With the first half of the Sunshine State Conference schedule now complete, Florida Southern (11-5) will step outside the SSC on Wednesday night when it hosts Palm Beach Atlantic (4-15) at 7:30 p.m. It's the first of two meetings with the Sailfish this year, with the second one coming at the end of the regular season in West Palm Beach. In this one, the Moccasins will be looking to extend their winning streak to four games before resuming conference play on Saturday.
Live stats will be available at: http://www.flsouthern.edu/athletics/mens/livestats/xlive.htm
A live audio/video webcast will be available at: http://fscmocs.nmtvsports.com
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Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #40, Brett Bailey (14.4 pts., 7.6 rebs., .571 fg%)
G, #00, Kevin Capers (13.4 pts., 2.8 rebs., 3.6 asts.)
G, #1, Cameron Vines (6.5 pts., 4.8 rebs.)
G, #5, Dominic Lane (11.3 pts., 5.2 rebs., 2.3 asts.)
G, #14, Tyler Kelly (5.3 pts., 1.7 rebs., 3.8 asts.)
SERIES HISTORY... The Moccasins have won 15 of their previous 18 meetings with Palm Beach Atlantic and have played the Sailfish two times in each of the last five seasons. The Mocs have won six straight and eight of 10 since Linc Darner arrived as head coach. Last year, the Mocs won 105-91 in Jenkins Field House, the third time they've topped 100 points against the Sailfish under Darner. The Mocs also won in West Palm Beach, 79-71.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... The Moccasins are currently in third place in the SSC, only a half game behind Florida Tech and Rollins, and only a half game ahead of three other teams. Regardless of other results on Wednesday, they're assured of finishing the first half of the league schedule in no worse than a tie for third. Against PBA, the Moccasins will not only be going for their fourth straight win, they'll be going for their fourth straight win by double digits. Over the last three games they've seen both their 3-point shooting and free throw percentages dramatically improve, helping them score 86.7 points per game during that stretch. The Mocs continue to lead the SSC in scoring offense for the season at 82.1 points per game. Seth Evans, the Moccasin individual leader with a 16.8 average that ranks third in the SSC, has scored 19.0 points per game during the current 3-game winning streak; and Brett Bailey, who is second on the team and sixth in the SSC with 14.4 points per game, has been averaging 17.0 over the last three games. Kevin Capers (13.4 ppg.) has been shooting nearly 50 percent from the field during the winning streak and 83 percent from the line. Cameron Vines has seen his field goal percentage increase to .500 in the last three games while averaging 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in those games. Also in the last three games, Tyler Kelly has handed out 16 assists, scored 7.7 points per game and gone 13-for-14 from the line; Kyle Tazioli has gone 8-for-12 from the field; and Garrett Putman has gone 6-for-12 with 16 rebounds. Kelly is coming off his first career double-digit scoring game when he had 11 second-half points against Lynn, and had he had eight assists in the win at Tampa last Wednesday night.
ABOUT PALM BEACH ATLANTIC... A Division II independent, PBA is playing the third of eight consecutive road games, which includes six against schools from the SSC. The Sailfish have split the first two, winning 68-55 at Tampa on Saturday, and losing to cross-town rival Northwood (the top-ranked NAIA team in the country) on Monday, 86-72. Among their other results this year are wins over Lynn and Barry, two losses to Rollins, and a loss to Division I North Florida. The Sailfish graduated their top two scorers from last year, but return their next three, and two of them are the team's leading scorers this year. Junior guard Dante Valentine, who is coming off a season-high 20 points against Northwood, is averaging 12.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.7 steals. He ranks among the Division II leaders in steals per game, and also leads PBA in 3-pointers with 20, having gone 20-for-61 from that distance. Senior swingman Terrell Terry averages 12.1 points and 4.6 rebounds and is 11-for-39 from 3-point range. Valentine and Terry are the only PBA players averaging double digit points, but freshman forward Marcus Hardy is averaging nearly 12 points over the last 10 games. He has a season average of 9.2 and leads the Sailfish with 5.7 rebounds per game. Hardy had 16 points and 16 rebounds on Monday against Northwood, and also leads PBA with a .460 field goal percentage. In addition to Valentine, Terry and Hardy, three other PBA players have started at least 10 games this season, including redshirt junior center Ian Sitz, who was also a starter last year. Sitz averages 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds, while another redshirt junior, Carter McMasters, averages 5.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and a team-leading 1.5 blocks.
