WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Lynn men's basketball team saw its comeback efforts come up short on Wednesday night, falling 100-65 to Palm Beach Atlantic in Sunshine State Conference action. Despite multiple offensive runs and steady contributions across the lineup, an early first-half surge by the Sailfish created a gap Lynn was unable to erase. The Fighting Knights now stand at 4-2 overall and 1-1 in SSC play.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Palm Beach Atlantic jumped out quickly behind early perimeter shooting and transition layups, forcing Lynn into an early timeout down 20-6 just over four minutes into the contest
- The Fighting Knights began to settle in offensively as Max Polk attacked the paint for back-to-back buckets, and Justin Bubak buried a three to cut the margin back to single digits
- Lynn's bench provided a spark midway through the half, with JP Baron cleaning up the glass for a putback, then scoring again inside to make it 20-13 and keep the Blue and White within striking distance
- Braydon Iuli powered a strong response later in the half, converting a driving layup before stepping out for a three to pull Lynn within 22-18 with just under 11 minutes to play in the opening period
- Despite the push, Palm Beach Atlantic closed the half on a dominant run built on paint touches, dunks and free throws, sending the Fighting Knights into the locker room trailing 52-28
- Out of the break, Lynn struck first as Bubak finished at the rim and Polk followed with a quick five-point burst, drilling a three and converting two free throws, to trim the deficit to 56-35 early in the second half
- The Fighting Knights continued to battle offensively with steady drives from Iuli, a strong finish from Frederiks Meinarts, and a three from Antoine Jacks, while Baron and Noah Kattan added late buckets to keep the offense rolling
- Lynn's reserves closed the night with a balanced effort as Christopher Maxon, Drew Feinstein and Pasa Akan all scored in the final minutes, punctuating a hard-fought 40-minute effort in a 100-65 road setback
 
FIGHTING KNIGHT STATS:
- Polk led Lynn with 20 points, his third 20+ point outing of the season, and continues to pace the team in scoring at 17.7 points a game
- Lynn finished with 44 rebounds, including 17 offensive boards, generating 10 second-chance points despite being outscored overall
- Puodziukaitis and Meinarts anchored the glass with eight and seven rebounds, respectively, as Lynn pulled down multiple second-chance opportunities throughout the night
- The Fighting Knights totaled 20 bench points, led by Baron (7) and scoring contributions from nine different players
- Lynn forced nine turnovers and recorded five steals, with Baron and Iuli each picking up key defensive takeaways
- The Blue and White scored 30 of their 65 points in the paint, accounting for nearly half of their offensive output against PBA's interior defense
- Lynn shot 100.0% from the free-throw line in the second half (4-for-4), finishing the game at 66.7% overall from the stripe
 
UP NEXT:
The Fighting Knights return to the road this weekend when they head to St. Petersburg to take on Eckerd in SSC action on Dec. 6 at 4:00 pm.