Thompson has 27 career points.
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Florida Tech men's basketball team defeated Lynn 98-83 on Saturday night at the Clemente Center behind a career-high 27 points from junior Chase Thompson.
The Panthers started the game at 8-3 with a layup by Chase Thompson at 15:58 of the first half.
Following Lin's basket, Tech scored six straight points, including a monster slam dunk by David McCullough, to go up 14-5 with 13:32 left in the first half.
A 13-2 run led by McCullough's eight points gave the Panthers a 27-10 lead with just over nine minutes left.
A jumper by Jalen Gilmore seemed to reinvigorate Lin, but back-to-back baskets from McCullough and Rahsaan Edwards gave Tech a 20-point cushion at 32-12 heading into a media timeout with less than eight minutes to play. .
Both defenses locked in for a while, and after some exchanges, Thompson's corner triple gave the Panthers a 42-21 lead with less than three minutes left until halftime.
For the remaining three minutes, both teams continued a back-and-forth battle, with Tech entering halftime with a 50-32 lead.
Latter half:
The game continued to go back and forth after the start of the second half, with both teams going into the first media timeout at 15:56 with the score 56-37.
Coming out of a timeout, the Panthers converted a 3-point play by Max Polk that sparked a quick 6-2 run to take a 62-39 lead with 14 minutes left.
Back-to-back baskets from Edwards and Martin gave Tech a 72-45 lead heading into the media timeout with less than 12 minutes to play. Polk's layup after intermission gave the Panthers their largest lead of the game at 73-45.
Elhadj Thiam hit a jumper, making it 82-61 with 6:25 left in the game.
Lin went on a 12-4 run to cut Tech's lead to 86-73 with 3 minutes, 23 seconds left heading into the final media timeout.
The Panthers responded with an 8-3 run capped by a Nile Harris layup to extend their lead to 94-76 with 1:40 left.
Both teams added several more goals in the final minutes of the game, making the final score 98-83.
Featured Panthers:
Thompson scored a career-high 27 points, including 10-of-17 shooting and 3-of-6 shooting, and was named Player of the Game. He also added five rebounds, two assists, and one block.
David McCullough had 20 points, four rebounds and one block. Nile Harris had 14 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double.
Rahsaan Edwards had a double-double with 13 points and 13 assists. He also grabbed five boards and added three steals. Elias Martin totaled 13 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and two steals.
Beyond the box score:
Florida Tech improved its overall record against Lin to 26-39, including 10-21 at the Clemente Center.
Rahsaan Edwards' 13 assists are tied for ninth in program history in assists per game.
Nile Harris has recorded at least five rebounds in 25 consecutive games since February 15, 2023.
next: Florida Tech's next game is Wednesday, February 14th, with the Panthers traveling to the PBA for a midweek game against SSC. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. in West Palm Beach, Florida.
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