Spartans Drop Weekend SSC Game

BOCA RATON, Fla. –  The Tampa Spartans played a weekend matchup up with the Lynn Fighting Knights on Saturday night in Boca Raton. UT was unable to pull out the victory, as LU won the SSC contest 82-71. With the loss Tampa now sits at 4-10 and 0-6 in the Sunshine State Conference. Lynn improves to 7-6, and 2-5 in the SSC.

Pat Bacon lead Tampa in scoring as he picked up 22 points. He also added seven rebounds and four assists.

Austin Rettig was just behind Bacon in scoring, as he added 21 points on the night.

Tampa and Lynn played a close first half as Lynn took a 35-31 lead going into halftime. Tampa shot better from the field in the half, as they shot 43.5 percent (10-23) from the field, while Lynn shot 38.2 percent (13-34). The Knights held a big advantage, as they outrebounded the Spartans 23-15, and 12-4 in offensive rebounds. Tampa held the advantage in free throws as they converted on 9-12, as Lynn only made 4-13 attempts from the charity stripe.

Rettig lead the way for UT in the half as dropped 11 points. Marcelo Ruediger played big minutes off the bench as he picked up five points and rebounds.

Tampa started the second half with an exclamation point as Duke Shelton blocked a Lynn dunk attempt and Rettig made a three pointer on the other side of the court to pull within one at 35-34. Two possessions later PAT Bacon made a layup to give the Spartans their first lead at 36-35.

The Knights would then go on an 10-0 run to take a 45-36 advantage. The Knights would push their lead up to 13 with 4:18 left to play in the game.

UT would not go down without a fight as they were able to pull within six with just 1:46 left to play in the contest. However, the Spartans would not be able to complete the comeback as they fell 82-71.

As a team the Spartans shot 48.1 percent (25-52) from the field, while the Knights shot 40.9 percent (27-66).

Lynn held the advantage in rebounds 41-32 and had 15 assists compared to Tampa's 13.

The Spartans will be back in action on Wednesday, as they travel to West Palm Beach to take on the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 pm.

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