Box Score
BOCA RATON - Florida Southern used a 24-5 run over a nearly nine-minute span in the second half to post a come-from-behind 61-56 victory over Lynn here Saturday in the Sunshine State Conference opener for both teams at the de Hoernle Center on the Lynn campus.
The run helped the Mocs take control of the game en route to earning its fourth win of the season and opening SSC play with a road win for the just the second time in the last six seasons. FSC is now 4-1 on the season and has won two straight games since falling on a half-court buzzer beater last Friday at home to St. Cloud State to open the FSC Ledger Media Group/Terrace Hotel Classic.
"I thought the last 15 minutes of the game we played really well," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following the game. "Because in the first half, we didn't play very good."
In the first half, the Mocs allowed Lynn to shoot 57 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line as the Fighting Knights held a 30-22 lead at the half. The Fighting Knights offense in the opening 20 minutes mostly came from Slobodan Miljanic as the senior forward was 4-for-5 from the 3-point line and scored 12 of his team's 30 points.
"We didn't do a good job of guarding on defense, nor running good offense in the first half," said Darner, who is now 3-4 in SSC openers as the Mocs coach.
The Mocs second-half run was aided by the play of junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.), sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) and freshman guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) as they combined to score 28 of the Mocs 39 points after halftime.
Lane gave the Mocs the lead for good on his three-pointer with 9:18 remaining in the game and then senior forward Jon Gardner (Anderson, Ind.) capped the 24-5 run with a lay-up at the 7:29 mark. Lane led the way for the Mocs with a game-high 16 points, including 14 in the second half and added six boards in the win.
"I thought Dom (Lane), Dominique (Williams) and Cameron (Vines) really stepped it up in the second half. They made plays and hit some shots that helped us earn the win," the Mocs coach said.
Darner said one of the biggest keys to the Mocs second-half surge was his team's ability to force turnovers and score off those miscues.
"One of the bigger stats for us as a coaching staff is turnover margin," said Darner, who is now 133-61 in his seventh season at FSC. "We were able to force them into 20 turnovers, while we committed 10 turnovers. That led us to having 12 more shot attempts and more chances to score." FSC held a 19-8 edge in points off turnovers, including an 11-2 edge after halftime.
After the Mocs run, the Fighting Knights were able to pull within two points on four different occasions, until the visitors sealed the win on a steal by Vines on an inbounds play by Lynn with four seconds left. The steal and ensuing two free throws capped the scoring.
"That steal was a big play in the game as they weren't able to get up a shot to tie the game in the closing seconds," Darner added.
In addition to Lane, Williams scored a career-high nine points and added four boards, while Vines, senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) and junior forward Lamar McKnight (Bedford, Ohio) each had eight points in the win.
Lynn was paced by 12 points from Miljanic, while Kaleb Clyburn added nine points. Pavle Raickovic, Shamel Akins and Brandon Smith each had eight points in the loss.
For the game, FSC finished shooting 38 percent from the field, but struggled from the 3-point line as they shot 20 percent (4-for-20), while Lynn finished shooting 46 percent from the floor and 28 percent from long distance. Lynn held a 39-36 edge on the boards, but the Mocs had 15 offensive boards that led to a 16-6 advantage in second chance points.
The Mocs will have little time to savor Saturday's win as they return to action on Monday, Dec. 3 with a home non-conference contest against Armstrong Atlantic. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Jenkins Field House.
"Armstrong is a very good team and it will be a very good game," Darner said.
