January 11, 2020
#3 FSW Wins 12th Straight in Rout of Victory Rock
All 12 players dressed scored and De'Lazarus Keys scored a career high for the second straight game as the #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers blew past the visiting Victory Rock Blue Devils 110-61 Saturday afternoon at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- All 12 players dressed scored and De'Lazarus Keys scored a career high for the second straight game as the #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers blew past the visiting Victory Rock Blue Devils 110-61 Saturday afternoon at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.
The start of the game previewed what was to come as Keon Ellis threw down a dunk to get the scoring going and De'Lazarus Keys scored six early points as the Bucs raced out to an 11-1 lead just four minutes into the contest. Moments later, Berrick JeanLouis, who was returning from a three game absence, scored eight straight for the Bucs on a dunk and a pair of threes to blow the game open to 25-4 at the midway point of the half. Victory Rock found some rhythm and played even with the Bucs for the final 10 minutes of the half, but FSW was still well in control at the break, leading the Blue Devils 44-25.
It was a blue collar half for the Bucs who shot 46% from the field while turning it over just 5 times. Eight different Bucs scored in the half, five of them with five or more, led by Ralph Bissainthe and Ellis who each had 8 for the Purple and Aqua.
The Bucs put the game away early in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the period, and then it was showtime. First it was a one handed pass up the floor from Hasahnn Reynolds to Ellis who flushed a pretty two handed reverse dunk to put the Bucs up 25, 56-31 with 15:50 to go. Later on Bissainthe brought the crowd to their feet as he smashed a dunk home over the top of a Blue Devil defender to push the Bucs lead to 30 with 12:00 remaining. After a three from Reynolds later in the half, Jalen Finch found Keys for a two handed flush, ballooning the Bucs lead to 40 for the first time at 82-41. Two more throw downs from Bissainthe on back to back possessions pushed FSW over the century mark and the Bucs finished things off with a 110-61 win for their 12th straight victory.
It was a group effort for the Bucs who shot 53% as a team without any players logging more than 22:30 in the contest. All 12 players scored in the win including eight with 6 or more points. Keys led the way for the second straight game, as his career high 16 from Wednesday lasted less than 72 hours with him putting up 20 points and 8 rebounds on Saturday. Ellis finished with an efficient 19 on 9-13 shooting while JeanLouis returned with a 17 point effort for the Bucs and Bissainthe added 15 off the FSW bench. Terry Roberts didn't put up big numbers in the points column, but set career highs with 10 rebounds and 7 assists for the Bucs in the win.
The win is the 12th straight for the 3rd ranked Bucs as they improve to 19-1 on the year.
FSW will not set their sights back to Suncoast Conference play where they will host fellow conference 2-0 State College of Florida Wednesday night at 7:30 at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.