The Santa Fe Saints advanced to the Mid-Florida Conference Tournament Championship game with a 76-72 win over Daytona State College Monday night.

"This was a great win for our team tonight," said SF head coach Chris Mowry. "We got off to a great start in the first half and were able to hit some key shots and free throws the last 10 minutes to keep them at bay."

The Saints held the lead for most of the game and were up 36-25 at the half. SF got the lead up to 13 before having to survive a barrage of 3-point attempts by the Falcons in the closing minutes.

"Daytona is an outstanding team and they really came after us in the second half," said Mowry.

Ryan Leonard led the way for the Saints with 17 points while Josiah Tynes scored 15 and Yaw Obeng-Mensah 13. The Saints made 20 of 25 free throw attempts while the Falcons made 12 of 17.

Ryan and Josiah really shot the ball well from behind the 3-point line and we did a super job at the free throw line," said Mowry.

Each team turned the ball over nine times but the Saints scored 16 points off the Falcon miscues while the Falcons scored just four.

"Yaw and Nicola did a great job battling all night against their bigger inside guys and Tre' (Howard) gave us a lift in the first half," said Mowry. "Our bench provided great energy from start to finish."

The Saints (15-15, 6-6- MFC) will travel to Melbourne Tuesday night to take on Eastern Florida State College with the winner advancing to the NJCAA Region VIII/FCSAA State Tournament in Niceville, Fla. March 4-7. EFSC won two of three regular season games between these two teams.

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