Tampa Ends Regular Season With Loss at Florida Tech

Box score

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The University of Tampa (16-13, 3-13 SSC) men's basketball team concluded the regular season with a 55-52 loss to Florida Tech (16-10, 9-7) on Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans never led in the game, but hung with the Panthers throughout the contest. UT faced a 33-26 halftime deficit and narrowed the gap to as little as one point as it was down 53-52 with 35 seconds to play.

After a pair of missed Florida Tech free throws, Tampa missed the front-end of a one-and-one opportunity with 24 seconds to play. The Panthers then converted on both free throws and a last-second game-tying 3-point attempt rimmed out for the Spartans.

Da'Markco Foster was one of three Tampa players in double figures as the junior from Cincinnati scored 17 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds to go with three assists, two blocks and a steal.

Vincent Cornu registered his second straight double-double and sixth of the season as the junior forward finished with 14 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Anthony Griffis also added 12 points for Tampa as Terrell Pritchett was credited with a team-leading four assists.

The Spartans were hindered by poor free throw shooting, connecting on just 6-of-15 from the line. UT outrebounded FIT by a 42-39 mark while the Panthers made nine 3-pointers compared to six for the visitors.

Tampa will open play at the 2013 Sunshine State Conference tournament in the opening round on Wednesday versus Lynn University in Kissimmee, Fla. The game will tip at 7:30 p.m., at the Silver Spurs Arena.

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