LAKELAND - Two games, two wins, and over 200 points. That's the way the Florida Southern Moccasins have started the 2010 season, and it's been a long time since that happened. Hitting the century mark for the second game in a row, 4th-ranked Florida Southern scored early and very often en route to a 111-75 win over Puerto Rico-Bayamon at Jenkins Field House Tuesday night.
Starting the season with back-to-back wins is nothing unusual for the Moccasins, but the way they've done it certainly is. For the first time in 21 years, and only the third time in team history, Florida Southern has topped 100 points in each of its first two games.
Tuesday night there was never any doubt, as the Mocs were up 62-29 at halftime and hit the 90-point mark with more than 10 minutes to play. The pace slowed down a bit after that, but the scoreboard still reached triple digits with 5:14 remaining, and only a late spurt by the Vaqueros kept the Mocs from posting their second straight 40-point win.
John Thompson had another big night with 23 points and 11 rebounds, and again played less than 20 minutes. Terry Jenkins scored 14, Brandon Jenkins had 10 points and a career-high nine assists, and David Wood came off the bench for 13 points, four assists and three steals.
To say this one was an easy win would be an understatement. The Vaqueros (0-4) turned the ball over on each of their first four possessions, and the Moccasins needed less than two minutes to take an 8-0 lead, sparked by two quick steals by Rion Rayfield and one by Terry Jenkins.
By halftime, the Mocs had scored 25 points off turnovers, while committing just one turnover themselves, and were shooting 63 percent from the floor. That included 7-for-15 behind the 3-point arc, where Terry Jenkins went four-for-six by himself.
Inside, the Vaqueros had no answer for Thompson, who had 15 points and nine rebounds in the first half. His break-away basket after a steal by Wood with 13:49 to play started a 17-4 run by the Moccasins that blew the game wide open. Prior to that, the Vaqueros had managed to keep the deficit to single digits, even after the Mocs’ 8-0 run to start the game.
The Mocs led by as many as 47 in the second half and there were plenty of points to go around. Twelve different players got on the board in the final 20 minutes, led by Jay Hubble with nine points, and Thompson with eight more before he was lifted early for the second game in a row.
Florida Southern finished the game shooting 63 percent from the floor and 46 percent from long range (10-for-22). Defensively, the Mocs scored 37 points off 21 Bayamon turnovers and shut out the Vaqueros’ leading scorer, Melvin Rivera.
Michael Gonzalez, however, did have a big night for Bayamon, as the senior guard scored 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Josue Rodriguez added 15 points, all of them in the final 12 minutes, long after the game had been decided.
Florida Southern will have a chance to add to its scoring totals right away too, as the Mocs host St. Ambrose (IA) on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
