Second Half Begins With First Place on the Line Against Rollins

The second half of the conference schedule begins Saturday night, and it begins with four teams within one game of first place in the Sunshine State Conference standings. Rollins and Florida Tech are tied for first, and Florida Southern and Eckerd tied for second just one game behind the co-leaders. All four of those teams go head-to-head on Saturday, with Florida Southern (12-5, 5-3) and Rollins (13-5, 6-2) meeting at 7:30 in Jenkins Field House. The Moccasins and Tars have combined to win the last six SSC regular season titles.

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

Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #40, Brett Bailey (14.8 pts., 7.7 rebs., .565 fg%)
G, #00, Kevin Capers (13.2 pts., 2.8 rebs., 3.5 asts.)
G, #1, Cameron Vines (6.4 pts., 4.8 rebs.)
G, #5, Dominic Lane (11.2 pts., 5.4 rebs., 2.3 asts.)
G, #14, Tyler Kelly (5.3 pts., 1.7 rebs., 3.8 asts.)

SERIES HISTORY... Florida Southern and Rollins have met more times than any other opponent for the Moccasins, and the Mocs hold a 113-50 lead in the series. Rollins won the first meeting this year in Winter Park, 84-78. The Mocs are 7-6 against the Tars under Linc Darner, including a 4-1 mark in Jenkins Field House where they've won four straight.

ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... Four straight wins, including a non-conference victory over Palm Beach Atlantic on Wednesday night, have moved Florida Southern up fromt seventh place in the SSC standings into a tie for third. With the Moccasins playing Rollins and Florida Tech at Eckerd on Saturday, there's the possibility of a 4-way tie for first by the end of this week. It could also happen next Wednesday when the Mocs travel to Melbourne to take on Florida Tech for the second time this season. The Moccasins are attempting to add to its school-record 21-game conference home court winning streak, and will put the league's highest scoring offense (81.5 ppg.) against one of the league's best defenses. That offense got off to a slow start against PBA, but came alive in the second half when the Mocs scored 47 points. It marked the 10th time in the 17 games this year that Florida Southern scored at least 47 points in the second half, and the third time the Mocs have done that when they were held to less than 30 points in the first half. One of the other occasions came against Rollins when the Mocs trailed 38-26 at halftime but scored 52 in the second half. The Mocs' hottest player of late has been Brett Bailey, who's averaging 20.7 points and 9.3 rebounds over the last three games, and is the SSC Player-of-the-Week for the third time this year. Seth Evans remains third in the SSC with his 16.8 scoring average, and has actually increased that since coming off the bench in the last four games, and Kevin Capers is still the league's highest scoring freshman with a 13.2 average. He has three 20-point games, including a game-high 22 in the first Rollins game in December. Dominic Lane (11.2 ppg.) rounds out the quartet of Moccasins averaging double digit points, and is second on the team in 3-pointers to Evans. Lane scored what was then a career-high 15 points against Rollins in December, but has since topped 20 points in two other games. Tyler Kelly ranks third in the SSC in assists, and is averaging 6.6 points and 4.6 assists in his seven starts while shooting 50 percent from 3-point range during that time.

ABOUT ROLLINS... While the Moccasins had a bye in the conference schedule on Wednesday, the Tars completed their first half with a 65-56 win over Nova Southeastern. A loss to Florida Tech last Saturday though had already dropped them into a tie for first with the Panthers, and the Tars have also lost to Eckerd in conference play this season. Seeking their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Tars return three starters from last year's SSC Championship team, but graduated two All-SSC players, including 2-time SSC Player-of-the-Year Nick Wolf. Their returning lettermen include the MVP of the 2010 SSC Tournament, senior guard Myk Brown; 3-year starter Jeremy Sharpe, who has averaged at least 11.0 points per game in all three of those seasons; and a 2-year starter and fifth-year senior at point guard in Ian Scott. None of those players, however, are leading the Tars in scoring. Instead, it's transfer Dave Diakite, who started 39 games over the last two seasons at the University of Central Florida. The 6-6 forward is averaging 12.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists, is shooting 45 percent from the floor, 34 percent from 3-point range (16-for-47) and 74 percent from the line. Brown is Rollins' second leading scorer with an 11.9 average, and also averages 4.1 rebounds and shoots 36 percent from 3-point distance. He was 10th in the SSC in scoring two years ago when he had a career-best 30-point game against Florida Southern. Sharpe, a 6-6 senior guard, averages 11.3 points and has a team-high 27 3-pointers after sitting out the last two seasons. He was a member of the SSC All-Freshman Team in 2008. Scott scores 9.5 points per game, leads the SSC with 4.1 assists per game, and ranks fourth in steals. He's also a 58 percent shooter from the floor, the highest percentage in the SSC among guards. Inside, 6-8 senior forward Chris Malcolm leads the league in blocked shots with 2.5 per game, and also averages 10.4 points and 6.9 rebounds. He's helped the Tars hold opponents to a league-low .402 field goal percentage while giving up 65.7 points per game.