MELBOURNE, Fla. – Despite clawing back from an 11-point deficit late in the second half, Saint Leo men's basketball fell short in a 99-93 overtime decision to Florida Tech inside the Charles & Ruth Clemente Center Saturday afternoon.

"Florida Tech was clicking on all cylinders tonight," head coach Lance Randall said. "We started stringing some stops together the last eight minutes of the second half and did a great job retaking the lead, but then just made a couple crucial mistakes and gave their shooter wide open shots."

Randall continued, "the same thing happened in overtime. It's hard to guard when they have so many guys rolling but we did a lof of this damage to ourselves."

Senior Isaiah Hill exploded for a career-high 35 points on 13-of-14 shooting, missing just one three-point attempt while adding nine free throws to his point total. As a team, Saint Leo (13-6, 7-4 SSC) edged Florida Tech (10-9, 4-7 SSC) in points in the paint 44-40 but dropped the bench points matchup 34-13 and the three-point shooting matchup five made to the Panthers 13. 

"Isaiah was outstanding and Ty gave us a big burst in the paint. Malik's defensive play was huge for us off the bench once again," Randall commented. "We made some questionable decision of where passes went at the end of possessions and it really hurt us."
 
Behind Hill's career-high, Kyran McClure notched 21 points going 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Ty Forman chipped in with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. 

Randall concluded, "we stole this back from Florida Tech late, and they took it back from us in the end."
 
After a quick three from Florida Tech, Saint Leo turned the table and opened up to an 8-3 lead with 17:23 to play. A back-and-forth first half saw both teams have the lead by as many as six but it would be the Panthers who would prevail in the first half running their lead out to 10, 47-37, with 53-ticks left before a free throw from Isaiah Hill cut it to nine at the half time break, 47-38.
 
Florida Tech continued to control the pace of the game extending the lead to double-digits where the Green and Gold would battle back to single-digits each time. With under seven minutes to play, the Panthers would hold an 11-point advantage, 81-70 before the Lions stormed on a 9-0 run capped off by a Tyler Carter three bringing the game to just two points, 81-79 with 3:46 to play. The Lions' run would continue through the media timeout where Saint Leo climbed to an 85-81 lead with 1:55 to play to close out its 17-3 run before going up 86-83 with a minute to play. The Panthers nailed a three with five seconds on the clock to tie things at 86 apiece. 
 
In the overtime period, each team would gain an early lead before McClure's layup brought things to a 91-91 tie with 3:28 remaining. Saint Leo would claim a 93-91 lead before the Panthers closed the game out on an 8-0 run and for the win, 99-93.  
 
Up Next
Saint Leo will return home to host No. 9 Florida Southern Wednesday night inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center at 7:30 p.m. where the two teams will participate in the NABC Coaches vs. Cancer Suits & Sneakers event.
 
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. Don't miss out on the 2019-20 Basketball Pride Pass, now on sale. The Saint Leo Basketball Pride Pass gives each fan admission to all home men's and women's basketball events. For more information visit here.