Clark Hits Game Winner for 2nd Herd over CCF; 2nd Herd Thrills Santa Fe in OT

Freshman Jordan Clark secured a big shot with four seconds left as the SCF basketball team (4-2) defeated College of Central Florida (2-2) 93-91 Friday night at home before defeating Santa Fe College (4-2) 101-92 in overtime on the road. With the wins, the Manatees are now 2-14 against the Patriots and 6-10 against the Patriots.

SCF vs CCF:
"I thought it was two really good competitive teams where both had well thought-out game plans," said head coach Tom Parks. "I thought both executed those game plans really well. When it happens, it contends to be a really close game, so definitely hats off to Central Florida and we really appreciate them coming to our place and will return the favor to them in a few weeks, but they fight and are scrappy even without their leading scorer, so it was incredible for them that a lot of guys off their bench stepped up. At the end of the day, our guys finished the game. We almost blew, but we finished the game."

It was sophomore Isiah Dasher that led the Manatees as he finished with 25 points (10-for-13 FG, 2-for-2 3PT, 3-for-6 FT), six rebounds and eight assists before fouling out, while classmate D'Moi Hodge followed with 22 points (8-for-16 FG, 4-for-9 3PT, 2-for-2 FT), six rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a season-high four blocks. Freshman Marshall Kearing rounded out the order in double digit scoring with 12 points (5-for-6 FG, 2-for-3 FT), five rebounds, an assist and a block.

"D'Moi (Hodge) makes so many plays and I think if you're a novice and don't a lot about basketball and just watch, you probably won't pick up on all the little plays he makes," said Parks on Hodge. "He's just incredible on both sides of the floor.

"Zay (Isiah) did a good job in the second half," said Parks on Dasher. "He did an unbelievable job in the high post area against the zone and I'm honestly not sure why they (CCF) stayed in the zone because we really did a good job getting him on a place where he can play, which was phenomenal."

With six seconds left on the clock, the game was tied at 91-91. As Hodge inbound the ball, the product of Booker High School crossed over two Patriots and with one final shot, it went in before the buzzer went off. Clark ended up with eight points, six rebounds and two assists in the game.

Sophomores Remy Robert II (eight points and a rebound), Christnoff Scarborough (seven points and three rebounds) and Max Bell-Ramos (six points and three rebounds), redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon (two points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal) and freshmen Michael Gavin (three points, a rebound and two assists) and J-Quon Ferrol (one rebound) also. contributed in the game.

The Patriots were without their leading scorer in Jaron Williams who averages over 15 points per game. Freshman Waylan Napper led the Patriots with 23 points and five assists while sophomore Latrell Jones and Philip Ortiz followed with 18 points each. Jones added eight rebounds, while Ortiz added two.

Sophomore Edoardo Del Cadia had a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, while classmate David Anukaenyi was one point shy of a double-double as he finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Last weekend, the Manatees fell in the Indian River State Veteran's Classic where they fell to host Indian River State (111-98) and #15 Daytona State (92-77).

"Honestly, I thought we played good on Saturday against Daytona," said Parks contrasting from the Veteran's Classic. "They're super talented and I don't want to take anything away from our squad because I thought we had a pretty solid game outside of the five minute stretch in the second half against them."

"Our whole mindset that sits from last weekend was 'let's get better, each day let's get better and really trust this process,'" said Parks on the teams' new process. "We need to realize are principals offensively and defensively has a system we run has layers to it and by the time February hits, we will not only scratch the surface of those layers but we will have a lot of time to work on all the different dynamics of our offense and defense. Our whole thing is let's just get better 100% every single day and that's we did this week in practice and we had a good week with practice and fortunately that's how we got the win."

SCF @ Santa Fe:
"I thought it was a tough game for many reasons," said Parks. "The first one is we played last night at home and by the time our guys settled down, we literally left eight hours later to go play at Santa Fe. Hats off to our guys because a lot of them logged in some serious minutes this weekend. D'Moi played 45 minutes tonight and we needed him to play 45 minutes. It was definitely a hard fought game. I probably didn't do a great job scheduling in terms of a quick turnaround based on our style of play in which we play fast.

