Tampa Takes Road Contest From Florida Tech

MELBOURNE, Fla. –MELBOURNE, Fla. – The University of Tampa men's basketball team traveled to Melbourne to take on the Florida Tech Panthers. UT used clutch free throws and late defense to defeat FIT 66-60. Tampa now improves to 6-13 and 2-8 in SSC play. Florida Tech drops to 11-9 and 3-6 in SSC play.

Marcel Robinson led the way for the Spartans as the sophomore scored 16 points and pulled down four rebounds. Austin Rettig scored 15 points while Duke Shelton and Pat Bacon scored 14 and 10 points respectively. Shelton also led the team with seven rebounds. Matt Johnson would lead the team in assists as the junior dished out seven.

Tampa was led by Robinson in the first half, as the sophomore collected 11 points in the opening frame. The two teams played even in the half as there were six lead changes and the game was tied four times. With the game tied at 26, Rettig made a three-point shot to give the Spartans a 29-26 lead. UT would push the lead to as many as eight points as they ended the half with a 34-28 advantage.

As a team, the Spartans would shoot 50 percent (13-26) from the field.

Florida Tech started the second half on fire from beyond the arc, as they went 4-4 from long range in the first four minutes of the second half to regain the lead at 40-39. The Spartans would regain the lead at 45-42 when Bacon took a pass from MATT Johnson and drained a three-pointer.

The two teams continued to trade baskets back and forth, as the biggest lead would be at just six points for the Spartans. At the three-minute mark, FIT would drain a three-pointer to pull them within 59-58. With just 1:02 left in the contest Robinson connected from long range to give UT a 62-58 lead. After the Panthers pulled within two points at 62-60, Johnson would connect on both his free throws to push the lead back to four.

On the next possession, Tech would miss a three-pointer and Rettig would put the nail in the coffin as he made both shots.

As a team UT would shoot 41.5 percent (22-53) while adding 15 assists for the night and 12 fast break points. The Spartan defense was able to cause 17 turnovers as they scored 17 points off those turnovers.

Tampa will be back in action on February 3 as they travel to Daytona Beach to square off against the Embry-Riddle Eagles.

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