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| The team poses after their win |
"I thought that we were the second best team in conference and we deserve to win this," said head coach Tom Parks. "To see everything pan out up to our first meet in August where we talked about our goals including to host at least one conference tournament game and win the tournament and we certainly did that."
In the first half, the Manatees got off to a good start in scoring after a thunderous dunk from freshman D'Moi Hodge, but by the time the Manatees reached double digits, Polk State took advantage of the scoreboard from big 3-pointers from freshman JJ Romer-Rosario, but the Manatees continued to cut the deficit to single digits as the first half ended with Polk State up 41-37.
"Our mentality was just to attack and push the ball," said Parks on halftime. "I'm an offense-oriented coach and we didn't play any defense tonight, but we talked about really pushing the pace and our bye week was this Saturday, so we played Monday while everyone else played Saturday, Monday and Tuesday and we thought it was a huge advantage for us, especially when Polk State had to travel all the way here, so we just talked about continuing to push the pace, not watching the scoreboard and keep chipping away at them. Down the stretch, it was all about getting stops, which we talk about every timeout."
"During halftime, Parks told us just to be calm and think positive even we're down by five points," said sophomore DeAndre Osuigwe. "I think the last two to three times we played them, they've always been up on us."
At the start of the second half, the Manatees started to buckle as the Hawks manage to get points from Romer-Rosario, freshman TK Smith and sophomores Milz Tatum and Alsean Evans, but the Manatees, who were down by as much as 15 points, continued to fight with 7:13 left on the clock after the timeout. After the timeout, the Manatees managed to eventually tie the game at 71-71 and soon caught took the lead.
"Going into the second half, we knew they were already going to be good and at every timeout," said Osuigwe. "Whenever we got the break, coach motivated us with a lot of positive energy and let us know that we can do this and we got to believe."
"We struggled for a while in the last five minutes, but we did a really good job contesting everything and most of the time it was one shot with the rebound," said Parks on the last five minutes.
The Manatees got big crucial buckets from Osuigwe, Hodge and sophomore Cyrus Barnes, but as they tried to add to the score, the Eagles continued to score on their own leading Parks to a timeout for a chance to make adjustments.
"We changed a little bit on matchups and who was guarding" said Parks on the last timeout. Their smaller guards were doing a really good job in the paint. We said the whole time 'let's have somebody else beat us and not have their main guys do that.' Although I didn't think really think we were gonna open the floodgates to get to the basket. We changed up some matchups, but we just talked about believing and continued to believe, but at the five minute mark, things could have gone either way. We could either stop believing, stop playing hard and let them break it open or we could continue to fight and that's what we were able to do."
"We had to keep our composure together defensively," said Hodge. "We know we can play defense, but we had to be fast and play as one."
"We got a great coaching staff, and whatever defense they (Polk State) throw at us, we always got a play," said freshman Isiah Dasher. "Coach (Parks) is a fast thinker and whenever he wants to switch something up, he always goes towards a timeout so we can get it together."
Parks' words got through the players and worked like a charm. Evidently, Polk made a costly mistake as Tatum committed a technical foul, which gave SCF a few more sparks and soon lead by three and with 22 seconds left, the Eagles had the ball. Romer Rosario was given the ball to tie the game, but it was unsuccessful as Dasher grabbed the board before being sent to shoot one of two free throws.
"We were just trying to finish out the game strong, make free throws and stay solid," said Dasher on the last 20 seconds. "Polk is a great team, so we came out with big win today,"
As Barnes finished with the game with the final two free throws, the Manatees officially punched their ticket in front of overwhelming support of over 100 SCF Maniacs while ending the second half 66-45.
Five players from SCF reached in double figures: Barnes, Hodge, Dasher, Osiugwe, and redshirt sophomore Tre Alexandrea. Barnes led the team with a career-high 24 points (7-for-10 FG, 1-for-1 3PT, 9-for-10 FT).
"During halftime, Parks told us just to be calm and think positive even we're down by five points," said sophomore DeAndre Osuigwe. "I think the last two to three times we played them, they've always been up on us."
At the start of the second half, the Manatees started to buckle as the Hawks manage to get points from Romer-Rosario, freshman TK Smith and sophomores Milz Tatum and Alsean Evans, but the Manatees, who were down by as much as 15 points, continued to fight with 7:13 left on the clock after the timeout. After the timeout, the Manatees managed to eventually tie the game at 71-71 and soon caught took the lead.
"Going into the second half, we knew they were already going to be good and at every timeout," said Osuigwe. "Whenever we got the break, coach motivated us with a lot of positive energy and let us know that we can do this and we got to believe."
