Commodore men drop 2nd straight, women win again
PANAMA CITY — For the second time in three days, the Gulf Coast men found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard in front of the home crowd on Saturday night.
Unlike on Thursday night when Gulf Coast fell behind by 21 points to South Georgia Tech before a late rally came up short, the Commodores were competitive throughout against No. 25 Florida Southwestern State, but the result was all the same, with the Buccaneers earning a 68-61 victory at the Billy Harrison Field House.
Gulf Coast fell to 9-4 on the season with the loss, while the Buccaneers improved to 10-2. The Commodores played with renewed energy and effort, particularly on the defensive end, but a 12 for 29 performance from the free throw was too much to overcome.
"Missing so many free throws and missing so many layups is just criminal, it's just terrible. You can't do that in any game," Gulf Coast coach Phil Gaffney said. "(Florida Southwestern) has been to the national tournament I think every single year since its inception, so they're one of the top teams in the state every single year.
Tauris Watson led Gulf Coast with 23 points, with Chase Forte, Jammy Pierre-Louis, and Tay Hall all scoring eight points. Bryant Selebangue led the Buccaneers with 14 points, followed by Kaiyem Cleary and Jordan Mitchell with 12 points each.
Gulf Coast led by as much as six in the first half and was up 45-41 with 12 minutes left in the game, but a six-minute field goal drought by the Commodores allowed the Buccaneers to take control with a 10-2 run.
The Commodores pulled back to within one on a pair of occasions, the last time on a basket by Hall that made it 55-54, but Cleary answered with a three from the right corner with 2:48 left and added another triple with 43 seconds on the clock to make it 64-56.
"It's big because if we don't win the (state tournament) it could be between us and them (for a national tournament bid) so this could be a game that decides that. It's unfortunate we missed so many free throws and layups tonight, but that's just the way it's been for us."
While the end result was the same, Gaffney said Saturday's performance was a positive step for the Commodores after Thursday.
"To me, this is OK," he said. "Thursday, I thought we played poorly, I was disappointed with the effort and the attitude. Today I was very happy with the attitude and the effort, I thought it was outstanding. I'm not even looking at the scoreboard, it's did we get better from Thursday to today? Yes, we got better."
Gulf Coast will head back on the road next week to Waycross, Ga., for a pair of games against Andrew College and South Georgia State.
GC women win 2nd straight
The Gulf Coast women won their second game in a row on Saturday at the Florida Southwestern
Holiday Classic in Fort Myers, knocking off Indian River 70-62 to improve to 9-2.
Morgan Robinson led Gulf Coast with 26 points on 9 of 18 shooting from the field and 8 of 9 from the free throw line, while Anaya Boyd scored 16 points in her return to the lineup after missing three games due to injury. Ciante Downs also had nine points.
The win came a day after the Commodores defeated Miami Dade 73-62, with Robinson again leading the way with 19 points and nine rebounds, making 8 of 11 shots from the field and 2 of 2 from the 3-point line. Abby Cracknell added 14 points on 2 of 4 from deep and Jaliyah McCain scored 11 points.
\Gulf Coast was scheduled to finish up its stay in Fort Myers on Sunday afternoon against host Florida Southwestern State.