Diego Fernandez continued to light up the scoreboard on Saturday, reaching a new career high as a varsity player by scoring 30 points against the Banyans from NAIA New College of Florida. His 22 second-half points led the comeback as TBC Eagles Men's Basketball turned a 4-point halftime deficit into a 13-point win over the Banyans with a final score of 88-75.

Fernandez exploded in the second half, sinking 7 of 9 from the field with two of them from three-point range. He was also 6 for 6 at the line.

His three-pointer with 14 minutes remaining tied the score at 48-all, and after a 50-50 tie and two lead changes, Fernandez put the Eagles ahead for good with a jump shot and two foul shots to make the score 55-52 with 12:39 left to play; the Eagles never trailed again.

Fernandez scored 8 in the first half and finished 10 for 16 (63%) overall with three three-pointers and 7 for 7 at the line. He helped the Eagles to a 61% shooting percentage in the second half, 53% from all teammates.

In fact, the Eagles as a team shot exactly 50% on the day, totaled 6 three-pointers (2 from Jacquez Anderson), and converted 20 of 27 (74%) free throws.

The combination of Xavier Rose and Brandon Hill hooked up for several assists/layups, allowing Rose to amass 9 total assists and 12 points with Hill scoring 16 points and collecting 5 rebounds.

Jace Spinelli helped put the game away with a late layup and a 4-for-4 showing at the line in the game's final two minutes. He also hit a three-pointer late in the first half to trim TBC's deficit down to 35-31 after the team trailed by 8 earlier. The Eagles trailed 38-34 at the break but won the second half 54-37.

Spinelli ended the game with 13 total points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Anderson's three-pointer with 3:29 left gave the Eagles a 10-point lead, and that margin stayed in double-digits for the remainder of the game.

DJ Thompson was 6 for 7 at the line for the bulk of his 8 points while Anderson finished with 6, Zach Kiadii had 2, and Gavin Korth-Loder added 1.

New College got double-digit scoring from four men: Jordan Clark (18), Jack Scott (12), Shawn Lefresne (10), and Schuyler Pimentel (10). Five teammates contributed points for the Banyans.

Remaining Schedule

The Eagles have added a game on Monday, January 29. TBC will visit NAIA St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.

The remaining five games are all within the South Region: at Bob Jones University on February 1, at Toccoa Falls College on February 3, and three at home versus Trinity College of Florida, Johnson University of Florida, and Southeastern Baptist College between February 6 and 10.