Lake Worth, FL- The Saints entered the contest at 5-2, while the Panthers enter the contest at 5-3.  Two weeks ago on November 18^th these two teams met in a hard fought game in Gainesville, FL.  The Saints prevailed after having a big second half comeback to win the game over the Panthers.

Offensively, the Saints were led by #22 Predrag Panisic, who had a big second half, scoring a total of 16 points and #23 Macius Trowe added 10 points while #3 Kevin Pazmino also crossed double figures by contributing 10 points.

In the first half, the Saints came out quick on the attack hoping to set the tempo early.  Kevin Pazmino started it out for the Saints by hitting a three-point shot while getting fouled, leading to a 4-point play.  #20 Shemar O'roy-Ford led off for the Panthers by scoring their first four points, one of which was a throw down dunk. 

Although the Panthers struggled from the free-throw line (missed first five), they made up for it by being aggressive in their transition game.  They consistently pressured the Saints full in the first half.  This forced the Saints into early turnovers and lead to easy transition baskets for the Panthers on the other end.  Offensively, the Panthers worked the ball inside putting pressure on the Saints defense and were able to capitalize by winning the offensive rebound battle.  This allowed them to get more than their share of second chance opportunities to score inside. 

In spite of the Panthers efforts, the Saints were able to maintain the lead much of the first half until #11 Eduardo Diaz hit a triple from the wing, putting the Panthers up with 3:16 left in the first half. Shortly thereafter, Diaz created a big transition basket by getting a steal at half court and assisting Jaiden Wynn for a big throwdown dunk and foul.  This gave the Panthers a six-point lead with 2:25 left in the first half, despite their struggles from the three-point line.   The Saints were able to cut the lead to two points before Diaz struck again to hit his fourth triple of the game, pushing the Panther lead back to five.  Again the Saints fought back to trail by only 1 point, but fouled at the buzzer ending the first half, which allowed the Panthers to go on to make two more free-throws.  The score at the half was 32-29 Panthers.

Both teams had a slow start to the second half until Macius Trowe made a steal, which led to a transition dunk by Predrag Panisic assisted by #25 Ashton Lovette.  Panisic kept the Saints afloat early on also by hitting a triple.  However, the Panthers continued to build momentum by forcing the action in the paint and by pressuring the Saints full court.  This led them to establish tempo and retain the lead for most of the second half.  The Panthers were led by #4 Will Stallworth (7 points in the second half, 8 total), #12 Jaiden Wynn (8 points in second half, 17 total), and Eduardo Diaz who hit two more triples (14 points total). 

A triple by #2 Jonathan Renois allowed the Saints to close the gap to three points by the 10:00 mark.  Macius Trowe hit a couple of inside baskets (8 points in the half, 10 total) and Kevin Pazmino hit two more triples down the stretch, both times only cutting the lead to 7 points.  The Panthers would go on to maintain that 7 point lead, closing the game with a final score of 75-68 Panthers.

Comments From Coach Mowry

"We fought hard, but struggled to stop them from scoring in the second half.  We fouled too much and didn't make enough of our free-throws.  They were plus 11 from the free-throw line for the game.  Give the Panthers credit, they did what they had to do win today.  Hey, we'll regroup and will be ready for the next one."

Noteables

• Predrag Panisic (16 points)
• Macius Trowe (10 points)
• Kevin Pazmino (10 points)