FSCJ Opens Season With Road Victory At Gordon State; McCray Earns Player Of The Week

This image shows the final score of FSCJ Men's Basketball competition vs Gordon State.
Men's Basketball Final Score vs Gordon State
November 5, 2024

FSCJ Opens Season With Road Victory at Gordon State, McCray Earns Player of the Week

Barnesville, GA----The #22 Florida State College at Jacksonville Men's Basketball Team (1-0) opened the 2024-25 regular season with a challenging contest at NJCAA Division I Gordon State College (0-1). The Manta Rays built a 12-point lead 39-27 at the half over the Highlanders thanks to some hot shooting led by sophomore guard Alex McCray.

FSCJ never trailed in the contest as McCray led all scorers with 29-points for FSCJ—including 19 in the first half, shooting 78% from the field overall and 100% on 3-pointers. His efficient scoring and effort on the boards with seven rebounds earned him this season's first FCSAA Player of the Week honors.

After FSCJ built a 19-point lead in the second-half with 7:33 remaining, Gordon State fought back with some hot shooting of their own and forced the Manta Rays into a number of turnovers. However, two successful trips to the free throw line by sophomores Abraham Garjah and Jordan Smith put the contest out of reach and brought FSCJ to 1-0 on the year with a 72-64 victory.

"Opening on the road is never easy, especially against a talented team like Gordon State," said Head Coach John Putyrski. "It got ugly after building a relatively substantial lead. The message to the team was to understand good teams are going to keep fighting, so if we don't keep our edge, we're going to be vulnerable to runs." 

FSCJ returns to Jacksonville to host LSA Preparatory Wednesday evening for their first home contest before hitting the road again for the Veteran's Classic at Indian River State College. In Fort Pierce, the Manta Rays will square off against two Division I foes from Region 8: the Sharks of Miami Dade College Friday and the Pioneers of host Indian River on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for a 5:00pm EST tip-off and viewable on the team's livestream.

"We aren't satisfied with how we played today and know we've got many more challenging games coming up," says McCray, who was voted by his teammates to be one of the team captains. "We're excited for this week's games and to keep building our momentum."

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