LAKELAND - The newest college basketball team in the state of Florida visited Jenkins Field House Thursday night, but the result for Florida Southern was a familiar one. The Moccasins jumped out to a big lead early in the game, got a nice lift from Damon Ellison off the bench, and won by a 30-point margin for the fourth time this year in an 88-57 win over Ave Maria University.
Ave Maria has been open for less than seven years, its basketball program is only two years old, and Florida Southern, now ranked No. 3 in the country, was the first Division II program the team had ever faced. Those made for some long odds for the Gyrenes (5-4), who got on the board first before the Moccasins (7-0) scored the next 14 points. That included a pair of early 3-pointers by Rion Rayfield, who became the 33rd player in team history to score over 1,000 points in his career.
After the Mocs went ahead 14-2, the Gyrenes were able to get within single digits only once more the rest of the night, and it didn't stay that way very long. Cameron Wooten's 3-pointer at the 13:47 mark gave the Mocs a 19-8 lead, and the margin stayed between 11 and 19 until a 3-pointer by Brandon Jenkins put Florida Southern up 42-22 with 4:50 remaining in the first half. Wooten followed that with another three, Terry Jenkins made three free throws after being fouled while shooting a three, and Brandon Jenkins hit a triple in the final minute to help stake the Mocs to a 55-32 lead at the break.
While Ellison did nothing quite as dramatic, the freshman guard from Indianapolis hit shots from all over the court, doing it all night long. He finished with 16 points to surpass his total coming into the game, going seven-for-10 from the floor and two-for-two from the line. The 16 points tied him with Brandon Jenkins for the team lead on Thursday.
Rayfield and Terry Jenkins each scored 11, with all of Rayfield's coming in the first half as the Mocs built their 23-point halftime lead.
The Moccasins held Ave Maria to 31 percent shooting, and despite a rash of early offensive rebounds, the Gyrenes had trouble turning them into points. They also ran into John Thompson, A.J. Hawkins and Preston Fredrick in the paint, with each member of that trio picking up two of Florida Southern's season-high seven blocked shots.
The Gyrenes were led by Kiel Lewis, who came off the bench to score 15 points, hand out five assists and make three steals. A freshman guard from nearby Orlando, Lewis was perfect on six shots from the floor, leaving the rest of his teammates to shoot just 24 percent.
Up next for Florida Southern is a trip to West Palm Beach on Saturday, for a 5:00 p.m. game with Palm Beach Atlantic.
