The Florida State College at Jacksonville Men's Basketball Team (26-10) arrived home after concluding their historic season in the second round of the national tournament in Danville, Illinois. After an upset victory over the 15th-ranked Howard Dragons from Columbia, Maryland in the opening round for the school's first ever national tournament victory, FSCJ fell in the second round to eventual national runner-up South Suburban College.
FSCJ concludes the season with 26 wins, more than the previous four seasons combined. With its victory over Howard CC, this year's team tied the mark set during the 1981-82 season when the college was still named Florida Junior College.
"I knew in October after our scrimmage vs Daytona State that we were going to be much better," said redshirt-sophomore Roderick Gardner. "[Daytona]'s a team that whooped up on us pretty good all three times last year. Coach P's here practicing with us for only about a month, and then we go into their place and are up 20 on them. I knew then we had a special team."
Daytona State went onto finish the season 28-4 while being nationally ranked the NJCAA Division-I number one team in the country for several weeks during the regular season. The team attributes their early season success to the confidence and discipline towards details they built in the preseason.
FSCJ began the season 9-0 and started to receive votes in the NJCAA national poll that ranks the top 20-teams in the country. The combination of injuries and a tough road schedule saw FSCJ drop 4 of 5 heading into the New Year before beginning another 7-game win streak through the end of nonconference and into Region 8 conference play. Battling through the tough conference, FSCJ was named the outright FCSAA Region 8 regular season champions on their homecourt after a 73-49 statement victory over Palm Beach State College on Sophomore Night.
They went onto solidify and further prove themselves Region 8 champions by winning the postseason tournament hosted by Palm Beach State. They defeated last year's defending champions Florida Gateway College in the tournament championship by double digits and were named FCSAA Region 8 champions for the first time in school history. Sophomore guard Tarence Guinyard was named Region 8 Player of the Year and was joined on the All-Conference Team by freshman guard and fellow teammate Alex McCray. Both Guinyard and McCray were named to the All-Tournament team, as well as teammate and freshman guard Aiden Fletcher. Guinyard was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
"The main difference this year was how close and connected we all were," said Tarence Guinyard. "When you're held to such a high standard that you're not used to, it can be difficult. The fact we all cared about each other—coaches and players—we were all ok with sacrificing more. We weren't going to look for the easy way out because we were in it for each other."
After being named Region 8 champions, FSCJ went onto win the District Championship versus Snead State Community College 72-69 and received an automatic bid to the school's first ever national tournament. In his first year at FSCJ, Head Coach John Putyrski was named Region 8 Coach of the Year and Gulf-South District Coach of the Year.
"We're not ok finishing the season how we did, but that doesn't take away how much I enjoyed coaching this group."said first year head coach John Putryrski. "What I'm most proud of with these young men is that they really committed to a cause bigger than themselves on and off the court. They won multiple championships and made school history, again and again. They set a team GPA record. They dutifully got out in the community to volunteer. They joyfully attended other teams' sporting events or other school clubs' performances, like DanceWorks and DramaWorks. They pick up trash that's not theirs, they hold doors for others, they take off their hats and hoods when they walk inside. They'll raise a banner in our gym that will always be there, but it will commemorate more than just their basketball accomplishments."
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