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FGC guard Kenny Brown Jr. cuts down the nets after defeating Pasco-Hernando State College in the Divison II Region 8 championship on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC guard Diamond Smith cuts down the nets after defeating Pasco-Hernando State College in the Divison II Region 8 championship on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC guard Tay Cobb cuts down the nets after defeating Pasco-Hernando State College in the Divison II Region 8 championship on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC players Diamond Smith (0), Kenny Brown Jr. (3), Jarrett Gardner (43) and Jeremiah Tisme (right) celebrate after defeating Pasco-Hernando State College in the Divison II Region 8 championship on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC guard Kenny Brown Jr. looks to shoot as Pasco-Hernando's Marion Jones III defends on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC assistant coach C.C. Wilson calls out to his players as head coach Charles Ruise looks on during Saturday's Division II Region 8 championship against Pasco-Hernando State College. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC guard Tay Cobb shoots over Pasco-Hernando's Christian Anderson on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC guard Diamond Smith shoots over Pasco-Hernando's Tobias Compton on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC forward Terek Liles fights for possession of the ball with Pasco-Hernando's Cayden Gunter on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC forward Terek Liles fights for a rebound with Pasco-Hernando's JaMarcus Clark (32) and Marion Jones III on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC guard Joshua Cross calls out a play during Saturday's Division II Region 8 championship against Pasco-Hernando. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC forward Layton Veon battles for a rebound with Pasco-Hernando's Christian Anderson (24) and Warren Mclymont (30) on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC guard Kenny Brown Jr. gets set to shoot a free throw during Saturday's Division II Region 8 championship against Pasco-Hernando. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter) -
FGC forward Brandon Farmer chases after a loose ball with Pasco-Hernando's Marion Jones III on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter)
Last year wasn’t a fluke.
Florida Gateway College proved that Saturday afternoon.
Behind 22 points from Kenny Brown Jr. and Brandon Farmer’s double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, the Timberwolves won their second straight Division II Region 8 title by defeating Pasco-Hernando State College 74-69 at the Howard Center. Diamond Smith also added 12 points for FGC, which was playing in its first home playoff game in 25 years.
The Timberwolves didn’t disappoint, clinching a return trip to the Region 10 Tournament in Rocky Mount, N.C. in the first week of March.
“This is really big,” Smith said. “It means a lot. It means a lot. We’re the first foundation to bring it back and it’s back-to-back too.”
FGC wasn’t even a program two years ago before returning from a 23-year hiatus last fall. The Timberwolves struggled in their first season back, going 11-17, but they improved steadily throughout the year and eventually edged Pasco-Hernando for the Region 8 title after losing three of the four regular-season meetings.
This year FGC was even better, beating Pasco-Hernando three out of four times and finishing with a 17-12 record. Win number 18 wasn’t easy on Saturday though, with FGC (18-12) overcoming an early seven-point deficit before watching a 10-point lead dwindle down to one in the final minute.
Pasco-Hernando (8-16) pulled to within 67-66 on a 3-pointer from JaMarcus Clark with 36.8 seconds left, but the Timberwolves made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
“This was no fluke,” said Cobb, who scored five points. “We put in the work and did everything we were supposed to do. Everything started in practice.”
Marion Jones III led the Bobcats with 17 points, Hayden Green had 12 and Cayden Gunter finished with 10. Clark also had 12 as a reserve.
Three of the teams’ five meetings this season were decided by seven points or less, with the other two decided by 10. Saturday’s down-to-the-wire finish came as no surprise to FGC coach Charles Ruise, even when his team took a 60-50 lead with under five minutes to play.
“We know so much about each other after playing four times,” Ruise said. “We were 3-1 in the series and then we had to come get them again. They were in a similar situation last year and we stole it from them. And then this year we were in the same situation and we finished it. Their guys were resilient and didn’t give up. It was a battle.”
The Timberwolves have had a special return to the hardwood thanks to their 2018 freshman class of Nate Henderson, Brown, Cobb and Smith. That quartet took its lumps a year ago but has been the linchpin that has turned FGC into a competitive program in such a short period of time.
Brown was the one who kept the ship steady in the first half, scoring 15 to help send FGC into the break up up 37-30. It was a fitting home finale for Brown, who believes he’s leaving the program on the right track.
“Coming and starting the program, I feel like we’ve left it off with a good start for them to keep going and continue the legacy,” Brown said.
The win also gives Henderson another chance to play. He’s been out with a knee bruise but believes he’ll play in a couple of weeks.
Ruise isn’t ready to say goodbye to his four sophomores quite yet anyway. He’s says it’s a special group that deserves all the accolades for starting his program out on the right foot.
“Those guys are well deserving of this opportunity, Ruise said. “It’s very special. I can’t imagine what’s going through their minds because coming in as a freshmen we just threw them right out to the wolves and they just kept trusting the process. From there they kept developing into the players that we needed.”
Brown will tell you how he feels. FGC lost last year’s Region 10 opener to Bryant and Stratton College in blowout fashion, 87-59.
If Brown has anything to say about it, that won’t be how the quartet’s junior college career ends.
“We’re going to win our first game. We’ve got to, Brown said. “We went up there and we dropped the ball our first game and we can’t do that no more. We’ve got to show the school that we’re representing for them and we’re going to do a good thing for them.”