After a two-week break for Christmas and the New Year's holiday, the Florida Southern men's basketball team (7-3, 1-1) resumes play Wednesday night at home against Eckerd College (7-3, 1-1). It's the first of six straight Sunshine State Conference games, and the Moccasins' first conference game since beating Florida Tech on December 8.
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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GAME SPONSORS
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The Darby Law Group & 5th-Third Bank
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CATERING FOR SIXTH MAN CLUB PROVIDED BY
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Miller's Ale House
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Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #23, Garrett Putman (7.5 pts., 6.3 rebs.)
F, #40, Brett Bailey (14.1 pts., 7.7 rebs., .602 fg%)
G, #0, Kevin Capers (14.5 pts., 2.3 rebs., 3.4 asts., 2.2 steals)
G, #5, Dominic Lane (11.8 pts., 5.2 rebs., 2.5 asts.)
G, #21, Seth Evans (17.1 pts., 2.3 rebs., 3.8 asts.)
SERIES HISTORY... Florida Southern leads the series 60-31, and the Mocs are 6-5 against the Tritons under Linc Darner. The teams met three times last year, with each team winning on its home court and Eckerd winning 70-69 in the SSC Tournament semifinals. The Mocs have won the last four meetings in Lakeland, including last year by a score of 77-70. Brett Bailey scored 17 points, had four rebounds and two blocks in that game, while Lance Kearse led the Tritons with 17 points as well. The Moccasins led 34-19 at halftime and never trailed.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... The Moccasins will look to pick up where they left off before Christmas break when they scored a season-high 98 points against Malone in their last game and shot 60 percent from the floor. They've now scored at least 78 points in nine consecutive games and are averaging 84.1 points per game for the season. That's second in the SSC to Florida Tech. Four Moccasins are averaging double figure points, and all four of them have taken turns leading the Mocs in scoring in different games this year. Kevin Capers (14.5 ppg.) has been the high scorer four times, Seth Evans (17.1 ppg.) has done it three times, Dominic Lane (14.1 ppg.) has been the high man twice, and Brett Bailey (14.1 ppg.) has accomplished it once. All of them have at least two 20-point games too. Garrett Putman has a high of 15 points this year and averages 7.5 per game. That group has started all 10 games for Florida Southern this season, though Tyler Kelly averages more than 20 minutes off the bench while also averaging 4.4 points and 3.2 assists per game. Cameron Vines and Kyle Tazioli are two other regulars, playing 19 and 13 minutes per game respectively, with Vines averaging 6.6 points and 5.1 rebounds, and Tazioli averaging 5.6 points and 3.1 rebounds.
ABOUT ECKERD... Like the Moccasins, Eckerd split its two pre-Christmas conference games to bring a 1-1 SSC mark into Wednesday night's contest. The Tritons lost to Florida Tech 82-72, and defeated Nova Southeastern 65-58. They've also split two games against nationally ranked opponents, losing to West Liberty State (85-75) and handing Winston-Salem State its first loss last week (75-51). Eckerd ranks third in the SSC in scoring offense behind Florida Tech and Florida Southern with 81.1 points per game, but Eckerd and Florida Southern are also giving up the most points in the SSC. The Tritons have four players scoring in double figures this year and a fifth at 9.9 points per game. Lance Kearse leads the team with a 19.4 scoring average that also ranks second in the SSC, and he's the league leader in 3-point shooting percentage (.571, 12-for-21). He was Eckerd's second leading scorer last year. Wayne Sears Jr. scores 13.5 points per game and is also the team lead in assists (3.0 avg.) and steals (1.9 avg.). Kearse and Sears are Eckerd's only seniors. Darrien Mack, who has come off the bench in every game this year, scores 12.0 points per game and pulls down a team-leading 5.0 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the floor. Josh Snodgrass, who missed the first six games of the season, has totaled 41 points, 15 rebounds and six assists in the last four games, while Alex Bodney averages 9.9 points and shoots 38 percent from long range.