"We did have a couple of injuries and some of those guys are out while we got an early and extended our lead to 11 despite a few mistakes made during the stretch that led to some scoring opportunities for them (Santa Fe) and then it was a tie game at the end of regulation, but in overtime we played well really early and definitely controlled a majority of the game in overtime and we did some good things but we need to continue searching for that 40 minutes of execution and nothing less than that."

It was Hodge that led the Manatees with 44 points (15-for-27 FG, 9-for-14 3PT, 5-for-9 FT), five rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocks, while Dasher had 18 points (5-for-8 FG, 1-for-3 3PT, 7-for-12 FT), a team-leading seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Clark had six points, four rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block.

"It was really good to see D'Moi in his element," said Parks on Hodge. "I think a lot of people get amazed by some of the things he does on the floor. "I've seen it so many times in practices and games that when it starts happening, I'm just like 'Alright, it's another one of those nights for him', so he got started early with a couple of threes, was fairly contested with tough shots that he takes, which to him is not tough at all. He was unbelievable on both sides of the floor with all the energy he possesses which was huge."

"Isiah (Dasher) was really good again," said Parks on Dasher and Clark. "He's so crafty and provides a very good element on the floor to take the pressure of D'Moi and Jordan (Clark) had some nice passes with some help defensively with Remy Robert."

Kearing had one of his best games thus far as he finished with 19 points (9-for-16 FG, 1-for-2 FT), six rebounds, two assists, three steals and three blocks.

"Marshall had a very good night," said Parks on Kearing. "We had to give him the ball a lot and they (Santa Fe) had some big guys that were 6-11 to 7-0 and he just battled. He was a lot more tougher and physical while being strong with the ball. He just did a really good job. My whole thing is that he is a freshman who turned 18 at the end of July and needed him to play like a sophomore even though he didn't have the luxury to have a year to get better, but it's great to see him play on the floor from the beginning when he got here."

McCutcheon had seven points (3-for-6 FG, 1-for-2 FT), two rebounds and six assists.

"Calvin is someone who has not played in a competitive college basketball game in over a year up until this season when he redshirted last year," said Parks on McCutcheon. "I got to keep reminding myself to do something to work with him after not playing for a whole year. Calvin is a great kid and has a really good feel for the game. He did really well tonight."

Scarborough (four points, seven rebounds, and an assist), Robert II (one rebound, one assist and a steal), Gavin (three points, one rebound and one steal), Bell-Ramos (one rebound and one steal) and Ferrol (two steals) also contributed in the game.

Redshirt freshman Nikola Jerotic lead the Saints with a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds while sophomore Luka Filipovic, who averages a double-double per game, dropped to seven points and four rebounds in the game. Freshman Yaw Obeng-Mensah finished behind Jerotic with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Freshman Josiah Tynes led the Saints with nine assists despite having only three points.

Other Suncoast Scores:
#3 FSW (7-0) competed in two days in Americus, Georgia on the weekend defeating NJCAA Region 4 Triton College 88-83 before defeating NJCAA Region 10 Wake Technical Community College by a score of 89-58. The Buccaneers will return home for the two-day weekend as they welcome NJCAA Region 18 Snow College (11/22) and NJCAA Region 10 Denmark Tech College (11/23).

RV Polk State (5-0) defeated Indian River State 100-80 Friday night. They will remain at home to host the two-day Josh Giles Memorial Classic and welcome Florida State College at Jacksonville and Chipola College (11/22-11/23).

Hillsborough (4-3) fell this past weekend on the road losing to Miami Dade (88-72) and Broward College (78-70). They will remain on the road as they travel to Gainsville to take on Santa Fe College Wednesday night, November 20.

St. Pete College (2-4) fell this past weekend to Palm Beach State (91-79) and ASA Miami (71-69) in the two-day ASA Tournament. They will return to action to Monday night on the road and take on CCF.

Up Next:
The Manatees return home Tuesday night, November 19 as they welcome Pasco-Hernando State College (0-6) to Hal Chasey Gymnasium.