EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Despite a career-high 29 points from Brandon Jenkins and a school-record nine blocked shots from Rashaad Singleton, the third-ranked Moccasins came up short for the second straight night, dropping an 89-88 decision to Southern Indiana at USI's Bill Joergens Memorial Tournament in Evansville Saturday night.
The Moccasins (6-3) trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half, 61-46 with 14:03 remaining, after being down by five at halftime, 42-37. Jenkins and Rob Eldridge led a 12-0 Moccasin run that trimmed the margin to 61-58 with 11:05 to go, but Southern Indiana answered with a run of its own to get the lead back to double digits.
FSC kept chipping away and with 15 seconds left, Eldridge sank three free throws after being fouled while shooting a three-pointer to cut the lead to 85-83. USI answered with a pair of free throws from Kevin Gant with nine seconds left to go back up by four. Eldridge scored on a layup with four seconds left to make it 87-85. The Mocs were forced to foul and Marvin Gray, who led USI with 26 points, made a pair of free throws with three seconds left before Jenkins sank his eighth three-pointer of the game at the buzzer, leaving the Moccasins one point short.
Jenkins, who did not start, was 10-15 from the field, 8-12 from three-point range, and made his only free throw attempt to extend his string of consecutive free throws made to 19 in a row. His previous scoring high had been 22 points last season against Augusta State. Eldridge scored a season-high 26 points, including 7-7 from the free throw line.
The Moccasins set a single-game record, making all 16 free throw attempts in the game. The previous mark had been a 15-15 performance last season against Palm Beach Atlantic. The Mocs also hit 14 three-pointers in the game, two short of the FSC single-game record.
Singleton, who earlier in the season had tied the FSC single-game mark of eight blocks set by Christophe Humbert in 2002, claimed the record for himself with nine and raised his season total to 45.
In addition to being perfect from the free throw line, the Moccasins shot 50.0 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from the three-point range. USI had the rebounding edge, 40-26.
The Moccasins begin Sunshine State Conference play Saturday at Rollins with a 4 p.m. contest at Winter Park. The game will be broadcast on SportsLine Radio Network.
