Winter Park, FL., -- The Edward Waters men's basketball team picked up a 73-65 season opening victory over Florida Tech Friday afternoon in Warden Arena on the campus of Rollins College. This was the opening game of the DII South Regional Exempt Classic hosted by Rollins.

Ther Tigers flexed their defensive prowess all game long holding the Panthers to just 34.4 (22-64) shooting from the field. EWU shot 50% from the floor including going 16-26 (61.5%) in the second half on action.

Despite the tenacious defense by Edward Waters, it was the Florida Tech Panthers that held a slim 31-30 lead at the intermission. Much like the first half both teams would exchange baskets to start the second half. Florida Tech would go up by as much as seven points before Edward Waters began to make their comeback.

The Tigers would outscore the Panthers 43-34 in the final half of action and claim the South Regional victory. Despite slightly being outrebounded, 36-34 and losing the battle of bench scoring, 38-34 EWU found a way to be victorious. The Tigers did however win the points in the paint matchup outscoring the Panthers, 36-24. Neither team shot particularly well from beyond the arc but both teams were able to connect on over 78% of their foul shots.

Second year head coach Carbal Huff was really proud of how his team defended and found a way to pull off the victory. "Our depth, versatility and grit showed up in game one as our bench really stepped up," said Huff. "In the second half we really locked in and defended after the initial punch in the mouth coming out of halftime by Florida Tech. Our mentality of playing to win meshed with our confidence to finish was the reason behind this win."

Sophomore Ja'Kobe Williams led all scorers with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. Williams also added three steals while shooting 8-11 from the floor including making three of his four shots from the charity stripe.

Adonnis Tolbert was a force off the bench for the Tigers finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Amari Floyd was the third Tiger to score in double figures compiling 10 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the floor to go along with two steals and two assists. Prince Davies, III added seven points in the win while Myles Hosten, Kristian Ford and Trevino Glover all tallied five points each.

The Tigers will wrap up the DII South Regional Exempt Classic with a contest against the host institution Rollins College. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. inside Warden Arena in Winter Park, FL.

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