COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Pasco-Hernando State College beats FGC for Region 8 title

Florida Gateway College has had Pasco-Hernando State College’s number for a majority of the past three seasons.

But not when it mattered most on Saturday.

JaKeese Kemp made a reverse-layup for the go-ahead bucket in the final minute and the Bobcats held off the Timberwolves for a 72-71 victory in the FCSAA Region 8 Division II Championship at the Howard Center. The win sends PHSC to the Region 10 Tournament next month while the season is over for FGC, which qualified for the bracket the past two seasons.

The Timberwolves trailed by as many as 15 in the first half but fought back to tie it at 68 on Joshua Cross’s 3-pointer with a minute to go. But after Kemp put the Bobcats in front 70-68, FGC turned the ball over and Kemp hit two game-clinching free throws.

Those two fouls shot were critical as Layton Veon hit one of his five 3s with 0.3 seconds left. Kemp scored a game-high 23 points, Orien Adams had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Warren McLymont added 15 points for the Bobcats, who lost three of the four regular-season meetings to the T-wolves by a combined 53 points and nine of the last 11 overall.

But on Saturday, PHSC (7-11) was simply more aggressive and physical than FGC (5-8).

“They executed both on the offensive end and the defensive end and wouldn’t be denied,” FGC coach Charles Ruise said. “That was the telling point of the game. They came in and played hard and played tough.”

Veon led the Timberwolves with 17 points, Jarrett Gardner had 15, Antonio Card came off the bench to score 11 and Cross added 10 more. But a turnover on an inbounds pass ultimately cost FGC a chance to tie the game with 20.4 seconds remaining.

Card tried inbounding the ball to Cross, who was setting a screen to try and get Veon open. But Card never had a look at Veon and instead opted to toss it to Cross, who watched it bounce out of bounds.

“He thought he saw Josh coming open on the backside and Josh was just going hard to get (Veon) open and wasn’t ready for the pass,” Ruise said. “It surprised him and that cost us right there.”

Kemp’s two fouls shots put the Bobcats up 72-68 with 16.7 seconds to go. The Timberwolves then missed two 3s but grabbed the offensive rebounds both times before Veon finally hit a shot from beyond the arc. 

But it was too late for FGC, which shot just 39.7 percent from the field despite going 10 of 20 from 3. It was the first game in 12 days for the Timberwolves while the Bobcats had played three times since March 17.

And although PHSC lost all three of those contests — part of a seven-game losing streak — Ruise said that extra game time proved to be a huge advantage. FGC wasn’t able to play consistently all season, also going through a three-week quarantine in February due to covid-19.

“We knew they were going to come in tough,” Ruise said. “They’ve played some tough teams and bettered themselves and that made all the difference in the world for them. They came in ready. I wish we could have gotten a game in there during the time we were off. We felt like our workouts leading up to it kind of had us prepared, but my hat goes off to Pasco.”

FGC led 16-15 early in the first half before the game turned in PHSC’s favor. A free throw from McLymont started an 18-2 run for the Bobcats, who led the rest of the way until Cross’s 3 with one minute left.

Despite falling behind 33-18, FGC fought back to within four as PHSC went more than seven minutes without a field goal. But a steal by Kemp turned into a layup and a foul plus a free throw, sending the Bobcats into halftime up 37-30.

Gardner had 14 of his 15 points in the first half to help get the Timberwolves back in the game before getting into foul trouble in the second half while also dealing with a cut on his hand. PHSC dominated the rebounding battle with him out, scoring 10 points on putbacks while grabbing 17 offensive rebounds.

The Bobcats outrebounded the Timberwolves 45-30 total.

“We’ve had problems with boards all year long and we’ve done some adjusting to get us in a position where it’s looked like it’s getting better, but we couldn’t get consistent with it,” Ruise said. “And it came down to that. That was our Achilles’ heel.”

This is the first time FGC hasn’t advanced to the Region 10 Tournament after returning for the 2018-19 season after a 23-year hiatus. The Timberwolves beat the Bobcats in the Region 8 Championship the previous two years as they’re the only two teams in their conference.

Till they meet again next year.

“It’s a tough loss for our kids,” Ruise said. “We’ve been through a lot this season, but through it all we still put ourselves in a position to go for a third championship. And they battled. We’ll be back next year finishing that up.”