KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Florida Southern concluded its two-game exhibition slate against Southeastern Conference foes here Saturday afternoon with a 105-80 setback to the University of Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena on the UT campus.
Saturday's game tipped off just 16 hours after the Mocs completed its exhibition opener Friday night at eighth-ranked Florida in Gainesville. In that game, the Mocs fell 110-88 to the Gators.
"I'm really happy with the way we played today and these two exhibition games are going help us as the season progresses," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said. "I thought we actually played well the first 26 minutes of the game, but UT's size and physical strength seem to wear us down more than the long bus trip did down the stretch."
In Saturday's contest, UT scored the game's first five points and led 16-7 just a little over eight minutes into the game. The Mocs, though, responded with a 12-0 run capped by a lay-up from sophomore guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) to take a 19-16 lead. The run began with five straight points from junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.), before freshman forward Stephen Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) brought the Mocs within a point at 16-15 with his trey at the 11:27 mark.
After a turnover by UT's Jeronne Maymon, Kelly gave the Mocs its first lead of the game on a lay-up with 10:51 left in the half and his lay-up just 36 seconds later pushed FSC's lead to three points.
The Vols, who were playing its first exhibition game of the season and are coached by former Purdue player Cuonzo Martin, answered with a 14-8 run over a span of nearly four minutes to take a 30-27 edge following a lay-up by Jordan McRae. The Mocs, though, would fight back as they used a 9-3 run highlighted by seven straight points from Capers to take a 36-33 lead with 4:27 left in the opening half.
Martin played three seasons (1991-94) with Darner at Purdue and those connections helped the Mocs get Saturday's game.
"Ever since he (Cuonzo) got the job here in Knoxville, I would bug him every time I see him. When they called this year, we were excited and wanted to come up here and play," said Darner, who played at Purdue from 1990-94. "These exhibition games against Division I team help in recruiting and I thank him for letting us come and play."
After Josh Richardson tied the game at 36 with 4:01 left, Capers came right back down the floor and scored on a lay-up and hit a free throw to complete a three-point play to give FSC a 39-36 lead with a little under four minutes left in the first half. Capers scored 20 of his team-high 24 points in the opening half. In the game against UF on Friday, Capers led the Mocs in scoring as he tallied 20 points.
The Vols would have the last run of the half as they closed the opening 20 minutes on an 11-4 run to take a 47-43 halftime lead.
In the opening half, FSC stayed in the game thanks to its defense as they forced UT into 11 turnovers and scored 11 points off those turnovers.
"I thought our guys did a good job responding to play back-to-back games within 16 hours of each other," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following the game. "We were able to get the lead several times in the first half and trailed by only four at half, so I was proud of how we came out and competed against a very good Tennessee team."
Junior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) scored the first basket of the second half just 15 seconds out of the locker room to push the Mocs within 47-45 and Kelly hit two free throws 40 seconds later to tie the score at 47-all.
That opening run seemed to ignite UT as they responded with a 17-5 run over the next seven-plus minutes to push its lead to 64-52. After senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) scored on a lay-up with 11:11 left in the game to drop UT's lead to 64-54, the Vols would answer with a 15-5 run to push its lead to 79-59 with 7:40 left in the contest.
"We seemed to hit a wall about the 14 minute mark in the second half and that helped UT to push its lead out," added Darner.
The Vols lead eventually grew to as much 29 points following a three-pointer by Hubbs with 3:02 remaining in the game. Hubbs' trey gave UT a 102-73 lead.
FSC would close out the game by scoring seven of the final nine points to set the final margin.
In addition to Capers, senior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio) finished with 13 points and Kelly added 10 points in the loss.
For the second straight game, the Mocs lost the rebounding battle as UT held a 56-29 edge on the glass after UF had a 55-27 rebounding advantage. FSC's leading rebounder was junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) as he had five boards to go along with his eight points.
"I thought we did a good job defensively at times against them (Tennessee)," the Mocs coach added. "We didn't allow as many easy baskets or lay-ups like we did the night before to Florida."
For the game, FSC forced UT into 17 turnovers that led to 19 points. The Mocs committed just eight turnovers for the game.
Jarnell Stokes led the way for the Vols with a double-double of 27 points and 10 rebounds, while McRae added 21 points and nine boards and Hubbs tallied 17 points in the win. ÂÂ
FSC finished the game shooting just 38 percent from the field and 28 percent (8-for-29) from the 3-point line, while UT shot 61 percent from the floor, including shooting 63 percent from the field in the second half. The Vols also finished shooting 40 percent from the 3-point line for the game.
UT also held an edge on the free throw line as they shot 38 free throws, including 23 in the second half and made 25 of them, while FSC shot just 20 free throws and was 14-for-20 (70 percent) at the line.ÂÂ
The Mocs will now begin focusing on the start of the regular season as they open the 2013-14 season next Saturday, Nov. 9 with a 7:30 p.m. game in Cleveland, Miss., against Delta State. The following day, the Mocs will face Arkansas-Monticello in a 3 p.m. game as part of a season-opening exempt tournament hosted by the Statesmen.  ÂÂ
