A 62-57 win over Central Florida Community College on Saturday gave Santa Fe Community College (19-6) at least a share of the Mid-Florida Conference regular season championship.
A St. Johns River Community College loss to Seminole Community College later Saturday night locked up the conference championship for the Saints, making them the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and giving them an automatic bid for the state tournament.
"This is a great accomplishment for our guys," SFCC coach Chris Mowry said. "This is a very unselfish group. That's why you win championships &mdsh; you play defense and you're unselfish on offense. They certainly deserve everything that's happened to them so far."
The game against CFCC was a back-and-forth affair, with SFCC having to fight back from a halftime deficit after trailing the entire way.
Freshman guard Sasha Mirosavljev came off the bench and kept the Saints in the game in the first half with both his offense and defense. He scored 10 of the Saints' 23 points in the first half, including two 3-pointers and a layup that capped a 7-point Saints run, cutting the Patriots' lead to 19-16 with nine minutes in the half.
"Sasha did a tremendous job for us," Mowry said. "He gave us a huge boost off the bench, knocking down shots as soon as he came in and playing great defense. He's been really big for us in conference play."
Both teams played solid defense for the rest of the first half, and CFCC took a 27-23 lead into the second half.
Mowry said the Saints had difficulty with the Patriots' 1-3-1 zone defense, which they hadn't seen from them all year.
"We thought they might do something different, but we weren't expecting that," Mowry said. "We really struggled in the first half with it, especially with turnovers. It really slowed us down."
Mowry also told his players they needed to play better defense and guard the perimeter better in the second half. The Patriots sank three uncontested 3-pointers in the first half.
Mirosavljev once again sparked the Saints in the second half, assisting on the first basket of the half and scoring the next two, including a breakaway dunk to give the Saints their first lead of the game at 29-27.
Freshman forward Marvin Davis and sophomore center Milutin Marjanovic also stepped up early in the second half, taking over down low to put the Saints up 37-32 with 14 minutes to play.
After 11 lead changes and three ties, SFCC took the lead for good when freshman guard Roderick Emanuel sank a 3-pointer with 3:37 to go.
The Patriots cut the lead to two with 20 seconds remaining after a turnover resulted in their only 3-pointer of the half, but the Saints hit all of their free throws in the final seconds to close out the win.
SFCC shot 58 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc in the second half to overcome the slow start. Mirosavljev led the Saints with 16 points, and freshman guard Zach Trapp added 13. Davis also contributed 9 points and seven rebounds, and Emanuel had 8 points, four rebounds and four assists.
"Being conference champs feels really good," Emanuel said. "You do all the hard work in practice and everything and to see it finally pay off is pretty rewarding."
"This was a super win," Mowry added. "I'm really proud of the effort we displayed. Our guys adjusted well after the first half, and we came out with a big win."
On top of clinching the conference championship with the victory, SFCC also notched its 15th win in a row and extended its perfect conference record to 8-0. But Mowry said his team still has a lot of work to do.
"Every game from here on out is going to be very tough," Mowry said. "We will have to be ready mentally and physically every time we take the court."
