Tampa Comes Up Short at Florida Southern

Box score

LAKELAND, Fla. - In a matchup with its Sunshine State Conference rival, the University of Tampa (6-19, 2-13 SSC) men's basketball team fell by a 85-76 score to Florida Southern College (16-9, 9-7 SSC) on its senior night at Jenkins Fieldhouse.

The Spartans were able to stay within striking distance in front of 800-plus FSC fans, playing even in the second half after trailing 48-39 at the break.

Both teams shot just under 50 percent, as the difference was a 40-28 rebounding margin in favor of the Moccasins. FSC also shot 81.8 percent from the free throw line while connecting on 18-of-22. Tampa was at the charity stripe 40 times, connecting on 27 for a 67.5 percent clip.

Ashton Graham scored a career-high 32 points in the loss as freshman Jon Riles also netted a personal-best 17 for head coach Richard Schmidt's squad.

Tampa will host Florida Tech on Saturday in its final game of the 2011-12 season, which will also be senior day for the Spartans and its three seniors. Game time is 4 p.m., at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center. Live stats and a webcast will be available through TampaSpartans.tv.

Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register atwww.tampaspartans.com.