ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers earned a key Citrus Conference road win on Wednesday, making the trip over the Skyway Bridge for an 81-58 victory over St. Petersburg behind a dominating effort on the inside from big men Chol Machot and Jafeth Martinez who combined for 36 points in the win. 

 

The Bucs got out to a good start against the Titans, but a three minute scoring drought midway through the period allowed St. Pete to take their first lead of the night at 14-12 with 13:00 to go in the half. Buckets were hard to come by over the next five minutes, but 7-footer Chol Machot led the break for the Bucs and slamed it home in transitiion to put FSW back ahead and the Bucs carried the momentum into the final stretch of the half to take a 39-24 lead into the locker rooms at the break. 

 

FSW continued to punish the Titans on the inside with the 1-2 combo of Machot and Jafeth Martinez and quickly stretched their lead out to 20 in the first four minutes of the half. The Titans never threatened in the second half as FSW continued to build on their lead before finishing off an 81-58 win at the final horn. 

 

Machot finished with a game high 20 points while Martinez added 16. K'jei Parker chipped in 15 for the Bucs and six other players made it into the book with points as well. 

 

FSW improves to 15-9 overall and 8-4 in Citrus Conference play where they sit in third place with four games left to go. The loss is a big one for St. Pete who now sits on the outside looking in for the final playoff spot from the Citrus Conference at 5-8 in league play and 15-12 overall. 

 

The Bucs finish a busy week on the road Saturday when they travel to Gainesville to take on Santa Fe in the two team's second meeting in six days.