WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Saint Leo men's basketball traveled to Palm Beach Atlantic and left Rubin Arena with its first Sunshine State Conference loss of the season, 74-68. The Lions saw DeAndre King score a career-high 23 points while wearing the Green and Gold. Drago Popovic and Tyreece Brice both added double-digit performances on the night.
 
DeAndre King scored 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting with a 4-of-9 performance from downtown. King scored 13 of his final 23 points in the first half to pace the Lions on the night.
 
"Our guys played tough, and like I always say, it's tough to win road games let alone in this conference," Head Coach Vince Alexander mentioned following the Lions first SSC loss of the season. "Heading into this weekend at 3-0 in conference play and leaving at 3-1 is still a testament to the effort our guys, coaching staff and support staff has put in to our season already thus far. Six games in 12 days and we were still in this game is a good sign for future Saint Leo basketball."
 
As a team, the Lions shot 50-percent, 8-16, from the charity stripe while adding a 39.7-percent night from the field. Saint Leo held a one-rebound edge in the rebounding challenge at 41-40.
 
Alexander went on to add, "On a normal night, going 50% from the free throw line is good, but we always tell the guys you have to make free throws, and we missed in that area tonight. This was our lowest free throw shooting performance from the line, and we will continue to work on that heading into next week's games."
 
The Basics
Final Score: Palm Beach Atlantic 74, Saint Leo 68
Location: Rubin Arena | West Palm Beach, Fla.
Records: Saint Leo 6-6, 3-1 SSC | Palm Beach Atlantic 5-5, 2-2 SSC

How It Happened…
1H | Saint Leo and Palm Beach Atlantic played even in the first half where the Sailfish opened up the scoring with two points before DeAndre King drilled a three-pointer to put Saint Leo up 3-2. The two teams exchanged the lead eight times where Saint Leo would claim its largest lead of six points, 24-18, off a Tyreece Brice three-pointer and Isaiah Hill layup. The Sailfish chipped away at the Lions' lead to tie things at 27-27 with 1:38 to play, before taking their largest lead of three points, 32-29, with 15-ticks left in the opening half. Hill would hit two free throws with eight-seconds left to bring the score to one point at the break. King scored 13 points in the first half for the Lions on 5-of-9 shooting from the field including a 2-of-5 mark from downtown. | Palm Beach Atlantic 32-31 |
 
2H | PBA came out and scored the first bucket to take a four-point lead before the Lions tied things at 35-35 with 18:06 to play on back-to-back Drago Popovic jumpers. The Sailfish swam out to a quick nine point lead, 44-35 with 15:57 to play before making it a 10-point game, 47-37. The Lions would slowly chip away at the deficit and use back-to-back three's from King and Jesse Huff to make it a 51-51 tie. Junior Searcy's layup pushed the Green and Gold ahead, 53-51 with 10 minutes to play. Both teams would claim a short lead over the next five minutes before the Sailfish were able to move out to a 62-60 lead on a three-pointer. Popovic came down the court used a pump fake to knot things back up at 62-62 as the Lions and Sailfish headed into the final media timeout of the game, with 3:30 on the clock. PBA would use a little over a minute of action to jump out in front by eight, 71-63 before the Lions used defensive pressure to get within three, 71-68 with 24.2-ticks left. Saint Leo would trap the Sailfish, but PBA escaped to find an open slam to push the Sailfish ahead, 73-68 with 15-seconds to play. PBA would go 1-for-2 from the free throw line with 9-seconds to play, to secure its win by six. | Palm Beach Atlantic 74-68 |
 
Points to Note

• Saint Leo dropped its first SSC contest to move to 3-1 in SSC play.
• DeAndre King scored a career-high 23 points on a 9-16 shooting including a 4-9 performance from downtown. King added six rebounds, three assists and two steals on the day.
• Drago Popovic scored his second double-digit game with 12 points on the night. Popovic grabbed seven rebounds on the night.
• Tyreece Brice added 10 points while leading the team with nine rebounds. Brice closed out his stat line with six assists and three steals.
• Isaiah Hill notched eight points, two assists, two steals and one block against PBA.

For Palm Beach Atlantic

• Palm Beach Atlantic picked up its second SSC win to move to 2-2 on the year.
• De'Ondre Jackson led the 'Fish with 14 points, while Bakari Warthen and Marshall Riddle each scored 13 points.
• Matthew Johnson led the team in rebounds with seven.
• PBA closed the night going 12-for-18 from the charity stripe while adding a 45.8% performance from the field with an 8-24 mark from downtown.

Saint Leo returns home to host Edward Waters on Dec. 6 inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center for a 7 p.m. tip.
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Saint Leo men's basketball, be sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.