Mocs Set to Host Terrace Hotel Tournament This Weekend

LAKELAND - After enjoying Thanksgiving on Thursday, the fifth-ranked Florida Southern Moccasin will return to the court this weekend as they host the 10th-Annual FSC/Terrace Hotel Tournament at Jenkins Field House on the FSC campus.

Tournament action gets underway on Friday, Nov. 29 at 5:15 p.m. as St. Joseph's (Ind.) faces North Alabama, while the fifth-ranked Mocs will face Stillman College in the second game beginning at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Nov. 30, the two losing teams on Friday will meet in the consolation game at 5:15 p.m., while the two winning teams will play in the championship game at 7:30 p.m.

The Mocs enter the tournament ranked fifth in the latest NABC/Division II Coaches' Top 25 Poll that was released on Tuesday and are 6-0 on the season after picking up a 94-75 home win Tuesday over Puerto Rico-Bayamon. The 6-0 start by the Mocs is its 16th in school history and first since the 2009-10 squad opened the season by winning its first 13 games.

This weekend will mark the 10th consecutive season that FSC has hosted a holiday tournament and the fourth year in a row it's been held the week of Thanksgiving. The Mocs are 12-6 all-time in the tournament and have won 10 of its last 12 overall with its only setbacks being a 91-89 loss last season to St. Cloud State and a 75-70 loss to Saginaw Valley State in 2010. Along with falling to St. Cloud State on a last-second half court shot last season, the Mocs earned an 82-75 win over the University of Mary.

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The Mocs, who have scored over 80 points in five of its first six games this season, including topping 90 points the last two games, have seven players averaging over 7.0 points per game, including three players scoring in double figures. Leading the way for the Mocs is junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.), who is averaging 15.7 points per game and is shooting 60 percent from the field and he has scored in double figures in five games, including scoring 20 or more points in two of those five games. In addition to Capers, junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) is averaging 10.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game and is shooting 74 percent from the field and has reached double figures four times, including two straight 10-plus point games and senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is averaging 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and he is fresh off an 18 point effort against Puerto Rico-Bayamon.

Other key performers for the Mocs are junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio), senior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio), redshirt senior forward Garrett Putman (Washington, D.C.), sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) and senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.). Kelly is averaging 9.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, while McKnight is averaging 8.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and Putman is averaging 8.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and is shooting 68 percent from the floor. Williams is averaging 7.5 points and 3.7 boards per game and is shooting 94 percent (16-for-17) at the free throw line and Adams is averaging 7.0 points per game and is shooting 52 percent from the field and 55 percent from downtown.

As a team, the Mocs are averaging 86.8 points per game and are shooting 50 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line and are allowing their opponents to score 71.5 points per game and are limiting them to 43 percent field goal shooting and 30 percent shooting from the 3-point line. Additionally, the Mocs are outrebounding their foes by a +4.2 margin and have a turnover margin of +3.8 as they have forced their opponents into 17.5 turnovers per game. FSC has also collected 47 steals in six games as Capers leads the way with 11.

In Tuesday's win over Bayamon, the Mocs scored a season high 94 points and had four players finish in double figures and 12 of the 14 players that saw action scored. Lane led the way with 18 points, while Kelly dished out a season high nine assists as the Mocs finished the game with 25 assists on 35 made baskets.

The Mocs opponent on Friday, Stillman College, is in the midst of playing its third game in the last five days and they have played a total of nine games on the season, including four games in the Preseason NIT Tip-off, of which, three of those games were exhibition contests as only the Norfolk State game counts on their record. The Tigers enter the weekend sporting a 1-4 overall record after suffering a 105-83 loss on Tuesday against Norfolk State to conclude the Preseason NIT Tip-off event. Along with playing Norfolk State, the Tigers also lost at Rutgers (116-89), at Alabama (102-65) and to McNeese State (81-72) in the Preseason NIT Tip-off. Stillman's lone win of the season came in its second game of the year as they collected a 74-71 victory at preseason 19th-ranked Alabama-Huntsville. Since that win, the Tigers have dropped three straight games.

Stillman returns three starters and six lettermen from last season's 18-10 squad that finished tied for second in the SIAC West Division with a 12-5 mark. Among the key performers this season for the Tigers are senior forward Markeith Madison, who is averaging 16.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and in four games in the Preseason NIT, he averaged 11.8 points and 6.0 boards per game and scored 17 points in his last outing against Norfolk State. In addition to Madison, senior guard Daniel Bryant is averaging 17.5 points per game in just two contests and he averaged 19.0 points in the Preseason NIT, including scoring 25 against Norfolk State, while senior forward guard/forward Justin Harris is averaging 15.6 points per game and is shooting 33 percent from the 3-point line and junior forward Stanley Magee is averaging 11.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

The Tigers, though, are missing two of its top returners from last season as senior guard D'uanaway Barnes and senior center Torrean Walker are sitting out the first semester due to academic issues, but are expected to return for the second semester in mid-December. Barnes averaged 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game and shot 42 percent from the field last season, while Walker averaged 9.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game and blocked an SIAC-best 2.7 shots a year ago.

As a team, Stillman is averaging 75.0 points per game and are shooting 37 percent from the field and 31 percent from long distance and is getting outrebounded by a -7.0 margin. On defense, the Tigers are allowing 89.2 points per game and are limiting their opponents to 54 percent shooting from the field and 43 percent shooting from the 3-point line.

