GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Santa Fe College men's basketball won for the second time over St. Petersburg College on Wednesday evening, pulling away from the Titans with a dominant second half of play in a 77-57 victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Saints actually trailed by a point, 27-26 at the halftime break. St. Petersburg was making things difficult for the Saints offensively, and as many previous meetings between the two sides have been in recent memory, the game appeared to be headed towards a low scoring, down to the wire outcome.

14 of the 26 first-half points came from Nikolaos Noumeros on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point land, as the forward from Jihlava, Czech Republic was leading the way.

Noumeros and the rest of the Saints reached another gear in the second half, outscoring St. Petersburg 51-30 over the final 20 minutes of play to earn the 20-point victory.

The Saints shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second frame (20-of-32) and went 5-of-9 from deep. Jalen Speer went off for 14 second-half points of his own on 7-of-10 shooting, and the Titans had no answer.

The lead reached its largest at 22 points in the final minute, as SF improved to 8-3 on its home floor.

UPDATED RECORDS

Santa Fe – 13-9, 5-3 Central

St. Petersburg – 4-19, 0-8 Central

KEY STATISTICS

SF held a 50-41 edge in the rebounding category.

The Saints hit 11 three-pointers to just five for St. Petersburg.

The Saints finished with a 49.2 percent shooting display from the floor, while St. Petersburg was held to just 30.4 percent.

Noumeros had a massive double-double, setting a career-high with 24 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Speer flirted with a triple-double, putting up 18 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds.

Nasir Mann (11 points, eight rebounds) and Cole Deptula (10 points, five rebounds) also were effective in the victory. On his birthday, forward Kordell Brown put in nine points and grabbed six rebounds for the SF cause.

UP NEXT

The Saints (13-9, 5-3 Central) head to Winter Haven, Fla. for the season's second matchup with Polk State College (8-14, 3-5 Central) on Saturday, Feb. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.