Barry Prevails Over Panthers In OT
By Florida Tech // January 3, 2013
FIT Meets Palm Beach Atlantic On Saturday
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Faced with a 13-point deficit with 6:46 left, Florida Tech battled back to send the game into overtime, but Barry emerged with an 86-80 Sunshine State Conference win Wednesday night at the Health and Sports Center.
The Panthers dropped their SSC opener and fall to 5-4 on the season, while the Buccaneers improve to 6-3, 1-0 SSC.
Julius Reid led FIT with 18 points and eight assists. He also had five rebounds, two steals and one block, while playing all 45 minutes of action. Chris Carter had 16 points with seven assists, six rebounds and two steals in 45 minutes.
Collecting his first double-double of his Panther career was Cameron Stahl. The junior from Satellite Beach had a career-high 15 points, 11 came in the first half, and tied another personal mark with 11 rebounds. Jermaine Jackson also registered double figures in points with 14.
“We came here last year, lost on this floor, didn’t play as well as we did today, but went on to win the league,” head coach Billy Mims said. “I told our guys they are not going to play a more physical, tougher team. They had four seniors in their starting lineup. They play very hard and they’re physical. I’m proud of our guys because we dug ourselves in a big hole in the first half and could have quit, but we didn’t. We faced some adversity being down big on the road, we’re young and we’re facing a veteran team. We were able to cut it to three at the half and came back in the second half.”
Terrance Tubbs, a two-time NJCAA First Team All-American and NJCAA Region XII Player of the Year in 2010-11 at Henry Ford Community College, made his Panther debut with 8:03 left in the second half and helped his new team overcome its largest deficit of the game.
On his first possession, Tubbs assisted a three-pointer by Jackson. With 3:01 left, he hit a three-pointer from a pass by Carter to trim Barry’s lead to four.
Stahl completed the rally with a bucket at the 1:15 mark to put FIT up by one. Following a conventional three-point play by the Buccaneers’ Justin McCoy, Jackson laid the ball in to tie the game with 25 seconds to play.
FIT briefly held a one-point lead on a three-pointer by Jackson in overtime, but Barry outscored the Panthers 15-9 in the final period.
Tubbs, a 6-5 250-pound forward from Ypsilanti, Mich., practiced for the first time with the team on Tuesday. He finished with three points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist in 13 minutes.
“He’s a man and he’s a veteran,” Mims said. “He brings some much needed experience and maturity to a very young basketball team. We have two kids out for the season due to injury, Isaac Spence and Edge Warren. Those are two guys that we were counting on. Today, Terrance Tubbs stepped in for us. His numbers are misleading. He had one practice with us and just played basketball. When he’s up to speed with our system and familiar with his teammates, he’s going to be a tremendous player.”
Barry connected on just 37.9 percent of its shots, but it marched to the line 34 times and hit 28 of its free throws. FIT, meanwhile, finished with a 41.1 field goal percentage and went 12-of-17 from the line.
The Panthers will briefly step out of SSC play on Saturday to play at Palm Beach Atlantic. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.
