BOCA RATON, Fla.—Lynn University's men's basketball team fell to the Florida Tech Panthers 66-61 on Saturday despite a season-high 15 rebounds and 12 points from Michel Vidal and a 17-0 second-half run.
Vidal tied for the team lead in points with Brandon Smith. Slobodan Miljanic and DeMario Fountain both added 11 as the only other Fighting Knights with double-digit points.
At the first break of the game, with 15:47 on the clock, Florida Tech pushed to a seven-point advantage. Lynn (9-8, 2-3 SSC) cut the deficit down to six on a Vidal made free throw but the Panthers took advantage of Lynn's 26.5 percent shooting in the first half and went into the locker room up 36-20.
Florida Tech tallied a 51.7 percent shooting clip from the field to go along with a 50 percent mark from downtown during the first half. Lynn could only connect on one of 10 three pointers during the first period.
With a mere 9:28 left in regulation, the Panthers amassed their largest lead of the game at 22. But Lynn rallied with 17 unanswered points to make it a 56-51 game with 4:48 left to play. Tech bounced back with six straight points to go up by 11.
Lynn cut the advantage down to four on a Fountain three with 28 seconds left, but Lynn could not complete the comeback and fell 66-61.
The Blue & White collected a 37.1 percent mark from the field but went 6-for-21 from behind the arc for the game. Lynn bested Florida Tech 20-9 on second chance points by out-rebounding Tech 21-9 on the offensive glass.
The men's basketball team continues SSC play on Wednesday, January 18, at 7:30 p.m. at Nova Southeastern. Listen to the live play-by-play on the Fighting Knights Network starting just before tip-off. Click on the Game Central Icon at LynnFightingKnights.com for details.
