COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College men's basketball team opened the 2022-23 season on Friday night, falling to Florida Tech 67-59 in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.
The Tigers, now 0-1, fell behind in the first half before rallying back in the second half, but couldn't overcome the big deficit. Florida Tech, 1-0, used a 13-0 run late in the first half to build as much as a 19-point lead, 34-15, before
Brandon Smith ended the scoring drought with a basket to cut the lead to 34-17 at the half.
Benedict used an 11-3 run in the second half to trim a 12-point deficit to four points, 46-42, on a dunk by
Malachi McCoy with 11:24 left in the game. That would be as close as the Tigers would get, as Florida Tech hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 10 points.
Brandon Beidleman hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 63-57 with 34 seconds left, but the Panthers were able to seal the game at the free-throw line.
McCoy led the Tigers with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Gob Gabriel added 14 points, hitting four-of-five 3-pointers.
Benedict shot 24 percent (7-of-29) in the first half, but warmed up to 40.5 percent (15-of-37) in the second half. The Tigers struggled at the free-throw line, hitting 7-of-17 (41.2 percent).
Sean Houpt had 23 points to lead the Panthers. Florida Tech shot 35.5 percent (22-of-62) from the floor, but made 80 percent (16-of-20) of their free throws.
Benedict will face Rollins College on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the second day of the South Region Tip-Off Challenge.
