Raiders Fall in Close Contest

NICEVILLE, Fla. – Fallou Diagne hit back iron with 8.6 seconds to play before South Georgia Tech's Jalen Reynolds knocked down a pair of free throws to ice the game as the No. 23 Northwest Florida State men's basketball team fell, 77-73, in Raider Arena Wednesday.

Marchelus Avery led NWF with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Jourdan Smith scored 12 points to go with 10 boards. Marseilles Caston and Alonzo Gaffney scored 11 points each.

The Raiders (2-1) led by as many as 10 points in the first half before South Georgia Tech's Will Johnston took over the game. The freshman finished with 32 points on 8-of-21 shooting and was 11-of-12 from the free throw line.

The Jets took their first lead of the game on a pair of Johnston free throws with 10:57 left in the second half. In total, SGTC led for only 4:13 of the game.

Northwest Florida State hits the road to take on State College of Florida on Friday and Florida Southwestern on Saturday.

For more information on Northwest Florida State Athletics, visit NWFRaiders.com or follow the team on Twitter at @NWFRaiders.