Fresh off their huge win over Rollins, the Florida Southern Moccasins will travel to St. Petersburg on Wednesday night to face Eckerd College in the first of their two road games this week. The victory over Rollins got the Moccasins (19-3, 8-3) back within half a game of first place in the Sunshine State Conference, but the Tritons (13-7, 6-4) are right behind them in third place after winning seven of their last eight games.
Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #15, John Thompson (15.5 ppg., 8.7 rebs., 1.5 asts.)
F, #32, A.J. Hawkins (7.4 ppg., 4.3 rebs., .619 fg%)
G, #1, Brandon Jenkins (12.4 pts., 5.2 rebs., 5.1 asts., .479 3-pt.%)
G, #2, Terry Jenkins (13.3 pts., 3.0 rebs., 2.8 asts., .430 3-pt.%)
G, #20, Rion Rayfield (16.5 pts., 3.1 rebs., 5.5 asts., .462 3-pt.%)
Eckerd Probable Starters:
F, #23, Lance Kearse (5.9 pts., 3.2 rebs., )
F, #34, Zaronn Cann (12.8 pts., 5.5 rebs., .634 fg%)
G, #10, Chris Gray (6.1 pts., 1.6 rebs., 3.2 asts.)
G, #11, Lewis Lampley (6.7 pts., 5.6 rebs., 2.1 asts.)
G, #22, John Harper (13.5 pts., 3.0 rebs., .915 ft%)
SERIES HISTORY... Florida Southern leads the all-time series with Eckerd, 58-29, and defeated the Tritons earlier this season in Jenkins Field House by a score of 70-65. That give them a 4-3 mark and three straight wins over the Tritons since Linc Darner became head coach at Florida Southern. The Moccasins led just 26-24 at halftime, but shot 52 percent in the second half and held on when Eckerd missed a 3-point shot with six seconds to play. Florida Southern has won the last three meetings overall, including an 87-79 win in St. Petersburg last season that was their first win at the McArthur Center in five years. Florida Southern is 24-13 against Eckerd all-time at the McArthur Center, but only 5-10 in the last 15 years.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... The Mocs go into Wednesday night knowing that a win won't necessarily put them back in first place in the SSC standings, but it will open up significant breathing room over the rest of the conference teams that are chasing them. The Mocs will be matching their league-leading offense (87.8 points per game) against the league's No. 2 ranked defense with Eckerd giving up an average of 68.8 points per game; but it really hasn't mattered much what type of defense the Moccasins are facing, they've found a way to score against just about all of them. Rollins was ranked No. 1 in the SSC, and Florida Southern scored a total of 178 points in two games. The Moccasins still have four players averaging better than 12.0 points per game, with Eckerd the only other team in the league with more than two. Rion Rayfield's team-leading 16.5 average ranks 10th in the SSC, and he also leads the team in assists with 120. Twice this year, he's had a game with double figures in both categories, but he's not the only Moccasin to accomplish that. Brandon Jenkins has also done that two times, but only two other players in the SSC have done that even once this season. Both players also scored 15 points in the win over Rollins, two of the five Moccasins who scored in double figures. One of those was Damon Ellison, who had his second straight 17-point game off the bench. The freshman guard has turned into one of the top reserves in the SSC, averaging 6.2 points overall, and 13.5 over the last four games. Only John Thompson has a better scoring average (16.3 ppg.) during that same span. Thompson, who ranks 11th in the SSC in scoring, has scored in double digits eight straight games, and tied Rayfield for the team lead with six 20-point games when he scored exactly 20 in the win over Rollins.
ABOUT ECKERD... Eckerd got off to a rocky start in conference play this year with losses to Barry, Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern, but since then, the Tritons have gone 7-1, including a non-conference win over Palm Beach Atlantic. They've also avenged their earlier losses to Barry and Nova, and are now looking to do the same against Florida Southern. The Tritons' most recent game went much the same way the Moccasins' did, with Eckerd never trailing against Nova, and leading by double digits nearly the entire way in a 93-78 victory on Saturday. Eckerd shot 70 percent in the first half and made a season-high ten 3-pointers in the game. Though not an especially strong 3-point shooting team, the Tritons are 22-for-40 in their last three games. The only player averaging even one 3-pointer per game is Eckerd's leading scorer, John Harper, who has a 13.5 average. He's 52-for-139 this year (a .374 percentage), while the rest of the team is 59-for-177 (.333); he's also shooting 92 percent from the free throw line (43-for-47) Harper led the Tritons with 16 points in the earlier meeting this year, but was only five-for-14 from the floor. In the paint, the Tritons are led by SSC Player-of-the-Week Zaronn Cann, who shoots 63 percent overall and 71 percent from the line, and is also six-for-10 from 3-point distance. Cann falls just short of the number of field goals required to be among the national leaders, but would otherwise rank in the top 15 in field goal percentage. He had 11 points against the Mocs, but was only three-for-eight. Wayne Sears also scored 11 in the first meeting, and averages 12.0 for the season despite starting only two games. Woody Taylor has started only once, but averages 4.9 points and 2.5 assists, leads the team with 23 steals, and is second in 3-pointers with 18 while shooting 46 percent behind the arc.
