December 3, 2025
Bucs Clipped at the Wire by #7 Gulf Coast
The Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers went toe to toe with the #7 Gulf Coast State Commodores for 40 minutes Wednesday night in a rare midweek non-conference matchup between the two in-state foes in Suncoast Arena. In a game that featured 17 ties and 22 lead changes, the Bucs held a lead late, but Gulf Coast got a shot to fall in the final minute of the contest to win it 74-72 to send FSW to their first home loss of the 2025-2026 season.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers went toe to toe with the #7 Gulf Coast State Commodores for 40 minutes Wednesday night in a rare midweek non-conference matchup between the two in-state foes in Suncoast Arena. In a game that featured 17 ties and 22 lead changes, the Bucs held a lead late, but Gulf Coast got a shot to fall in the final minute of the contest to win it 74-72 to send FSW to their first home loss of the 2025-2026 season.
It was a back and forth battle early on between one of the top teams in the Citrus Conference in the Bucs and one of the top teams in the Panhandle Conference in the Commodores. A Mason Blazer three gave the Bucs an early 8-5 lead and a put back dunk from Jeremy Innocent stretched the FSW lead to 16-11 moments later. Another Blazer triple kept the Bucs up five with just under eight minutes to go in the first half but Gulf Coast made their run and erased the Bucs advantage and took a 31-30 lead of their own with 5:04 left in the half. Innocent found Roman Rummings for a two handed slam to put the Bucs back on top with just over a minute left in the half but Gulf Coast pushed the ball up the floor and beat the buzzer with a lay in to give the Commodores a 35-34 lead as the teams went to the locker rooms at the break.
It was more tip and tuck as the second half got underway with neither team able to distance themselves from each other. Cummings got hot and scored seven straight for the Bucs to put FSW up by one five minutes into the half and a three from Kenyon Giles had the Bucs on top 53-50 at the under 12 media timeout. Abdoulaye Konate drained a corner three to make it 65-61 FSW with 6:31 remaining, the only two possession lead for either team in the entire second half. The Bucs and Commodores continued to trade jabs to a 68-68 deadlock with 3:00 to go when a big sequence by FSW put them back in front by a pair. Gulf Coast slashed to the basket with a chance to take the lead, but Innocent erased the attempt with big blocked shot before the Bucs pushed the ball up the floor and got an alley oop from Lamont Hartfield to Blazer for the slam to put the Bucs in front 70-68. The game was tied at 72 with under a minute to go when a Gulf Coast second chance bucket put the Commodores back in front by a pair with 22 seconds remaining. The Bucs had two chances from deep to win it on their final possession, but it wasn't meant to be as their final attempt was off the mark and the Commodores cleared the glass to steal the win 74-72.
The game featured 17 ties and 22 lead changes. The difference came from the three point line where Gulf Coast shot 47% and FSW shot just 23% and on the glass where the Commodores outrebounded the Bucs 38-26.
Four Bucs scored in double figures led by Blazer who had 15 and Cummings who went a perfect 5 for 5 off the bench and finished with 12.
FSW falls to 7-2 on the year with the defeat while Gulf Coast continues their hot start as they move to 10-1.
The Bucs are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Tallahassee to participate in the Florida Juco Shootout where they take on reigning FCSAA Champions Pensacola State in a 2 PM (ET) tip off from the state capital.
