The Florida Southern Moccasins will be looking for their ninth win in the last 10 games when they host Lynn University on Saturday night at Jenkins Field House. The Mocs are currently 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the Sunshine State Conference, and with first-place Tampa idle on Saturday, they'll have a chance to close the gap prior to going head-to-head with the Spartans next Wednesday.
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Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #33, Cameron Wooten (7.5 pts., 5.0 rebs., .436 3-pt.%)
F, #40, Brett Bailey (6.3 pts., 3.9 rebs., .574 fg%)
G, #1, Brandon Jenkins (13.9 ppg., 6.2 rebs., 5.3 asts., .444 3-pt.%)
G, #2, Terry Jenkins (14.8 pts., 3.5 rebs., 2.5 asts., .837 ft%)
G, #20, Rion Rayfield (13.5 pts., 2.5 rebs., 4.7 asts., .414 3-pt.%)
Lynn Probable Starters:
F, #1, Jimmy Gaskins (11.8 pts., 6.9 rebs., .554 fg%)
C, #21, Cameron McCallum (13.6 pts., 10.6 rebs.)
G, #4, Chris Hall (13.1 pts., 2.6 rebs., 2.9 asts.)
G, #10, Josh Garcia (12.2 pts., 2.5 rebs., 3.1 asts., .385 3-pt.%)
G, #12, Jovan Robinson (10.0 pts., 2.7 rebs., 2.6 asts., .413 3-pt.%)
SERIES HISTORY... Florida Southern is 23-10 all-time against Lynn, swept the Knights last year, and is 6-1 against them over the last three years. That includes a win over the Knights in the 2008 SSC Tournament semifinals. Last year, Florida Southern won 98-85 in Lakeland, and 75-74 in Boca Raton. The 98 points in the first meeting were the most the Moccasins have ever scored in the series, but in round two, the Mocs had to overcome a 10-point deficit in the final six minutes. Rion Rayfield gave them that win by hitting a jumper with 5.1 seconds to play before Chris Hall missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. It was the ninth time in the last 10 years the two teams played a game decided by three points or less, or in overtime. Lynn is also the only SSC team to defeat Florida Southern at home in the last three years.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... The Moccasins are one of three teams tied for second place in the SSC standings, with Tampa sitting on top with a 5-0 league record. The Spartans are idle on Saturday, which means Florida Southern will have a chance to pull within one game of first with a victory over Lynn. The Mocs rebounded from their first conference loss of the season a week ago by defeating Eckerd, 76-70, on Wednesday. The Mocs never trailed in that game, but it took late free throws from Brandon Jenkins and Cameron Wooten to seal the outcome in the closing seconds. The Mocs also debuted a new lineup, with Wooten and Brett Bailey earning their first starts of the season. It was Wooten's first starting assignment since 2007, and the first of Bailey's career; Bailey ended up with a career-high 17 points That leaves Brandon Jenkins as the only player to start every game this season. Jenkins also made a bit of history on Wednesday, becoming the 14th player in team history with both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds, and the only guard to reach 500 career rebounds. He remains one of the top 3-point shooters in the SSC as well, ranking fourth in that category, with Wooten seventh and Rayfield ninth. As a team Florida Southern ranks second in 3-point shooting percentage (.404), and third in 3-point field goals (8.3 per game), and leads the SSC with a .773 free throw percentage.
ABOUT LYNN... After finishing fourth in the SSC last year, Lynn was picked to finish third this year with four returning starters. That group included 2-time All-American Chris Hall, and 2010 SSC Defensive Player-of-the-Year Michel Vidal. However, Vidal has missed the entire season due to injury, another returning starter, Rodney Kennedy, has been out since mid-December, and LaSalle transfer Terrell Williams, who started seven of the first eight games, has also been sidelined since December 18. The Knights have been forced to use a multitude of lineups to compensate, with nine different players starting at least three games, and despite a 3-11 overall record, they've been out-scored this year by only 31 total points. They've also lost three games by one point, and were within two points in the final 30 seconds of two other losses. Though Lynn ranks third in the SSC in 3-point shooting percentage (.371) behind Nova and Florida Southern, the Knights are also last in overall field goal percentage and next to last in free throw percentage. Individually, Hall has scored over 1,700 points in his career, led the SSC in scoring as a sophomore, and was third last year. He's seen his average fall to 13.1 points per game this year, but remains one of the league's most dangerous players, and scored 35 against the Mocs in Lynn's visit to Jenkins Field House last year. Several junior college transfers have stepped into leading roles too, including Jimmy Gaskins and Josh Garcia, while D-I transfer Cameron McCallum has joined the lineup over the last five games and is averaging a double-double during that time.
A free live video webcast of Saturdays game will be available at http://fsc.nmtvsports.com/
Live stats for Saturday's game will be available at http://www.flsouthern.edu/athletics/mens/livestats/xlive.htm