Stillman is coached by Michael Grant, who is in his sixth season with the Tigers and he has compiled an 85-69 record. In his 15 year coaching career that spans both the D-I and D-II levels, Grant has recorded a career record of 237-189 and has posted 10 winning campaigns in those previous 14 seasons. In his time at Stillman, Grant has led the Tigers to four consecutive winning seasons and helped lead Stillman to the finals of the 2011 NCAA South Regional Tournament.

FSC will be facing Stillman for just the third time in school history as the series is tied at 1-1. Stillman won the team's first-ever meeting, 92-86 in the semifinals of the 2011 NCAA D-II South Regional in Huntsville, Ala., while the Mocs earned an 86-75 win over the Tigers in last year's season opener in Birmingham, Ala. FSC is 11-5 all-time against SIAC schools, including picking up a 75-57 win last Thursday at Benedict, who was tabbed to win the SIAC in the league's preseason poll.

Meanwhile, on the Saturday, the Mocs will face either North Alabama or St. Joseph's (Ind.).

North Alabama, who won Division II men's basketball national titles in 1979 and 1991, enters the weekend sporting a 4-1 record and a No. 22 ranking in the latest NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll. The Lions only loss this season was an 85-82 setback at Tuskegee on Nov. 19. UNA, though, avenged that loss by Tuskegee four days later at home as the Lions collected an 88-80 win last Saturday.

UNA, who returns three starters and 12 lettermen from last season's 19-9 squad that lost 94-80 to FSC in the first round of the NCAA D-II South Regional Tournament in Lakeland, are led in the early going this season by senior forward Bruce Adams and senior guard Rashaun Claiborne, who have combined to average 33.2 points per game and shoot a combined 52 percent from the field. On the season, Adams is averaging 16.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and is shooting 54 percent from the field, 64 percent from the 3-point line and 82 percent at the foul line, while Claiborne is averaging 16.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and is shooting 49 percent from the field and lead the team with nine steals.

As a team, the Lions are averaging 90.2 points per game and have scored over 80 points in all five games, including a season high 104 points in its 104-78 home win over Trevecca Nazerene. The Lions are shooting 46 percent from the field and 41 percent from the 3-point line and are outrebounding its foes by a +7.4 margin and are allowing 75.6 points per game and are limiting its foes to 41 percent shooting from the field and 24 percent from the 3-point line, which is 16th-best nationally in the latest Division II statistics.

The Lions are coached by Bobby Champagne and he has compiled a 168-128 record in his 11th season at UNA. In his time with the Lions, Champagne has led the Lions to three NCAA Tournament appearances and the 2008 Elite Eight.

UNA and FSC have meet six times previously on the hardwood as the Mocs hold a 5-1 edge in the series all-time, including collecting a 94-80 win last season in the first round of the NCAA D-II South Regional Tournament. The two teams have met four times in the postseason, including UNA picking up a 75-67 win in Lakeland over the Mocs during its national title run in 1979. FSC hasn't met UNA in the regular season since picking up a 91-62 win in the South Region Crossover at Valdosta State on Nov. 13, 2010.

St. Joseph's [IN] is the final team in this year's tournament. The Pumas are no strangers to the tournament as they are making its fifth overall appearance in the event and second consecutive. The Pumas are 4-4 in the FSC Tournament all-time. St. Joseph's, who is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, returns one starter and eight lettermen from last season's 6-19 squad.

The Pumas come into this weekend's action sporting a 1-3 overall record and are boasting one of the top scoring teams in the country as they are second in Division II in scoring as they are averaging 103.8 points per game. The Pumas have scored 90 or more points in four games, including opening the season with back-to-back 100 point games as they tallied 107 in a 110-107 double overtime loss at Cedarville and then scored 128 in its 128-127 win over Central State the following game. Only West Liberty, who is averaging 109.3 points per game, are averaging more points in D-II than St. Joseph's.

Leading the way for the Pumas are junior guard Cameron Vines and senior forward/guard Jon Smith. Vines, who played the past two seasons at FSC before transferring at the end of the last school year, is averaging 25.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game and is shooting 42 percent from the field, 39 percent from the 3-point line and 75 percent at the foul line. Vines, who averaged 9.2 points and 4.7 boards per game on last season's Mocs Elite Eight team, is averaging nearly 21 shots attempted per game and has scored in double figures in all four games, including a career-high 42 point effort against Central State, while Smith is averaging 21.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 45 percent from the floor and 37 percent from the 3-point line.

Along with scoring 103.8 points per game, St. Joseph's is shooting 44 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line, while they are allowing its opponents to average 109 points per game and shoot 57 percent from the field and 34 percent from the 3-point line. The Pumas are getting outrebounded by nearly 11 boards per game, but have forced 18.3 turnovers per game and have a +6.0 turnover margin.

St. Joseph's is coached by former Moccasin assistant coach Tom Church, who was a member of Linc Darner's staff the past three season prior to being named St. Joseph's coach in mid April replacing current FSC assistant coach Richard Davis. Darner served as St. Joseph's head coach from 2002-06, while Davis was the head coach from 2007-12.

FSC has faced St. Joseph's two times previously with both of those meetings coming in the FSC Holiday Tournament. The first meeting was in 2007 as the Mocs collected a 74-65 win and the most recent meeting came in 2009 when FSC earned a 92-83 win on Dec. 29.

Following this weekend's tournament, the Mocs will take a week off before opening Sunshine State Conference play on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Nova Southeastern. Tip-off for the league opener is set for 4 p.m. in Davie.