Florida Southern ends the regular season Saturday night against Nova Southeastern hoping a lengthy postseason run is about to begin. Just how it begins and where the Mocs may ultimately play, however, could very well depend on how they fare against the Sharks. With a little bit of help from Eckerd, Florida Southern still has a chance to win the Sunshine State Conference regular season title and earn the #1 seed in the SSC Tournament, which in turn could help improve its seeding for the NCAA South Region Tournament that begins March 13.
|
GAME SPONSOR
|
|
MidFlorida
|
|
CATERING FOR SIXTH MAN CLUB PROVIDED BY
|
|
Romano's Macaroni Grill
|
Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #15, John Thompson (16.0 ppg., 8.7 rebs., .553 fg%)
F, #32, A.J. Hawkins (7.4 ppg., 4.3 rebs., .606 fg%)
G, #1, Brandon Jenkins (12.2 pts., 5.0 rebs., 5.3 asts., .491 3-pt.%)
G, #2, Terry Jenkins (12.8 pts., 3.4 rebs., 2.7 asts., .439 3-pt.%)
G, #20, Rion Rayfield (16.2 pts., 3.1 rebs., 5.3 asts., 1.7 steals, .440 3-pt.%)
Nova Southeastern Probable Starters:
F, #5, Alex Gynes (12.5 pts., 5.7 rebs.)
C, #20, Ross Allsop (7.8 pts., 5.9 rebs., 1.3 blocks)
G, #2, John Brooks (10.9 pts., 1.9 rebs., .900 ft%)
G, #20, Teddy Tassy (7.8 pts., 1.7 rebs., .467 3-pt.%)
G, #25, Lemar Dyer (5.2 pts., 2.9 rebs., 2.8 asts., 1.7 steals)
SERIES HISTORY... With Nova Southeastern joining the Sunshine State Conference in 2002, Florida Southern has faced the Sharks only 18 previous times. The Moccasins hold a 14-4 series advantage with an 82-75 win earlier this year in Davie. The Mocs never trailed in that game, led by as many as 20 in the first and 18 in the second, but the Sharks were able to make it a two-point game with less than four minutes to play. The Mocs eventually pulled away though, as they held the Sharks to only two points in the final three minutes. When the two teams have played in Jenkins Field House, the Moccasins are 9-1 against the Sharks, with Nova's only win coming in 2007. The Mocs won last year's game in Lakeland, 74-67, and have won seven straight against the Sharks overall.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... Assured of no worse than second in the SSC standings, the Moccasins (23-3, 12-3) need to defeat Nova, and have Rollins (22-4, 13-2) lose to Eckerd on Saturday afternoon to have a chance at winning their third straight regular season title. Officially, they would have to share that title with Rollins, but thanks to their own sweep of Eckerd (which is assured of finishing third), the Mocs would earn the #1 seed in the conference tournament. One way or the other, the Mocs will be at home for the first round, hosting either Saint Leo, Florida Tech or Tampa. With a 15-0 record at Jenkins Field House this year, the Moccasins have a chance to go undefeated at home for only the fourth time since World War II. It happened most recently in 2000, when they went 16-0. The Mocs are also attempting to wrap up their best regular season record since that same season when they went 27-1. Florida Southern continues to lead the SSC and rank 9th nationally with an 87.3 scoring average, but the Mocs are even better at home where they score nearly 93 points per game and have topped 100 points on five occasions this year. Rion Rayfield (16.2 ppg.) and John Thompson (16.0 ppg.) both have a chance to score over 500 points this year, something two Florida Southern teammates haven't done since 1991, when Derek Flowers and Calvetti Pate accomplished it. Rayfield now needs only eight more points to pass John McNamara (1957-59) for 10th place on the team's career scoring list, and five more assists to pass Scott Pospichal (1981-83) for fifth on the career assist chart. Thompson is 11 rebounds shy of 1,000 for his career, combining his two years at Queens (NC) and two years at Florida Southern. Rayfield also leads the SSC in 3-point field goals with 74, but is only two ahead of teammate Terry Jenkins. Brandon Jenkins has 54, and leads the SSC with a .491 percentage from long range, contributing to the Mocs' D-II leading .447 as a team. Meanwhile, A.J. Hawkins is coming off back-to-back double-digit point games, and had one of his best games of the season earlier this year against Nova with 14 points and five rebounds. Damon Ellison adds 6.8 points per game off the bench, and his .490 field goal percentage is the best among all of Florida Southern's perimeter players.
ABOUT NOVA SE... Nova Southeastern is coming off a non-conference loss at Palm Beach Atlantic on Wednesday and has lost seven of its last nine games. That stretch started with an 82-75 loss to Florida Southern on January 27, in which the Sharks shot just 33 percent from the floor and were only eight-for-35 from 3-point range. Their .325 shooting percentage in that game had been their lowest of the season before Wednesday night's 65-54 loss to PBA when they shot just .298. Even with those numbers, Nova still ranks third in the SSC with a 75.7 scoring average, and in conference play, the Sharks are second and have actually seen their average increase. Nova has only two players scoring in double figures, but the team has 10 players averaging at least 5.0, the most in the SSC, and eight different players have led them in scoring in one game or another. The Sharks' single-game high of 24 points came from Cody Dennison, a player who ranks eighth on the team in scoring. To further illustrate the team's balanced scoring, Nova has played 11 games this year where no one scored more than 15 points. The Sharks even attempt more 3-point field goals than Florida Southern, and have more players who take them, but their percentage is significantly lower (.356). They also lead the conference in turnovers and have six games with at least 20. A youthful roster features seven freshmen and no seniors, but juniors Alex Gynes and John Brooks are the team's top scorers. Those two players are only in their second year at Nova after both transferred from other 4-year schools. Gynes is the only Nova player who has scored in double figures each of the last three games, and has done so in nine straight games overall. Brian Cahill led Nova with 13 points the first time the two teams met in January, while Gynes added 12 points and eight rebounds.