"We struggled for a while in the last five minutes, but we did a really good job contesting everything and most of the time it was one shot with the rebound," said Parks on the last five minutes.
The Manatees got big crucial buckets from Osuigwe, Hodge and sophomore Cyrus Barnes, but as they tried to add to the score, the Eagles continued to score on their own leading Parks to a timeout for a chance to make adjustments.
"We changed a little bit on matchups and who was guarding" said Parks on the last timeout. Their smaller guards were doing a really good job in the paint. We said the whole time 'let's have somebody else beat us and not have their main guys do that.' Although I didn't think really think we were gonna open the floodgates to get to the basket. We changed up some matchups, but we just talked about believing and continued to believe, but at the five minute mark, things could have gone either way. We could either stop believing, stop playing hard and let them break it open or we could continue to fight and that's what we were able to do."
"We had to keep our composure together defensively," said Hodge. "We know we can play defense, but we had to be fast and play as one."
"We got a great coaching staff, and whatever defense they (Polk State) throw at us, we always got a play," said freshman Isiah Dasher. "Coach (Parks) is a fast thinker and whenever he wants to switch something up, he always goes towards a timeout so we can get it together."
Parks' words got through the players and worked like a charm. Evidently, Polk made a costly mistake as Tatum committed a technical foul, which gave SCF a few more sparks and soon lead by three and with 22 seconds left, the Eagles had the ball. Romer Rosario was given the ball to tie the game, but it was unsuccessful as Dasher grabbed the board before being sent to shoot one of two free throws.
"We were just trying to finish out the game strong, make free throws and stay solid," said Dasher on the last 20 seconds. "Polk is a great team, so we came out with big win today,"
As Barnes finished with the game with the final two free throws, the Manatees officially punched their ticket in front of overwhelming support of over 100 SCF Maniacs while ending the second half 66-45.
Five players from SCF reached in double figures: Barnes, Hodge, Dasher, Osiugwe, and redshirt sophomore Tre Alexandrea. Barnes led the team with a career-high 24 points (7-for-10 FG, 1-for-1 3PT, 9-for-10 FT).
Hodge and Dasher would finish with a double-double each. Hodge had 22 points (7-for-16 FG, 3-for-9 3PT, 5-for-6 FT) and 14 rebounds to go along with four assists, three blocks and four steals, while Dasher, who began the first half 0-for-6, finished with 16 points (4-for-15 FG, 8-for-13 FT) and 10 rebounds while adding five assists and a steal.
Osiugwe finished with 16 points (6-for-9 FG, 4-for-5 FT), three rebounds and seven assists, while Alexandra rounded out the order with 11 points (4-for-6 FG, 1-for-1 3PT, 2-for-2 FT) and two rebounds.
"I think I did better," said Barnes on his performance. "I could have played more defense, but I did what I needed to do."
"I didn't do how I normally wanted to, but I still hit the shots I normally hit, said Hodge. "I did my best and gave what I got."
"I started off the first half really slow, but I knew it was now or never and do or die," said Dasher on his performance. "I played with everything I had on the court. I knew I wasn't leaving the gym saying 'I could have gave more."
"I did my job on the defensive end and as a leader," said Osiugwe on his performance. "My main goal as a leader is to win. There were some spots where we felt sorry for ourselves, but I had to bring the team together and stay positive to let the team know that we're going to be alright and just keep fighting."
Along with Barnes off the bench, freshman Chris Scarborough finished with seven points (2-for-3 FG, 3-for-3 FT) and three rebounds while sophomore Corey Davis and freshman Max Bell-Ramos had two points each. Bell-Ramos also added two rebounds. Sophomore Joel Coffey, who was in the starting lineup, also contributed with two points, a rebound, a block and a steal.
For Polk State, five players reached double figures in scoring: Evan (25), Smith (18), Tatum (16), Romer Rosario (12) and freshman Nikc Merriweather (10).
At the end of the tournament, the team did a ceremonial cutting of the net for their win and in the locker room, the team doused Parks with a Gatorade bath afterwards.
Emotional Comments:
Parks- "It's a sigh of relief because I believe in this team this year and that we were capable of doing this and they believed in each other."
Hodge- "I'm so happy that I'm loss for words. We came back after being down and everyone had faith in us to win this game.
Dasher- "It's crazy that we put in so much work and it just shows in the outcome and I'm so emotional that I can't even speak."
Barnes- "It's bittersweet because this was my last time playing at SCF and this game was a tough one, but me and the boys did keep fighting to the end."
Osiugwe- "At the start of the game, we wanted to make history, so before the team meeting, everybody down on a piece of paper why we wanted to go to states, so we just made our 'why' and what our 'why' was and stayed together so we can do what we need to do, even if we were in a little slump, but I was able to keep the team together, stay positive and believe."
