FORT MYERS, Fla. - Polk State Basketball struggled to hit shots from the perimeter Saturday afternoon, as the Eagles fell to No. 25 Florida SouthWestern State College 88-72 to drop their third straight Citrus Conference contest.
The Eagles (12-14, 3-9 Citrus) shot 20.8% from behind the arc, including 1-for-12 in the second half, while the Buccaneers (19-6, 9-2 Citrus) hit 47.8% (11-for-23) of their three-point attempts.
A three-pointer sunk by Tyrone Baker with 17:40 to go in the first half gave FSW its first lead and the Buccaneers never relinquished the advantage from that point on in the game.
A 12-2 Polk State run trimmed the Florida SouthWestern lead to 39-32 with 2:14 to go in the first half. However, the Buccaneers closed out the half on a 7-2 run to take a 12-point advantage into the half.
After FSW opened up the second half on a 9-0 run to grow their lead to 21, Polk was only able to trim the deficit to within 13 for the remainder of the contest.
Malachi Stevens scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half to help bring the fight for the Eagles.
Cole White snagged his fifth double-double of the season, totaling 10 points and hauling in 10 rebounds.
Sophomore captain
Dominick Nelson led the scoring for both teams with 28 points, shooting 11-for-20 from the field. It was Nelson's second-highest scoring performance of the season.
Polk State looks to snap the Citrus losing streak on Wednesday back inside the Health Center against Santa Fe College. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
