January 3, 2026
Opportunistic Bucs Get Past Titans in Citrus Opener
The Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers opened Citrus Conference play with an 86-69 win over St. Petersburg Saturday afternoon in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, taking full advantage of 13 Titan turnovers, scoring an almost unbelievable 28 points off of them to kick off 2026 with their fourth consecutive win.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers opened Citrus Conference play with an 86-69 win over St. Petersburg Saturday afternoon in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, taking full advantage of 13 Titan turnovers, scoring an almost unbelievable 28 points off of them to kick off 2026 with their fourth consecutive win.
The Bucs got off to a blazing hot start, scoring 11 points in the first 2:37 of the contest to take an early 11-2 lead. Things slowed down from there for FSW as St. Pete scored the next seven to trim the Bucs lead to two. The Bucs offensive struggles continued as a six minute stretch with just four points allowed the Titans to come all the way back to tie the score at 15, but their defense dug their heels in from there, keeping St. Pete scoreless over the next three minutes, getting buckets from Mason Blazer and Trey Fogle to go back in front 21-15 with 9:00 to go in the half. The Bucs continued to give the Titans fits on the St. Pete side of the court, building their lead all the way to 16 on a three from Tyler Bey with 4:00 remaining in the period. The Titans finally found some footing in the closing moments of the half, outscoring the Bucs 7-2 into the break, but at the half it was still FSW in control leading it 37-26.
The Titans carried their momentum through the break, opening the second on a 7-0 burst to cut the FSW all the way down to just four, 37-33 with 18:06 to go. The Bucs turned to their front court from there as Lamont Hartfield and Stephen Okoro got buckets on the inside to give them some breathing room and another triple from Fogle had the lead back to double digits at 46-35. St. Pete remained within striking distance, but the Bucs kept them at bay the rest of the way as the Titans trimmed it to a seven point game on three difference occasions but could never get any closer. A three from Kenyon Giles opened the Bucs lead to 80-63 and Blazer finished on a tough drive to give FSW their largest lead of the game at 82-63 before the Bucs ultimately dribbled out the clock on an 86-69 victory.
Four Bucs topped the 15 point mark in the victory led by Hartfield who put up 20 and Bey who added 16 off the FSW bench in his Bucs debut.
Both teams took care of the ball well on the afternoon, combining for just 22 turnovers, but FSW took full advantage of the 13 times the Titans coughed it up, scoring 28 points off of those mistakes.
FSW wins their fourth straight to improve to 11-4 on the year while picking up the win in their 2026 Citrus Conference opener. St. Pete's struggles continued as they drop their fifth straight to fall to 3-10 overall and 0-1 in league play.
The Bucs return to action on Wednesday when they hit the road for a conference tilt against Polk State in a 7 PM tip from Winter Haven.
