Raiders Close Out Non-Conference Play With a 27-Point Victory over SW Miss.
NICEVILLE, Florida – Winning at home is always fun, but winning at home by nearly 30 points to open the new year and close out non-conference play is something to be proud of. On Saturday afternoon, Northwest Florida State men's basketball secured their seventh consecutive victory after defeating Southwest Mississippi, 84-57, bringing their overall record to an impressive 17-1.
The Raiders were dominant throughout this one—five players, including two off the bench, reached double figures in scoring. Tajuan Simpkins was the game's leading scorer as he tallied 19 points in the contest, making it the tenth time he's eclipsed the double-digit scoring plateau this season.
Right behind Simpkins was Tavion Banks, who recorded 15 points in the contest while adding six rebounds and seven assists to the stat sheet. Other notable scorers included Tyrese Elliott, who scored 13 for the game, Jamal Sumlin, who scored 12, and Karahan Efeoglu, who scored 11 off the bench.
As a team, NWF had one of their better shooting performances of the season. The Raiders shot above 50.0% for the seventh time this season after hitting a 53.2% clip from the field. Additionally, the Raiders shot 36.8% from three, higher than their season average of 31.9% and 73.3% from the charity stripe.
Defensively, NWF held Southwest Mississippi to just 32.8% shooting as a team, including 33.3% from three. The Raiders had plus margins over the Bears in multiple stat categories, including rebounds (+8), assists (+9) and blocks (+4).
This win concludes the Raiders' non-conference portion of their schedule as they gear up for the start of conference play next weekend against Chipola and another run at a Panhandle Conference Championship.
FIRST HALF
The Raiders won the opening tipoff and scored a basket on their first possession using a layup from Tavion Banks. However, a 6-0 run by SW Miss. over the next two minutes allowed the Bears to jump out to a four-point lead early in the half. This lead wouldn't last long as the Raiders responded swiftly with a 15-0 run, capped off by a Karahan Efeoglu three with 14:22 remaining in the half.
Tylik Weeks helped cut the Bear's deficit back to single digits with a made layup inside the 12:30 mark of the first half, but Will Hynes extended it back to double-digits after knocking down a three the following possession, putting the Raiders up 21-10. Down the stretch, Tajuan Simpkins would nail the Raider's second three-point make of the half to give NWF their largest lead of the game to this point (18) with just over seven minutes until the break. The Raiders would maintain this advantage for the remainder of the half as NWF led SW Miss. 37-21 heading into halftime.
SECOND HALF
RaSheed Jones kicked off the second half of play with an empathic slam, following an excellent feed from Tavion Banks, as Jones cut to the basket, leaving him with a wide-open lane to the rim. Jamal Sumlin gave NWF a 20-point lead with under 19 minutes to go in the game after he dropped in a layup following a Jadyn Shider block on the other end.
An 8-0 run by the Bears over the next few minutes of play helped cut the Raider lead back down to 12, but a poised Raiders team did not show any panic as they extended their lead back to 17 with 14:34 to play following a couple of nice defensive possessions and some opportunistic scoring. This sparked a 13-0 run by NWF, which allowed them to jump out to a 25-point lead with just over ten to play.
Despite SW Miss. improving their field goal percentages in the second half, they could not keep NWF at bay as the Raiders seemed to have an answer for every score by the Bears. In all, the Raiders proved too much for the Bears to handle as NWF walked away with a 27-point victory, securing their 17th win of the season.
UP NEXT
Now that non-conference play is wrapped up, the Raiders look forward to next weekend as they open the conference portion of their schedule with a home game against Chipola. The game is set for Saturday (Jan. 13) at 4:00 PM following the women's game, which is set to tip off at 2:00 PM the same day.
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