GAINESVILLE - Florida Southern opened its 2013-14 season here Friday evening by dropping a hard-fought 110-88 exhibition contest to eighth-ranked Florida at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on the UF campus.
The exhibition was the first of two consecutive for the ninth-ranked Moccasins against Southeastern Conference foes as FSC will travel overnight to Knoxville, Tenn., for a 1 p.m. exhibition game Saturday against the University of Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Mocs, who connected on 13 of its 30 three-point shots, were outrebounded by a 55-27 margin and allowed UF to shoot 53 percent from the field for the game, including 56 percent in the first half. The Gators, who lost to Michigan in the Elite Eight last season, led 50-41 at half.ÂÂ
UF's 55-27 edge on the glass, included 19 offensive rebounds that led to 22 second chance points.
"One of the first things I said to start the game was in the first four minutes I didn't want to be down 15-2. We wanted to be in the game and I thought it was pretty even," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said in the postgame press conference. "They (Florida) got the lead, we made a couple of runs and they would get the lead back.
"It was a good game for our guys and will help get us better as team. UF is a great team."ÂÂ
FSC got down 4-0 in the opening minute of the game, but two free throws and two straight treys from junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) and another from senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) allowed the Mocs to tie the game at 11-all with 15:51 left in the opening half. Capers' first trey at the 18:52 mark gave FSC a 5-4 lead.
The Gators would push its eight points at 28-20 following a lay-up by Patric Young with 9:12 left in the first half. The Mocs, though, would use a 7-2 run aided by five points from Lane to pull within 30-27 at the 7:49 mark.
From that point, UF would flex its muscles as the Gators used a 20-11 run over a span of nearly six-plus minutes to push its lead to 50-38. The run was keyed by seven points from freshman guard Kasey Hill. Hill, who was a McDonald's All-American last season at Montverde Academy, finished the night with 17 points as he was one of six Gators to score in double figures.
FSC, though, would close out the half with a three-pointer from junior guard Tyler Logan (Marlboro, Md.) to go into the locker room trialing by nine at the half. ÂÂ
"We were able to get the deficit down to nine at the half and I told our coaches if we could be within 10 at the half then we probably played pretty well," the eighth-year Mocs coach added.
Capers led the way for the Mocs with 20 points as he was 5-for-10 from the field, including 3-for-5 from the 3-point line and was 7-for-9 at the free throw line. Capers scored 12 of his 20 points in the first half.
In addition to Capers, Lane finished the night with 19 points and four assists as he was 7-for-15 from the field, including shooting 4-of-9 from long distance, while the third Moc in double figures was junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio), who had 11 points and five assists.
The Mocs opened the second half on a 9-7 run to cut UF's lead to 57-50 following a trey by Lane with 18:09 left in the game. Following Lane's trey, UF used a 20-6 run over a span of nearly six minutes to extend its lead to 77-56.
FSC, who advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight a year ago, would make one more push as they used a 12-4 run capped by a bucket from sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) to pull within 81-68 with 9:53 left in the contest.
"We were hoping to get UF's lead under 10 points with eight minutes to play, but they made a run - just their size and their physical dominance on us inside wore us down tonight," said Darner. "It will be interesting to see how we play tomorrow, but I thought our guys did a good job battling back."
Williams' basket would be as close as the Mocs would get as the Gators used a 19-7 run over the next six minutes to push its lead to 25 points at 100-75. The run was capped by a free throw from Hill.
After a 3-point play by Lane pushed FSC within 100-83 with 2:23 remaining, the Gators closed out the game on a 10-5 run to post the 22-point win and improve to 62-13-1 all-time in exhibition play.
In addition to Hill's 17 points, the Gators were paced offensively on the night by Casey Prather, who finished with 23 points and seven assists. 15 of Prather's 23 points came after halftime. Along with Prather, Young finished with 19 points and nine boards and Will Yeguete added 12 points and nine boards off the bench. The other Gators in double figures on the night were Jacob Kurtz, Devon Walker and Eli Carter, who each tallied 11 points in the win. Walker also added eight boards in the win.
The Mocs, who led Division II in turnover margin last season, committed just 15 turnovers on the night and forced the Gators to commit 18. In addition, FSC dished out 21 assists on its 30 made baskets, while UF had 18 on its 38 made field goals.
While UF finished the night shooting 53 percent from the field, the Mocs shot 44 percent from the floor and 43 percent from the 3-point line. In addition, UF was 29-for-39 from the foul line as the Mocs were whistled for 28 fouls. UF was called for just 18 fouls on the night. FSC was 15-for-22 (68 percent) at the foul line.
"We have to learn from some of the mistakes we made tonight and get better," added Darner. "This why we play these (exhibition) games. It only makes us better."
Following Saturday's exhibition at Tennessee, the Mocs will open the 2013-14 season next weekend with two games at Delta State's season opening tournament. At the two-day event, the Mocs will open with Delta State at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9, before facing Arkansas-Monticello on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m.
