Saint Leo Men’s basketball came out firing on Wednesday the 9thwith an impressive win over Florida Tech. The game had a slow start with both teams going scoreless in the first two minutes of the game. Junior guard Kryan McClure finally broke the game open with a three-pointer at 18:15 to get the first points of the game. The game stayed close as Saint Leo and Florida Tech traded leads back and forth until the Panthers pushed out ahead with a six-point lead making it 19-13. Saint Leo never fell far behind as they went on a run of their own cutting the deficit to two points making the score 21-19 with just over eight minutes to go in the first half.
The Panthers were still persistent as they matched Saint Leo with a seven-point run of their own making the score 31-24 with just over three minutes left in the first half. The last three minutes were slower, and the Panthers went into half time with a comfortable six-point lead at 34-28.
The Panthers came out of halftime hot extending their lead to 11 points early in the second half. Saint Leo again would keep battling to cut the lead to three, making the score 39-36. This comeback was led by McClure, junior guard Isaiah Hill and senior center Pape Ngom. McClure went off in the middle of the second half where he drained three free throws to give the Lions a two-point lead. He continued his great offensive play with a three-pointer and two more free throws. Senior forward Junior Searcy joined the scoring party with four straight points of his own extending the lead to eight points making the score 56-48 before McClure scored again giving the Lions a 10-point lead.
After gaining the double-digit lead, the Lions never looked back as they maintained this lead and went on to end the game 71-57. McClure had a fantastic game leading the Lions in scoring with 27 points for a second straight game. Most of his points came in the second half as he entered half with just three. He went 13-13 from the free throw line to help the Lions move to a 6-9 record overall and a 3-4 record in the SSC.
Saint Leo has a break this weekend before traveling to Tampa to face the Spartans at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16.
