Santa Fe will try to avenge a 75-58 loss at the hands of Indian River when the Saints take the floor Saturday.
BI think we?ll play much better than we did 10 days ago,C SFCC coach Chris Mowry said.
SFCC (2-2), which starts four freshmen, will have its hands full at home with a more experienced Indian River squad (4-0), which will have five sophomores on the floor for a 4 p.m. start.
Leading the Pioneers will be sophomore point guard Marvin Gray, who was averaging 14.3 points along with 10.7 assists per game.
BHe?s really fast, really quick and very hard to guard one on one,C Mowry said. BWe have to move our feet, help out and recover when we?re beat.C
Mowry pointed to three areas of concern for the Saints on Saturday: defensive transition, containing the basketball and taking care of the ball on offense.
BI don?t know that we?re trying to do anything different, just better,C Mowry said.
When the teams matched up in Fort Pierce, Indian River got off to a fast start by hitting three of their first four field goals, all three-pointers.
BThey kind of punched us in the nose, and we didn?t respond well,C Mowry said.
Now SFCC will try to respond after a 17-point loss at the hands of the Pioneers, their largest margin of defeat in more than two years.
SFCC consistently ranks among the top teams in the state in three-point attempts, a trend that was on display Monday against the Tampa Swish when the Saints hoisted 26 threes on their way to 35 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
The key for the Saints might be how well they are able to convert on their three-point opportunities.
Mowry plans to stick with his usual 10-man rotation and expects more big-time contributions from a bench that scored 51 points in the last game.
BOur leading scorer came off the bench last season,C Mowry said. BIf we didn?t think they could help us win, they wouldn?t play.C
Mowry is going to need all 10 of his players, eight of them freshmen, to show experience beyond their years if the Saints are going to hand undefeated Indian River its first loss of the season.
BImagine if Florida was out there playing an SEC school with five returning starters,C Mowry said. BThat?s the challenge we?re up against.