After interviewing coach Parks, he gave me a piece of the cut net for having me as a part of history and I couldn't be anymore appreciative for what he's done for with SCF basketball.
Up Next:
The Manatees ready themselves for Eastern Florida State (24-6), the #1 team in the Mid-Florida Conference. With that being said, the bracket for the 2019 FCSAA/NJCAA Region VIII Tournament is set in stone for Thursday, March 7 to Saturday, March 9 at the following times:
Quarterfinals (March 7):
*Game One: #1 FSW (#1 Suncoast) vs Indian River State (#2 Southern) at 1 pm.
*Game Two: #8 Northwest Florida State (#1 Panhandle) vs #21 Daytona State (#2 Mid-Florida) at 3 pm
*Game Three: RV Palm Beach State (#1 Southern) vs #11 Chipola (#2 Panhandle) at 6 pm
*Game Four: Eastern Florida State (#1 Mid-Florida) vs SCF (#2 Suncoast) at 8 pm.
*time subject to change depending on length of game.
Semifinals (March 8):
*Game One Winner vs Game Two Winner at 6 pm
*Game Three Winner vs Game Four Winner at 8 pm
Championship (March 9):
Semi Winner One vs Semi Winner Two at 7:30 pm
"I think I did better," said Barnes on his performance. "I could have played more defense, but I did what I needed to do."
"I didn't do how I normally wanted to, but I still hit the shots I normally hit, said Hodge. "I did my best and gave what I got."
"I started off the first half really slow, but I knew it was now or never and do or die," said Dasher on his performance. "I played with everything I had on the court. I knew I wasn't leaving the gym saying 'I could have gave more."
"I did my job on the defensive end and as a leader," said Osiugwe on his performance. "My main goal as a leader is to win. There were some spots where we felt sorry for ourselves, but I had to bring the team together and stay positive to let the team know that we're going to be alright and just keep fighting."
Along with Barnes off the bench, freshman Chris Scarborough finished with seven points (2-for-3 FG, 3-for-3 FT) and three rebounds while sophomore Corey Davis and freshman Max Bell-Ramos had two points each. Bell-Ramos also added two rebounds. Sophomore Joel Coffey, who was in the starting lineup, also contributed with two points, a rebound, a block and a steal.
For Polk State, five players reached double figures in scoring: Evan (25), Smith (18), Tatum (16), Romer Rosario (12) and freshman Nikc Merriweather (10).
At the end of the tournament, the team did a ceremonial cutting of the net for their win and in the locker room, the team doused Parks with a Gatorade bath afterwards.
Emotional Comments:
Parks- "It's a sigh of relief because I believe in this team this year and that we were capable of doing this and they believed in each other."
Hodge- "I'm so happy that I'm loss for words. We came back after being down and everyone had faith in us to win this game.
Dasher- "It's crazy that we put in so much work and it just shows in the outcome and I'm so emotional that I can't even speak."
Barnes- "It's bittersweet because this was my last time playing at SCF and this game was a tough one, but me and the boys did keep fighting to the end."
Osiugwe- "At the start of the game, we wanted to make history, so before the team meeting, everybody down on a piece of paper why we wanted to go to states, so we just made our 'why' and what our 'why' was and stayed together so we can do what we need to do, even if we were in a little slump, but I was able to keep the team together, stay positive and believe."
After interviewing coach Parks, he gave me a piece of the cut net for having me as a part of history and I couldn't be anymore appreciative for what he's done for with SCF basketball.
Up Next:
The Manatees ready themselves for Eastern Florida State (24-6), the #1 team in the Mid-Florida Conference. With that being said, the bracket for the 2019 FCSAA/NJCAA Region VIII Tournament is set in stone for Thursday, March 7 to Saturday, March 9 at the following times:
Quarterfinals (March 7):
*Game One: #1 FSW (#1 Suncoast) vs Indian River State (#2 Southern) at 1 pm.
*Game Two: #8 Northwest Florida State (#1 Panhandle) vs #21 Daytona State (#2 Mid-Florida) at 3 pm
*Game Three: RV Palm Beach State (#1 Southern) vs #11 Chipola (#2 Panhandle) at 6 pm
*Game Four: Eastern Florida State (#1 Mid-Florida) vs SCF (#2 Suncoast) at 8 pm.
*time subject to change depending on length of game.
Semifinals (March 8):
*Game One Winner vs Game Two Winner at 6 pm
*Game Three Winner vs Game Four Winner at 8 pm
Championship (March 9):
Semi Winner One vs Semi Winner Two at 7:30 pm
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