The first half of the Sunshine State Conference portion of the schedule ends Wednesday night, and Florida Southern is back at home to end it with Nova Southeastern. The Moccasins spent last week on the road with games against SSC co-leaders Tampa and Rollins, beating the Spartans and losing to the Tars. This week, they look to solidify their position in the standings and remain no worse than a game out of first place. The Sharks, meanwhile, can force a 3-way tie for third with a win over the Mocs.
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GAME SPONSORS
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Darby Law Group
NCT Group - Michael Carter CPA
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CATERING FOR SIXTH MAN CLUB PROVIDED BY
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Sonny's Bar-B-Q
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Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #32, Andre Hawkins (6.8 pts., 4.0 rebs., .583 fg%)
F, #40, Brett Bailey (6.5 pts., 4.2 rebs., .577 fg%)
G, #1, Brandon Jenkins (13.6 ppg., 6.3 rebs., 5.1 asts., .420 3-pt.%)
G, #20, Rion Rayfield (14.2 pts., 2.7 rebs., 4.6 asts., .425 3-pt.%)
G, #33, Cameron Wooten (6.8 pts., 5.1 rebs.)
Nova Southeastern Probable Starters:
F, #5, Alex Gynes (18.4 pts., 7.8 rebs., 2.1 asts.)
F, #22, Robert Huntington (12.1 pts., 5.1 rebs., .525 fg%)
C, #20, Ross Allsop (5.5 pts., 4.7 rebs., 1.0 block)
G, #2, John Brooks (12.6 pts., 2.2 rebs., .476 3-pt.%)
G. #21, Lemar Dyer (6.6 pts., 2.4 rebs., 4.1 asts., .544 fg%)
SERIES HISTORY... Florida Southern has won six straight in the series, and is 15-4 overall against the Sharks. Nova's last win came on December 1, 2007, when they beat the Moccasins 82-79 in Davie. Since then, the Mocs won the second regular season meeting in 2007-08, swept the season series the next two seasons, and also defeated the Sharks in the 2008 SSC Tournament. All five of those regular season wins by Florida Southern were by eight points or less. Last year, the Mocs won 82-75 and 90-82, with Rion Rayfield leading them in scoring in both games. Nova was led by Brian Cahill in both games, but the 2010 SSC Freshman-of-the-Year has missed the entire season this year.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... The Moccasins split two games on the road last week to move their overall record to 13-5, and their conference mark to 5-2. Their win came on Wednesday night against previously unbeaten and 12th-ranked Tampa, but they were unable to carry that momentum into Saturday when they lost to SSC preseason favorite Rollins. The Mocs now trail both of those teams by one game in the standings and are only half a game ahead of Eckerd, which is idle this Wednesday. In both games last week, Florida Southern had to play without leading scorer Terry Jenkins, who was sidelined due to illness, as well as Cameron Wooten (6.8 ppg., 5.1 rebs.), but the Mocs expect to have him both of them back this week. Jenkins ranks sixth in the SSC with 15.2 points per game, and had scored at least 20 in five of his previous nine games. Rion Rayfield led the Mocs in scoring against both Tampa and Rollins, and is 10th in the SSC with his 14.2 average. He's also leading the team with nearly three 3-point field goals per game. Brett Bailey has become a bigger part of the offense in recent weeks, and is averaging 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds in his four starts, and Damon Ellison has scored 25 points in the last two games to keep his scoring average in double digits at 10.3 points per game, and Brandon Jenkins remains among the SSC leaders in several categories, and needs just three more points to surpass Derek Flowers for 10th place on the school's career scoring list.
ABOUT NOVA SOUTHEASTERN... While Florida Southern has been the league's best 3-point shooting team over the last three years, and one of the nation's highest scoring teams, Nova Southeastern has actually surpassed the Moccasins in both those departments this year. The Sharks lead the SSC with an 83.9 scoring average and also lead the league in 3-point shooting percentage at .422; they lead the league in 3-point field goals per game as well, with a 9.4 average. Individually, they boast three of the league's top four 3-point shooters in John Brooks (1st), Teddy Tassy (2nd) and Max Papendieck (tied for 4th); Tassy and Papendieck normally come off the bench, and average 8.0 points and 8.4 points per game respectively. Lukas Roesch is another sharp-shooter Nova often brings off the bench, and is averaging 8.3 points and 4.3 rebounds. He's also one of eight different players who are averaging at least 20 minutes per game for the Sharks, a group led by Robert Huntington (29.4) and Alex Gynes (29.0). Nova is second in the SSC in overall shooting percentage and has five regulars shooting better than 50 percent from the floor. John Brooks, who is only sixth on the team in field goal percentage, shoots 48 percent. Though not a great free throw shooting team, the Sharks do have the league leader in that category in Lemar Dyer, who is 45-for-52 from the line. While Nova does perhaps own the league's best offense, the Sharks are also giving up the most points, surrendering 78.0 per game.
A free live video webcast of Wednesday's game will be available at http://fsc.nmtvsports.com/
Live stats for Wednesday's game will be available at http://www.flsouthern.edu/athletics/mens/livestats/xlive.htm
