LAKELAND - Two days after the rest of the college completed final exams, the Florida Southern men’s basketball team had one more test before they too could celebrate the Christmas holidays. This one, like all the others so far, earned them a passing grade, as the 2nd-ranked Moccasins closed out the first semester with an 87-81 victory over Freed-Hardeman (TN).
The win allowed Florida Southern (9-0) to go into Christmas break with an undefeated record for the first time in four years. Freed-Hardeman, however, gave the Moccasins all they could handle, leading for much of the night and scoring more points by any opposing team this year. The Mocs led by as many as 12 in the first half, but after the Lions (7-5) rallied to take a 41-37 lead at halftime, the margin for neither team ever reached double digits again. For most of the second half, it was five points or less.
Four of the Mocs'€™ five starters scored in double figures, led by Rion Rayfield with a season-high 25 points. Oddly enough, the only starter not to reach double digits was John Thompson, the team scoring leader coming into the game with a 16.8 average. The senior forward was held to just three points on Saturday while taking only four shots and dealing with foul trouble in the second half.
While Thompson didn’t have many scoring chances, fellow big men A.J. Hawkins (11 points and seven rebounds) and Preston Fredrick (nine points and eight boards) picked up the slack. It was that type of night for Florida Southern, which still found a way to win its ninth straight game and score 87 points in doing so.
Early in the game, the Mocs had little trouble scoring, hitting eight of their first 11 shots to take an 18-7 lead. Thompson and Hawkins scored the first six points inside for Florida Southern before the Mocs went outside for their next 12. An 11-2 run by the Lions cut the gap to two, but the Mocs scored 10 straight after that to go ahead 30-18.
Freed-Hardeman then turned to its big man in the middle, as 6-8 center Zack Frey scored six straight points for the Lions to cut the Moccasin lead in half. He then completed a three-point play at the 4:15 mark to tie the game at 31. The Lions would later get 3-pointers from Ken Bingham and Kyle Teichmann in the final minute of the first half to take a 41-37 lead at the break, outscoring the Mocs 23-7 in the final 9:15 of the period.
Florida Southern took the lead again early in the second half with a pair of three-point plays by Terry Jenkins, followed by consecutive 3-point field goals by Brandon Jenkins, the second one capping a 12-2 run that put the Mocs ahead 49-43.
Again the Lions fought back, using two 3-pointers of their own, both by Jesse Moulton, to reclaim the lead at 56-55.
It looked like the Mocs would finally pull away with just under seven minutes to play when Rayfield hit a long 3-pointer, and Hawkins followed with a blocked shot that led to a break-away triple by Brandon Jenkins. That gave the Mocs an eight-point lead, the largest for either team since midway through the first half, but the Lions weren’t quite finished. They eventually closed to within 81-78 with four minutes to play, but didn’t score again until Logan Greer's 3-pointer with four seconds remaining.
Meanwhile, the Mocs worked the clock, and closed out the game by going 6-for-8 from the free throw line in the final three minutes.
Rayfield's 25 points came on nine-of-17 shooting from the floor, including three-for-nine from long range. Brandon Jenkins scored 19, with 14 of those coming in the second half. The junior guard was seven-for-14 overall, and five-for-seven from 3-point range. Terry Jenkins scored 15, and Hawkins added a season-high 11.
Bingham led Freed-Hardeman with 15 points, while Frey and Teichmann each scored 14.
Florida Southern will be off until December 28 and 29, when it hosts The Ledger/Holiday Inn South Tournament at Jenkins Field House.
