Mocs Run Win Streak to Three Straight, Posts Win Over Armstrong Atlantic

LAKELAND - Florida Southern scored a season-high 54 points in the first half en route to posting a 99-77 victory over Armstrong Atlantic in non-conference action here Monday evening at Jenkins Field House.

With the win, the Moccasins improve to 5-1 overall on the season and extend its win streak to three straight games, while Armstrong, who was playing its third game in four days, fell to 4-3 on the season.

"I thought we played a great first half. We got off to a strong start thanks to the play of Seth (Evans) and Dominic (Lane)," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said. "A lot of guys came to play tonight. Seth got going offensively and he got others going."

The Mocs strong first half was due in part to the strong offensive output by senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) and junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.). Evans and Lane combined for 32 of FSC's 54 points in the opening 20 minutes of the contest. In the half, Evans shot 3-for-4 from the 3-point line and was 5-for-8 from the field en route to scoring 19 of his 22 points before the half, while Lane scored 13 points, including going 3-for-5 from the 3-point line, of his team-high 26 points in the opening period.

In addition to Evans and Lane, senior 6-foot-10 forward Brant Leitnaker (Lancaster, Ohio) played his best game of the season as the Indiana State transfer scored six points, pulled down four boards and blocked one shot in the first half. For the game, Leitnaker finished with nine points, six boards and two blocks.

"I thought Brant played well. He really stepped up on defense," said Darner, who is now 6-1 all-time against the Pirates in his seventh season with the Mocs.

In the first half, the Mocs jumped out to a 19-8 lead just a little more than seven minutes into the contest. The Pirates, who picked up a 72-60 win on Friday at Saint Leo, would pull within 35-24 following two free throws by Aric Miller with 7:01 left. From that point, the Mocs used a 17-7 run capped by four straight free throws from sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) to push its lead to 52-31 with 1:29 left in the half. After two free throws by Kenny Bellinger II dropped FSC's lead to 52-33, Leitnaker scored on a dunk with 35 seconds left to push the Mocs lead back 21 points at 54-33. FSC led 54-35 at the half. 

"We did a good job at holding them off the offensive boards and forcing them into turnovers," the Mocs coach added.

The Pirates came into the game averaging 48.5 boards per game on the season, including having 110 offensive boards and outrebounding its foes by a +10.5 margin. In Monday's game, the Mocs held a 49-39 edge on the glass as McKnight picked up a career-high 11 boards and tallied nine points, while Lane added 10 boards to post the Mocs first double-double of the season.

On defense, the Mocs forced 20 turnovers that led to 24 points and held a 25-8 edge in second chance points after collecting 19 offensive boards in the win.  

FSC scored the first four points of the second half to push its lead to 58-35 just two minutes out of the locker room, but AASU wouldn't go away as they used a 23-13 run over a span of six minutes to cut a 23 point deficit to 11 points at 69-58 with 12:20 left in the game. The run was aided by 11 points from Miller, who finished the night with 28 points after entering the contest averaging 24.5 points per game. Miller scored 11 of his team's final 13 points during the run.

"Our goal tonight was to make (Aric) Miller take tough shots. He scored a lot of points tonight, but had to work hard for those points," said Darner, who won his 134th game as the Mocs coach. "He is one of the best offensive players in Divison II."

Following the Pirates run, the Mocs used a 25-11 run to push its lead to as much as 25 points following a lay-up by Lane with 3:12 left in the game. Lane's lay-up gave the Mocs a 94-69 lead.

AASU would pull within 96-77 following an 8-2 run keyed by four points from J.C. Winn, before redshirt senior guard Jay Hubble (Pendleton, Ind.) capped the game's scoring with a three-pointer with 44 seconds left in the game.

Along with Miller, Winn scored 11 points, while Eric Eversley and Bellinger each had 10 points in the loss. Antroine Williford collected a game-high 12 boards for the Pirates.

For the game, the Mocs shot 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line, while AASU also shot 46 percent from the floor, but was just 2-for-8 (25 percent) from downtown. In addition, both teams combined to shoot 64 free throws in the game as the officials whistled a combined 45 fouls in the game. AASU finished 23-for-41 (56 percent) at the line, while FSC was 18-for-23 (78.3 percent) from the charity stripe.

The Mocs will continue its five-game homestand on Saturday, Dec. 8 as they host Benedict in a 3 p.m. non-conference contest at Jenkins Field House.