Falcons Beat Defending Conference Champs, Voorhees

TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. - The Florida College Falcons defeated the Voorhees College Tigers 79-71 on Tuesday night in Conn Gymnasium.

Voorhees won the Continental Athletic Conference Tournament this past February. They represented the conference in the NAIA National Tournament just a season ago.

The Tigers took a 3-0 lead with the first basket of the game, but once FC took the 5-3 lead they would never relinquish it. The game featured just the one lead change, but the Tigers kept it close. The most they trailed was 11 and they got it back to a one-score game multiple times.

The Falcons saw the return of Phat Cleveland after missing the last 3.5 games with an injury. However, Jashavius Perdue did not play in the game.

The Falcons were led in scoring by Matt Simpson. Simpson had an off night but still managed 23 points and 5 rebounds. Chinedu Okonkwo touted an impressive 20 point, 20 rebound stat line. It is the first 20-20 game in the NAIA era for a Florida College men's basketball player.

The Falcons shot just 25% from three-point range on the night. They held Voorhees to 40.8% shooting from the field. The Falcons were also plus-16 on the glass for the game, a contributing factor to the victory.

"Good win tonight over a very athletic team," said Chase Teichmann. "It was great having Phat back. We didn't do a good job keeping their drivers out of the paint. Credit to them, they played hard and made it tough on us. Conference wins are important so anytime we can get one we're excited about it. We have a lot to improve on before Saturday."

The win puts the RV Falcons at 18-2 (4-0 CAC) on the year. Up next, FC travels 30 minutes down I-4 to take on #24 Southeastern University, in Lakeland. They'll tip-off at 7 PM on Saturday, January 22.