2nd Herd Readies for Suncoast Tournament

With the regular season at a close, the day is not yet over for the SCF basketball team (19-11) as they will be preparing themselves for the two-day Suncoast Conference Tournament. The Manatees will be hosting one of the two semifinal games for the tournament. Polk State will be hosting the other. In the tournament, the Manatees will face St. Pete (14-16) while Polk State (20-9) will welcome Hillsborough (10-17).

Last Time Out:
The Manatees wrapped up the regular season on the road where they fell to #1 FSW (29-1) by a score of 76-69. Yet despite the loss, it was the Manatees' closest score against the Buccaneers. Nevertheless, the Buccaneers would the Suncoast Regular Season Champions for the fifth straight season.

Final Suncoast Standings:
1. #2 FSW (29-1, 12-0 Suncoast)*^
2. Polk State (20-9, 7-5 Suncoast) #1
3. SCF (19-11, 5-7 Suncoast) #2
4. St. Pete College (14-16, 4-8 Suncoast) #3
5. Hillsborough (10-17, 2-10 Suncoast) #4

#1-4 Seed in the conference tournament.
^Clinched Playoff Berth
*Suncoast Regular Season Champions

What's at Stake:
The winner of the Suncoast Conference Tournament will join #1 FSW as one of two teams in the FCSAA/NJCAA District VIII Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.

If SCF defeat SPC, then they must await the result of the matchup between Polk State and HCC where if Polk State loses, then SCF would host the conference tournament and welcome HCC. If SCF wins and Polk State wins, then SCF will have to travel to Winter Haven for the conference tournament since Polk State is the highest seed.

FCSAA/NJCAA District VIII Men’s Basketball Championship:
The FCSAA/NJCAA District VIII Men’s Basketball Championship takes eight teams from the top two seeds in the Suncoast, Mid-Florida, Panhandle and Southern Conference. Those eight will then play in an eight-team single elimination tournament where the winner and runner-up will punch their tickets to be in the 73rd NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship - known as The Tournament. The Location of the tournament this season will be held at Raider Arena at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida.

#1 FSW (Suncoast) (29-1), #18 Central Florida (Mid-Florida) (24-6), #9 Tallahassee (Panhandle) (25-5) and RV Indian River State (Southern) (22-7) have won their respected conference regular season championships and an automatic spot in the state championship. Broward College (Southern) (17-9) and Gulf Coast State (Panhandle) (21-7) also earned a playoff berth for the state tournament as runner-ups in their conference due to the Panhandle and Southern Conference not having a conference tournament.

Next Season's New Bloods:
For the upcoming "3rd Herd", Parks confirmed on January 20 that he had signed five players to join SCF next season: Kwo Agwa, Michael Hatcher, DK Kelly, Javon Bell and Hunter Madden.

Kwo Agwa:
A 6-7 swing from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, by way of South Sudan, Agwa will come from the Edge School in Calgary. Agwa played in only four games with Edge due to an injury while averaging 17.5 points per game.

Michael Hatcher:
A 6-6 wing, Hatcher is a local product from Palmetto High School in Palmetto, Florida. As a senior, Hatcher averaged 18.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game with the Tigers while being named Florida Athletic Coaches Association District 16 Boys Basketball Player of the year and helping the Tigers to a 15-7 overall record and reach the regional quarterfinals of the FHSAA 6A State Tournament.

Javon Bell:
A 6-4 wing, Bell committed to SCF and will join upon finishing his senior year at Santa Fe Catholic School in Lakeland, Florida. Bell was a two-sport athlete playing both football and basketball. As a football player, Bell had 87 yards and a touchdown his junior year with the Hawks before primarily focusing on playing basketball. Bell is currently playing in the regional semifinals of the FHSAA 3A State Tournament on February 25 against Calvary Christian Academy.

Decorrian "DK" Kelly:
A 6-1 guard from Memphis, Kelly will join SCF upon his completion of his postgraduate year at Huntington Prep in West Virginia. Prior to that, Kelly graduated from Bolton High School in Arlington, Tennessee where he averaged 16.4 points, six rebounds and 3.3 steals per game.

Hunter Madden:
Madden is the most recent commit and second international player joining SCF. A native of Australia, Madden will join SCF after completing the 2019-20 season with the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). Madden was a part of the U16 and U17 Australian National Teams and competed in the U16 Asia Championship and U17 World Cup in 2018. Currently, Madden and the Kings are competing against the Melbourne United in the NBL Playoffs after finishing the season 20-8 overall and claiming the #1 seed and will be looking for their third fourth championship in franchise history.

*Side Note: Madden does play on the same NBL team as former NBA player Andrew Bogut.

Seven to 26 for Records:
For sophomore D'Moi Hodge, he has inched to the final edge of the two program records held by James Life: most points scored in a single season (Life: 762) and most points in program history (Life: 1,341). Hodge is currently averaging 25.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.2 blocks per game. The upcoming transfer to Cleveland State had 23 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks against FSW.

Hodge has 737 points this season and 1,335 in his career. He only needs seven for the all-time points record and 26 for the single season points record.

Dash to 1,000:
Sophomore Isiah Dasher is also on a path to reaching 1,000 career points. Dasher has 944 and needs 56 to do so. Dasher is currently averaging 15.5 points, five rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Dasher had 14 points, one rebound and one assist against FSW.

Bigs on the Block:
For sophomore Christnoff Scarborough and freshman Marshall Kearing, they continue to do their job as the big men on the team.

Despite scoring only three points with four rebounds against FSW, Scarborough is still averaging 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

Kearing is averaging 11.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Kearing had 16 points, six rebounds and five blocks against FSW.

Scouting SPC:
The Titans enter the conference tournament as the #3 seed once again. They finished their last game with an 74-71 win over HCC.

Sophomore Kobie Johnson leads the team averaging 16.7 points and four rebounds per game. Johnson had 15 points and four rebounds against HCC.

Freshman Bryan Williams follows along averaging 15 points, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game, while classmate Damon Davis averages 11.2 points and 3.6 assists per game. Against HCC, Williams had 19 points, four assists and five steals while Davis had 12 points and six assists.

As far as rebounding, freshman Teddy Bayi Ba Mandeng is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game to go alone with seven points per game. Against HCC, Bayi Ba Mandeng had five points with five rebounds.

Series History (2012-present):
The Manatees are 8-21 against the Titans where they claimed the series this season winning game one 79-72 (1/8) and game two 79-73 (1/25) before losing game three 71-68 (2/12).

How to Keep Up:
The game will be livestream on SCF Sports Network. Fans can also keep up on Twitter:
SCF: @SCF_Basketball
SPC: @SPCMBasketball

Link: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/scf/