February 21, 2018

Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe Saints erased a 13 point halftime deficit with a strong second half effort, but eventually fell to the College of Central Florida Wednesday night in Gainesville, 81-78.

SF (20-9, 6-5 MFC) struggled over the first half to get defensive stops, and turnovers from a full court press proved to be the difference as the Patriots had 13 take-a-ways.

The Saints rallied in the second half, taking the lead on a Sean Dinkins dunk midway through.

The two teams went back and forth, but in the end turnovers proved to be the difference. The Patriots forced 13 more SF turnovers and made them count, converting many of them into easy baskets.

Jakob Dawkins made a big three pointer with under 30 seconds to go in the game to cut the deficit to one.  The Patriots made both of their free throws and the Saints were unable to come up with the tying bucket at the buzzer.

Ivan Smith led Santa Fe with 13 points, Sean Flood, in his first action since January 10, had 10 points, and Darrell Jones had 10.

The Saints will finish the regular season at home on Saturday, February 24 at 2:00 p.m. against Eastern Florida State College.  SF will then host Daytona State College in the first round of the Mid-Florida Conference tournament on Monday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m.  Both games will be broadcast on the Saints Sports Network.

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

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