes falling for our team offensively. We weren't getting much offensively for a stretch and he made that change for us."
"Coach Parks told me to take a better shot," said Alexandrea on Parks' words. "I got fouled and he was mad about it, but it was all good."
The Manatees continued to pound Polk State defensively while trying to cut down the deficit. The Manatees then took advantage of technical foul made by Evans after hanging on the hoop too long making a putback dunk and set up Alexandrea to make one of two free throws to cut the Eagles lead to five before Smith brought it back to seven before Barnes cut it to four after a 3-pointer. Another Alexandrea jumpshot and an Osuigwe steal and pass leading to a Barnes layup cut Polk State's lead to three before a timeout with 7:13 left in the second half. After a charge by Smith and several other fouls by Evans and Wilson, Alexandrea would cut the lead to one with a jumpshot. With the score at 71-69, still in favor of Polk, an Evans foul put Wilson at the free throw line to make one of two free throws before the Eagles took the leads after free throws by Smith and Evans and made it 75-70.
With 1:30 left, the Manatees were finally able to tie the game from a big 3-pointer by Hodge. 14 seconds later after a foul by sophomore Alaowei Talent that sent Wilson to the line, Wilson would give the Manatees the lead after making one of two free throws before Smith brought back the Eagles lead by one. Hodge would bring the Manatees up by two after his second 3-pointer with 28 seconds left before Smith tied the game at 79-79 with 15 seconds left. Hodge would then try to go for the win with another 3-point attempt, but to no avail as the game would go into overtime.
"Coach (Parks) did have faith in me to make that shot," said Hodge on the tying 3-pointer. "And I told him that I will do it and then when I shot it and it went in, I kept myself going."
"I started off real bad in the beginning after missing so many open range mid-point shots, layups and threes," said Hodge on his slow start. "I kept getting down on myself, but I had to keep my head up for the team and keep pushing on the defensive end and that was a big help for the team."
At the start of overtime, both teams tried to get early shot opportunities but to no avail. 35 seconds in, Evans would foul out and be replaced by Suarez. This would send Barnes to the free throw line to make both free throws to give the Manatees the lead. A costly charge by Elliott-Sewell, a basket interference by Vanaclocha and several missed shots that led to a Hodge layup and Osuigwe making one of two free throws for a five-point Manatee lead before Osuigwe extended it to seven with a floater.
With 1:21 left in overtime, Hodge would foul out and be replaced by Dasher, while Vanaclocha missed both free throws.
"D'Moi is one of the best players in the country," said Parks on Hodge. "And it doesn't matter what level he's at. That kid is very special and I told the guys in the locker and said D'Moi is 0-for-19, I'm still gonna run a play with D'Moi to make the game-tying three. That's how much confidence I have in him and he's such an unbelievable person
A block by Barnes and a rebound by Alexandrea were put under pressure by Smith as he went for a successful and-one to cut the Manatees lead to four. After Dasher was fouled and made one of two free throws, Smith would cut the deficit to two points after his third 3-pointer of the game.
With 25 seconds left on the clock, the Eagles went for one more push to try and tie the game to avail, but were given one more try with five seconds left. Barnes would make the steal and give the Manatees the win.
"I felt good tonight," said Alexandrea on his performance. "Coach believed in me to keep shooting the ball and keep attacking defensively. It just felt good."
Offensively, Barnes led the team with 21 points (8-for-11 FG, 1-for-1 3PT, 4-for-5 FT) and six rebounds off the bench while Hodge and Alexandrea led the starters in double digit scoring. Hodge finished with 18 points (7-for-20 FG, 2-for-9 3PT, 2-for-2 FT), five rebounds and five steals, while Alexandrea finished with 16 points (6-for-11 FG, 1-for-2 3PT, 3-for-4 FT), four rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Aside from Hodge, Alexandrea and Barnes leading the way, Dasher and Osuigwe finished with nine points each. Dasher added five rebounds, while Osuigwe added four assists. Coffey finished with two points, two rebounds and a block.
For the players off the Manatees bench, Wilson finished behind Barnes with seven points and three rebounds while Richards finished with three points and two rebounds and freshman Remy Robert II finished with two points.
Smith led Polk State with game-high 31 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Elliott-Sewell finished 15 points and six rebounds. Freshman Nikc Merriweather had four points and a season-high 10 assists. Evans would finish the game with 13 points and six rebounds.
Up Next:
The Manatees return on the road as they head to St. Petersburg to take on St. Pete College (12-10, 1-4 Suncoast) on Saturday, January 26 at 4 pm before traveling to Ft. Myers to face #2 FSW 21-1, 5-0 Suncoast) Monday, January 28 at 7 pm.
