Box Score
WINTER PARK - The ninth-ranked Florida Southern Moccasins used a season-high 14 three-pointers to earn a 97-74 win over 19th-ranked Rollins here Wednesday night in Sunshine State Conference action at Warden Arena on the Rollins campus.
In a match-up between the top teams in the league standings, the Mocs took over sole possession of first place in the SSC with the victory to conclude the first half of league play for both squads.
The win, which was the Mocs sixth straight, improved FSC to 15-2 overall and 7-1 in the SSC, while Rollins fell to 14-4 overall and dropped their second straight in SSC play to fall to 6-2.
"We shot the ball tremendously tonight. I'm not sure we can shoot it much better than we did," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following his team's fifth consecutive game of scoring 90 or more points. "I thought we played one of our best games of the season. Our guys came out and played tonight."
"I also thought the FSC crowd was outstanding. It was nice to see a lot of folks showing us support."
With the 97 points, the Mocs have now scored 90 or more points in five straight games for the first time since posting five straight 90 point games during the 1974-75 season.
"This was a big win for us as we now control our own destiny in the race for the conference title. We have played five of our first eight games in league play on the road, so now we get to play five at home in the second half," the Mocs coach added.
In the opening four minutes of the game, neither team could get much of a lead until the Mocs used a 22-4 run to turn a 10-9 lead into a 32-13 advantage following a three-pointer by junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) with 8:50 left in the half.
After Rollins' Adam Allen drilled a trey to stop the Mocs run, FSC would push its lead to 20 points two times, the final time following a basket by junior forward Lamar McKnight (Bedford, Ohio) to extend out to a 38-18 lead with a little under six minutes remaining. The 20 point deficit was the Tars largest at home this season.
From the point, the Tars got back into the game as they closed the first half on a 17-8 run to drop the Mocs lead to 46-35 at the half. Rollins' run was capped by back-to-back lay-up from Kyle McClanahan, who scored 12 of the Tars 35 first half points.
Lane led the way for the Mocs with 22 points and added seven boards and three steals. Lane has now scored in double figures in seven straight games. In addition to Lane, senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) tallied 17 points, while senior forward Brett Bailey (Davie, Fla.) had 15 points and McKnight finished with 14 points in the win.
After hitting six treys in the opening half, the Mocs connected on eight in the second half as they finished shooting 40 percent (14-for-35) from long distance. In addition to shooting 40 percent from long distance, the Mocs also shot 53 percent from the field as they hit 36 baskets on the night.
After Rollins pulled within 48-42 in the first two-plus minutes of the second half, the Mocs used a 22-10 run capped by a tip-in from McKnight to push its lead to 70-52 with 10:09 left in the game.
The Tars, though, wouldn't go away as they used a quick 7-0 run capped by a three-pointer by Mitch Woods to pull within 70-59 with 8:11 remaining. That would be as close as Rollins would get as Lane hit a three-pointer with 7:59 left to jump start a 17-7 run to push the Mocs out to an 87-66 lead with 4:11 left in the game.
FSC's lead would grew to 23 points three times in the final four minutes of the game, including freshman walk-on guard Alex McClanahan (Maitland, Fla.) capping the scoring with two free throws with 24 seconds left in the game.
"I thought once again tonight that our depth played a factor in the game. I thought our freshness bothered them," the Moc coach said.
The Tars were paced by 18 points from McClanahan, while Adam Allen added 13 points off the bench and Dave Diakite had 12 points and seven boards in the loss. The loss was just the third home setback of the season the 19th-ranked team in Division II.
Rollins also shot the ball well as they finished the game shooting 55 percent from the field and 45 percent from the 3-point line, but committed 18 turnovers that led to 26 FSC points. In addition, the Mocs held a 32-28 edge on the glass, including collecting 15 offensive boards and had 23 assists as sophomore guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) dished a season-high seven.
The Mocs will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 2 as they host Lynn in a 7:30 p.m. SSC contest at Jenkins Field House. FSC opened SSC play with a 61-56 come-from-behind win over the Fighting Knights in Boca Raton on Dec. 1.
"This win doesn't mean anything if we don't come ready to play on Saturday against Lynn," said Darner, who improved to 9-7 against the Tars.
