Florida Southern (15-9, 8-7) will play its final regular season home game of the 2011-12 season Wednesday night when it hosts the University of Tampa (6-18, 2-12) at 7:30 p.m. The Moccasins need one more win to have a chance at hosting a first-round game in next week's Sunshine State Conference Tournament, and the Spartans present the last opportunity to get one. Florida Southern will end the regular season on Saturday with a non-conference game at Palm Beach Atlantic.
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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MidFlorida, Republic Services & Bright House Networks
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CATERING FOR SIXTH MAN CLUB PROVIDED BY
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Ker's WingHouse
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Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #23, Garrett Putman (5.4 pts., 5.9 rebs.)
F, #40, Brett Bailey (14.5 pts., 7.0 rebs., .546 fg%)
G, #5, Dominic Lane (11.8 pts., 5.4 rebs., 2.1 asts.)
G, #14, Tyler Kelly (5.8 pts., 2.0 rebs., 3.8 asts.)
G, #21, Seth Evans (17.4 pts., 2.9 rebs., 2.6 asts.)
SERIES HISTORY... The Moccasins have an all-time record of 87-70 against the Spartans, which includes a 55-35 mark since Tampa re-instated men's basketball in 1983-84 after a 12-year hiatus. Under Linc Darner, the Mocs are 10-3 against the Spartans, 4-1 at home, and have won nine straight in the series. That's the longest streak for either team since they first met in 1933. Florida Southern won the first meeting this year in Tampa, 97-71, behind a career-high 24 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and three steals from Brett Bailey. The Mocs shot 50 percent from the floor and the Spartans shot 29 percent.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... With a 79-68 victory at Lynn on Saturday, Florida Southern remained in the running for a first-round home game in the SSC Tournament next Wednesday night. To get that spot, the Mocs will need to beat Tampa this Wednesday, and have either Rollins or Saint Leo lose both of its final two games since each of those schools swept Florida Southern during the regular season. Either Eckerd or Florida Tech will be the #1 seed, and Florida Southern could finish as high as #3, but no lower than #5. In their most recent game at Lynn, the Mocs shuffled their lineup and re-inserted both Seth Evans and Garrett Putman into the starting five for the first time since January 11. Evans led the Mocs with 26 points, his eighth 20-point game of the season and the third time in the last four he's scored at least 25. He had 17 in the final 13 minutes when the Mocs out-scored the Knights 38-18. Evans now ranks second in the SSC with 17.4 points per game, second in 3-point percentage at .407, first in 3-pointers made with 77, and first in free throw percentage at .903. Putman added four points, a game-high eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. It was the seventh time in the last 12 games he's pulled down at least eight boards, though Brett Bailey still leads the team with 7.0 per game. Putman is now seventh in the SSC in rebounding, and along with Dominic Lane, he gives the Moccasins three of the top ten rebounders in the league, along with three of the top six scorers. Those three scorers are Evans (2nd), Bailey (4th) and Kevin Capers (6th), who leads all freshmen with his 14.0 average. Against Lynn, Capers came off the bench for only the fourth time this year, but still scored 15 points. Most of that came from the free throw line, where he was 11-for-12, the fifth time this year's he had at least 12 free attempts in a game, and the eighth time he's had at least 10. Capers and Tyler Kelly are tied for the team lead in assists, and also rank third in the SSC, and Kelly is also averaging 6.9 points over the last 15 games. That's the same average during the same span as Cameron Vines, giving the Mocs three of the league's top freshmen this year.
ABOUT TAMPA... Tampa has already been eliminated from the SSC Tournament race and will be wrapping up its season Wednesday at Florida Southern and Saturday at home against Florida Tech. As such, the Spartans will have a major say in who wins the SSC regular season title, and who plays where in the first round of the tournament. While Tampa ranks last in the SSC in scoring offense at 55.5 points per game, the Spartans have been one of the league's best defensive teams for most of the season. Only five of their 24 opponents have scored more than 70 against them, and the Spartans have allowed less than 60 on nine occasions. They're giving up an average of 65.1 points, though Florida Southern has scored the most points against them this year in its earlier 97-71 victory. Tampa has just one player averaging double digit points, and it's returning starter Ashton Graham with a 13.9 average. The senior guard also leads UT in rebounding (4.6 avg.) and steals (31), and is second in assists (33) and 3-pointers (25). Graham is one of only four players in the SSC this year to score 30 or more points in a conference game, with exactly 30 in their 98-88 win at Rollins on February 1. (Florida Southern's Kevin Capers also scored 30 against Rollins.) Junior forward Callum Townsend is Tampa's other returning starter from last year, but did not play during the first semester this year. Since his return, Townsend has started all 15 games, averaged 9.7 points and 4.5 rebounds, and shot 35 percent from 3-point range (28-for-80) and 77 percent from the line. Sophomore forward Stefon Barfield is third on the team in scoring with a 7.7 average, and though he's not attempted enough 3-pointers to qualify for the league leaders, he's still shooting 40 percent from that distance (10-for-25) and 46 percent overall. Freshman guard Jon Riles is the Spartan leader in assists with 52 (2.2 per game), and adds 5.5 points and 3.2 rebounds. Senior guard Osby Kelly averages 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds, and is another of the eight players who have started at least seven games for the Spartans this year.
