January 17, 2026
Bucs Take Over First With Road Upset of #9 Daytona
There is a new team holding the first place spot in the Citrus Conference standings Saturday night as the Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers went on the road and defeated the #9 Daytona State Falcons behind 28 points apiece from Mason Blazer and Lamont Hartfield to give them the top spot after two weeks of league play.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- There is a new team holding the first place spot in the Citrus Conference standings Saturday night as the Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers went on the road and defeated the #9 Daytona State Falcons behind 28 points apiece from Mason Blazer and Lamont Hartfield to give them the top spot after two weeks of league play.
The Bucs played from behind early on as Daytona jumped out to a 15-10 lead five minutes in, but that didn't last long as Lamont Hartfield scored 10 points in a row for the Bucs to tie things up at 20 before Mason Blazer nailed a three to give FSW a 26-23 lead with 7:11 to go in the first half. It remained a high paced, back and forth battle into the final minutes of the half where Daytona regained a 32-31 lead before the Bucs flipped the script and took a 39-38 lead at the end of one.
The Falcons came out swinging in the second, scoring the first eight points of the period to take their largest lead of the game at 46-39. The Bucs continued to ride the hot hands of Hartfield and Blazer to get back into it as both drilled threes to draw FSW to within one before another Hartfield triple knotted the score at 50 with 16:29 to go. The Bucs went on a 5:45 drought without a field goal as Daytona pushed back ahead 63-56 midway through the second and the Bucs deficit grew to 11 moments later after a Daytona three point play. The Bucs kept scrapping and back to back Tyler Bey buckets had them to within three at 76-73 with 5:20 to go in regulation and Kenyon Giles nailed a three to tie the score with 4:11 left. The heavyweights went blow for blow down the stretch and it looked like the Bucs were in trouble as Daytona picked off a steal and drove it the other way for two to take an 84-82 lead with :07 remaining, but FSW raced it up the court and Hartfield finished through contact with just :02 left on the clock to tie the score and send the game to overtime tied at 84.
Daytona struck first in the extra period, but a three from Bey gave the Bucs their first lead a minute in. The Falcons retook a four point advantage at 91-87 with 2:49 left and it looked like the Bucs luck might have run out, but a three from Hartfield and a free throw from Bey moments later tied the score back up at 91 apiece. With the game tied at 95 with the clock winding down, Blazer drilled a step back three in the right corner to give the Bucs the lead back and a last second desperation heave from the Falcons was off the mark as FSW held on to upset #9 Daytona 98-97.
Blazer and Hartfield led the way for FSW with 28 each while combining for 11 three pointers made and Bey recorded a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
The win snaps a 12 game losing streak for the Bucs against Division I ranked opponents and is their first win over a Top 10 ranked foe since beating #2 Indian River on February 16, 2022.
With the win, the Bucs take over first place in the Citrus Conference standings at 4-1 while improving to 14-5 overall. Daytona falls to 15-4 and drops their first conference game of the year to drop to 4-1.
The Bucs return to the floor on Wednesday to take on Miami Dade on the road in Miami before heading the other way next Saturday to play Santa Fe in Gainesville.