The gym was packed and the crowd was in full support of the FSCJ BlueWave men's basketball team as they hosted Indian River State College.
These two teams have an unusual rivalry that began last season when the BlueWave upset a top seeded Indian River. It was a battle that continued when FSCJ traveled to Fort Pierce for another match-up, that game fell in IRSC's favor.
With a 1-1 record from their previous seasons meeting, the BlueWave were ready to repeat last years efforts. The Pioneers of IRSC had other plans as they came out aggressive attacking FSCJ on their homecourt. The twenty minute fury of transition basketball ended in IRSC's favor at the half, 32-25. Determined to not go down, the BlueWave battled back to within three points of the Pioneers. With time about to expire and the ball in the hands of the BlueWave, Chris Clark would hit the game tying three point shot at the end of regulation to force overtime.
With the energy in the gym at a high, the Pioneers and BlueWave were ready to face off in extra minutes to see who would walk out the gym with the W. A strong defensive game would keep the score low in overtime and find FSCJ fighting from behind. It would be Myles Cowart who would hit a three point shot to tie the game at 4-4. With the ball under the FSCJ basket and 1.4 seconds left on the clock, the hot hand of Cowart would ignite the gym hitting the game winning three point shot at the buzzer. The BlueWave held IRSC to 31.9% from the field and 26.5% from the 3pt line in their 70-67 win. The record moves to 2-1 in FSCJ's favor, but the two will meet again in Fort Pierce on December 18th.
Chris Clark led the BlueWave in scoring with 19 points hitting the game tying shot to go into overtime. Myles Cowart who hit the 3-point shot to tie the game and the game winning 3-point shot at the buzzer had 15 points and 7 rebounds. A big contributor to the BlueWave victory was Jordan Mitchell who dished out 7 assists.
Next up the BlueWave will travel to play Polk State College on Friday November 22, 2019.