Simpson's 44 Too Much For Trolls

LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida College Falcons continued their winning ways on Friday, taking down the Trinity Christian College (Ill.) Trolls 94-75.

The Falcons and Trolls faced off at a neutral site, Southeastern University. The Trolls started off the game making their first three shot attempts and led 6-0. Matt Simpson would score the Falcons' first 14 points, tying the game at 14 with 12:53 remaining in the first half. The teams traded baskets until TCC took a 3-point lead, 22-25 with 8:30 remaining in the opening half.

FC used a 13-0 run to take a ten-point lead with 4:58 remaining. Trinity Christian would close the gap to six points by halftime.

For the first 13 minutes of the second half, the Falcons lead fluctuated between 4 and 9 points, with the Trolls refusing to go away quietly. The Falcons extended it to 10 again, but TCC cut it to three with 3:44 remaining. From that point on, FC used an 18-2 run to close the game.

Simpson's 44 points led all scorers. It surpasses his previous career-high of 37 points. Chinedu Okonkwo added 13 and 12 for the double-double. Anthony Bittar added 10 points and 6 rebounds. The Falcons only recorded 3 turnovers in the game, a season-best.

"Proud of the fight these guys continue to show," mentioned Coach Teichmann. "Trinity Christian is a really hard team to guard. They did a good job of taking advantage of tough matchups. They made shots. It was great to see our offense get going a little bit again. Good players do that sometimes. Hopefully, we can build on this and improve our outside shooting in the process."

(On Matt Simpson's performance)

"I would say unbelievable, but I've been seeing it for four years. It's still incredible to watch. He carried us like he often does. I thought we had a lot of guys play well tonight. But to speak to him specifically, he's a warrior, a great teammate, extremely coachable, an incredibly hard worker who deserves every bit of success he achieves. There's not a single person in our program that would tell you otherwise. I'm extremely lucky to be able to coach him. Tonight was special to watch."

The (RV) Falcons move to 14-1 on the season, the best start in school history. Saturday they'll take on Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.), at 1:00 PM EST at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. Go Falcons!