LAKELAND - Behind John Thompson's eighth double-double of the season, the Moccasins held off a late Saint Leo rally to post an 87-82 Sunshine State Conference win Wednesday night here at Jenkins Field House.
Thompson had 16 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, but it was his two free throws with two seconds remaining that clinched the Moccasins' 12th straight home win without a loss this season.
The Mocs had a 49-35 lead at halftime and were up by 16, 74-58, with 8:59 remaining. In the next six minutes, however, paced by 12 points from Quentin Cullop, the Lions' chopped the lead all the way down to two, at 82-80, with 3:47 to play.
Rion Rayfield hit a three-pointer to boost the lead back to five, but Cullop sank a pair of free throws to trim the lead to three with less than three minutes to go. Neither team was able to score in the final two minutes until Thompson rebounded a missed three-point attempt by Cullop and was fouled with two seconds left. He sank both free throws and the Moccasins maintained their first-place spot in the SSC at 21-5, 10-2 in the SSC.
Rayfield had 18 points off the bench for the Moccasins and Rob Eldridge added 11.
Cullop finished with 26, but the Lions lost leading scorer Jordan Prais (17.1) with 4:32 left in the first half when he was ejected for what the officials ruled was a flagrant foul.
The 22nd-ranked Mocs, now fourth in the South Region, behind Benedict, Claflin and Christian Brothers, will take the weekend off and return to SSC action Wednesday night at 7:30 at Eckerd.
