The Saints came up short in a nail-biting double overtime effort against College of Central Florida Patriots on Saturday afternoon. 

Starting strong for the team was Admir Besovic, making quality plays with nine of his 23 points coming in the first nine minutes of the game.

Both the Saints and the Patriots played aggressively, seven lead changes throughout the matchup and the teams going shot-for-shot, especially in the second half and into both overtime periods.  "It was a hard fought game by both teams and I was really proud of effort.  It's a tough game to come up on the short end of it," states Saints Head Coach Chris Mowry.  "We started really great in the first half, with CCF responding by ending up a point ahead by the half, but we played really well."

With a continued back and forth, the Patriots forced the Saints into turnovers with hard presses to get back in the game.  "Those were key moments in the last of regulation," added Mowry.

After finishing regulation 78-78, the first overtime saw the Saints break out first.  "We got up four, then they came back.  Going back and forth, we had many opportunities going into the second OT," said Mowry.  

Despite a good offensive effort, what plagued the Saints in the end were turnovers – 22 to be exact.  Leading the charge for the Saints were Brady Fernandez with 27 points and eight rebounds.  Adding to the effort was Besovic with 23 points and both John Mason and Miles Coleman contributing 13 points apiece.

The Saints (14-11, 2-5 MFC) look to bounce back to compete on the road at Eastern Florida State College on Wednesday, February 6 at 7:30 p.m.

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