January 27, 2016

Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe Saints (11-12, 2-2 MFC) were never able to overcome their slow start on Wednesday night, and fell to the suddenly hot Florida State College-Jacksonville Blue Wave 73-64.  FSC-J has now won two MFC games in a row, having defeated Daytona State last week.

The Saints scored just 23 points in the first half while surrendering 38 to the Blue Wave.

"I'm disappointed with our energy and defensive effort in the first half," said SF Coach Chris Mowry.  "We didn't work well together offensively.  We had too much 1-on-1, not enough ball movement, and too much standing still."

Santa Fe picked it up in the second half and despite going down by 22 at one point, but cut it down to seven late in the game, giving themselves a chance.

"We gave ourselves a shot," said Mowry.  "We just couldn't get the key stop or make a bucket to cut it down from seven."

FSC-J hit their free throws down the stretch to secure their second straight MFC win.

Ty Birts did his best to keep the Saints in it, scoring 17 points to go with eight rebounds, both game highs.  LaBrian Shiflet scored 15, 13 coming in the second half.

The Saints will face off against Daytona State on Saturday, January 30 in Daytona at 4:00 PM. 

For complete schedules, stats, and more information please visit www.santafesaints.com.  

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