MELBOURNE - Florida Tech's Mark Caviness sank a free throw with three seconds left in overtime to thwart a remarkable Moccasin come-from-behind effort and give the Panthers a 79-78 win over the Moccasins here Wednesday night.
Caviness made the first of two free throws after he was fouled following a steal by the Panthers' Simon Cummings. He missed the second shot and the Moccasins got the rebound and called time out with 1.1 seconds left, but a desparation shot after the time out fell short at the buzzer.
The 11th-ranked Moccasins had trailed 43-24 at halftime and fell behind even further, 55-32, with 12:59 left in the game. Even after a three-pointer by Terry Jenkins and back-to-back steals and layups by Jay Hubble, the Moccasins still trailed by 16. It was Hubble's three-pointer with 9:38 to go that started the Mocs on their turnaround. Down by nine with 3:47 to go, Hubble and Damon Ellison sparked a 9-2 run that closed the margin to 70-68 with 2:00 remaining. John Thompson sank a pair of free throws with 1:13 left to tie the game at 70-70. After Cummings put the Panthers back in front with a basket with 40 seconds left, Brandon Jenkins dropped in a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left to tie the game at 72-72. Cummings missed a pair of shots in the final seconds and the game went to overtime.
In the extra session, the Moccasins led three different times, but never by more than two points. After Hubble made the second of two free throws with 1:22 left to give FSC a 78-76 lead, Cummings tied it with a basket with 26 seconds remaining. On the Moccasins' subsequent possession, as they tried to work for the final shot, Cummings made a steal with three seconds left, which led to Caviness being fouled and hitting the game-winning free throw.
Ellison and Hubble both had career-high scoring nights for the Moccasins with 17 and 16 points respectively. Thompson added 15 points and Terry Jenkins had 11. Rion Rayfield, the Moccasins' leading scorer on the season, left the game with 14:44 to go in regulation with what appeared to be a slight ankle injury. He did not return and finished with just two points on a pair of free throws. The Panthers (13-8, 3-7 SSC) were led by 20 points off the bench from Alvin Tucker and 19 from Cummings. They were without scoring and rebounding leader Justin Sedlak, who sat out the game due to the flu.
Saturday the Moccasins (18-3, 7-3 SSC) return to Jenkins Field House to take on SSC leader Rollins at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the internet on SportsLine Radio Network (SLRN). In this week's NCAA South Region rankings, the Moccasins are ranked fourth and Rollins is ranked fifth. Arkansas Tech remains the top-ranked team in the region, followed by Clark Atlanta and Valdosta State.
