WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Santa Fe men's basketball team took to the road for a conference matchup with Polk State and was handed a loss, 84-80.

This was the third and final game in the season series with Eagles. Depite a point differential of just seven points between the two teams, Polk State came away with victories in all three matchups. 

The Eagles got on the board first and led from wire to wire in the contest. The Eagles held control throughout the game, often possessing a double-digit lead.

First Half – PSC 46, SF 34

The Saints and Eagles traded baskets at the start of the game, but Polk State grabbed the advantage and went on a 9-0 run before Bradley Douglas hit a deep trey.

Douglas, Leonardo Da Campo, and Josh Petteno would all score three-point baskets in the first half.

Douglas had 12 points in the first half, but the Saints had no answer for the hot shooting Eagles, as they led by 12 going into the break.

Second Half – PSC 84, SF 80

The Eagles started the scoring again and widened the gap. 

Jay Medor hit the first two baskets of the half for the Saints.

An alley-oop dunk from Douglas to Yaw Obeng-Mensah, followed by back-to-back Saints buckets from Da Campo and Hasan Abdul-Hakim cut into the lead, 58-43. It looked like it might ignite a Saints run, but a 30 second timeout was called by the Eagles and out of that timeout, they hit a three ball to temporarily stop the bleeding.

The Saints were able to string together another run after the Eagles three pointer and got as close as seven, 61-54. Polk State called another timeout to try and execut offensively, but the Saints forced a shot clock violation after a huge block from Abdul-Hakim. With a chance to cut the lead even more, the Saints failed to convert on the next possession and the Eagles came back down the court and made a three, taking the lead back to double digits, 65-54.

From that point in the game until around the 2:00 mark, the Saints would not get any closer than eight.

With less than two minutes left, the Saints would get a few big shots from Abdul-Hakim to make it interesting. The Saints would cut the lead to five twice. The Eagles were able to convert their free-throws at the end of the game, and despite a Saints three at the buzzer, it would be the Eagles escaping with the victory, 84-80.

Key Statistics

Three Saints players got into double digits. Abdul-Hakim led with a season high 26 points and also added seven rebounds (five offensive), while Douglas and Medor had 16 each.

Abdul-Hakim was 4-of-7 from long distance, and Medor had three steals.

A Moment with Mowry

"Tough loss tonight," said Head Coach Chris Mowry. "Polk really hurt us in transition in the first half and shot it really well. It's awfully hard to beat a good team on the road when they get a big lead like they did in the first half. Our guys fought hard and never gave up, making a few runs at Polk in the second half. I'm proud of our effort to continue to compete, even when things were not going our way. Hasan had his best game of the year for us tonight. We will be ready to go on Wednesday against FSCJ."

Up Next

Santa Fe (8-11, 5-10 CC) plays its final game of the season on Wednesday, March 31 at 6:00 p.m. against Florida State College at Jacksonville in the Santa Fe Gymnasium.