Box Score
LAKELAND - Florida Southern closed the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule here Tuesday evening by posting a hard-fought 92-80 victory over Johnson C. Smith in non-conference action at Jenkins Field House.
The victory extended the Moccasins win streak to six straight games and improved its record to 8-1 overall on the season. In addition, the victory was also the team's fifth consecutive win on its home court and its second win in as many nights as the Mocs posted an 88-82 come-from-behind win Monday night at home over Tuskegee.
Tuesday's win was keyed by the Mocs depth as nine players at least 14 minutes and three players played more than 25 minutes in the contest that featured 14 ties and 12 lead changes.
"I thought we wore them down towards the end of the game," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said. "We played nine guys 13 minutes or more and I thought our depth was able to wear them out."
The Golden Bulls, who are members of the CIAA and are from Charlotte, N.C., were also playing its second game in as many nights as they posted a 67-64 win on Monday night at Eckerd.
The turning point in Tuesday's game was a 15-3 run over a span of four-plus minutes to turn a 70-66 deficit into an 81-73 lead. The run was keyed by seven points from junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.), including capping the run with a lay-up with 4:26 left in the game.
After two free throws by Trevin Parks dropped FSC's lead to 81-75, the Mocs would put the game away with a 9-0 scoring run that began with a three-pointer from senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) and was capped by a jumper by Lane. Lane's basket with 2:48 remaining gave the Mocs a 90-75 lead.
JCSU would score five of the game's final seven points to set the final margin of 12 points.
Lane led the way for the Mocs with 23 points, inclduing scoring 13 of them in the second half. In addition to Lane, Evans added 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists on the night, while junior forward Lamar McKnight (Bedford, Ohio) tallied a career-high 19 points and added nine boards.
"Lamar plays with a lot of intensity and hits big shots for us," said Darner, who is now 137-61 at the helm of the Mocs. "I also thought Seth for the second straight game was able to shoot the ball quicker."
JCSU, who fell to 6-3 with the loss, was paced by the play of Parks, who finished with a game-high 32 points as he was 9-for-15 from the field, 4-for-7 from the 3-point line and hit 10 of his 11 free throw attempts. Parks scored 19 of his 32 points in the first half.
"(Trevin) Parks is a good player and we knew he would make shots," the Mocs coach added. "I thought we did a good job defensively on him, despite him scoring 32 points."
Parks entered the game averaging a little over 26 points per game, which is third-best among all NCAA Division II players.
In the first half, Parks and the Golden Bulls used a 21-5 run to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 25-11 lead just a little over 10 minutes into the contest. The 14 point lead was the largest of the game for either team.
Following JCSU's run, the Mocs began chipping away at the deficit as they used an 18-2 run capped by an Evans lay-up to take a 29-27 lead with 5:59 left in the half. The Golden Bulls would retake the lead about 55 seconds later. The teams would trade baskets until JCSU used a 4-0 run to turn a 33-all tie into a 37-33 lead with 1:08 left in the half. FSC, though, capped the half by scoring the final points, including using a three-pointer by Lane with 15 seconds left to take a 38-37 lead at the half.
Emilio Parks also tallied double figures for JCSU as he had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the loss, while Antwan Wilkerson added nine points and seven rebounds.
For the game, the Mocs shot 49 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-point line and held a 42-31 edge on the glass and forced JCSU into 24 turnovers that led to 29 points. FSC committed 16 turnovers and shot just 50 percent (9-for-18) from the free throw line.
JCSU finished the game shooting 54 percent from the field and 36 percent from long distance, including shooting 63 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the 3-point line in the second half.
The Mocs will now take about 18 days off, including six days off mandated by the NCAA as part of its "Life in Balance" initiative that was established a few years ago, before returning to the court on Saturday, Jan. 5 as they host Barry in a 7:30 p.m. Sunshine State Conference contest. It will mark the first home conference of the season for the Mocs as they opened league play on Dec. 1 at Lynn.
“I think we’ve played a really good schedule with some pretty good teams,†Darner said. “It has helped prepare us for conference play.â€
