Less than 24 hours after their 111-75 win over Puerto Rico-Bayamon, the Moccasins will be back on the court to face St. Ambrose University on Wednesday night. It's the second of Florida Southern's four games this week, and the last time the Mocs play at home until December 10.
|
GAME SPONSOR
|
|
---
|
|
CATERING FOR SIXTH MAN CLUB PROVIDED BY
|
|
Beef O' Brady's
|
Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #15, John Thompson (23.5 ppg., 10.5 rebs., 2.5 asts., .750 fg%)
F, #32, A.J. Hawkins (3.0 ppg., 2.0 rebs., 1.0 steal)
G, #1, Brandon Jenkins (9.5 pts., 3.5 rebs., 8.0 asts.)
G, #2, Terry Jenkins (11.0 pts., 2.0 reb., 2.5 asts., .600 3-pt.%)
G, #20, Rion Rayfield (9.5 pts., 2.5 reb., 5.0 asts., .375 3-pt.%)
St. Ambrose Probable Starters:
F, #33, Chris Donnelly (11.8 ppg, 5.6 rebs., 2.8 asts., 2.0 steals)
F, #45, Mike Kennedy (11.8 ppg., 6.4 rebs., 1.6 asts.)
C, #41, Bryce Davis (12.2 pts., 6.4 rebs., .558 fg%)
G, #5, Matt Coakley (6.6 pts., 3.0 rebs., 4.0 asts., .800 ft%)
G, #15, Justin Tiner (12.4 pts., 5.0 rebs., 2.6 asts., .357 3-pt.%)
SERIES HISTORY... Florida Southern and St. Ambrose have met once before, with the Moccasins winning 93-70, on January 8, 1991. Though it was nearly 20 years ago, St. Ambrose still has the same head coach, with Ray Shovlain in his 27th season in charge of the Fighting Bees. Shovlain, who played at St. Ambrose from 1975-79, and is the Bees' career assist leader, is closing in on his 500th career win (he currently has 495). He also serves as athletic director at St. Ambrose.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... For the first time in 21 years, and only the third time in their 83-year history, the Moccasins have started a season with back-to-back 100-point games. Only once at any point have they every had three straight 100-point games, and that came 38 years ago when the Mocs ended the 1971 season with a 111-85 win over Chicago State, and started the following year with 119 points against Florida Tech, and 104 against Saint Leo. Odd as it may sound, much of Florida Southern's scoring can be traced to its defense, which has forced 46 turnovers in the first two games and converted them into 76 points. Those turnovers have also helped the Mocs shoot 58 percent as a team. While John Thompson is scoring 23.5 points per game (in less than 18 minutes per game), five other Moccasins have scoring averages between 9.5 and 11.0. That includes Cameron Wooten and David Wood, who have come off the bench in each of the first two games, with Wooten scoring 13 against UPR-Rio Piedras, and Wood doing the same last night against UPR-Bayamon. Overall, the Mocs have 10 players averaging at least 5.0 points per game.
ABOUT ST. AMBROSE... Located in Davenport, Iowa, St. Ambrose is making the trip south for only one game. Coming to Lakeland with a 4-1 record, the Fighting Bees have made nine trips to the NAIA Tournament under their current head coach, most recently in 2005. They return four starters from last year's team, which went 12-19, and they're off to a 4-1 start this year. Their schedule includes seven games against teams that qualified for the 2009 NAIA National Tournament, in addition to Florida Southern and Divison I Loyola of Chicago. With four players averaging between 11.8 and 12.4 points per game, the Bees have balanced scoring, and are coming off a dramatic win on Saturday that saw them overcome a 15-point halftime deficit to defeat Marian (IN), 66-63, on a 3-pointer by Justin Tiner with 20 seconds to play. Tiner is the team's leading scorer (12.4 ppg.), but Chris Donnelly isn't far behind (11.8 avg.), and is the reigning Midwest Collegiate Conference Player-of-the-Week after being named the MVP at the Ken Elmendorf Memorial Tournament hosted by Marian. Donnelly had 21 points, six rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal in the championship game vs. Marian.
