Mocs Top Century Mark in Home Win Over Stillman

LAKELAND - Florida Southern opened play here Friday evening in its annual FSC/Terrace Hotel Tournament at Jenkins Field House by topping the century mark en route to earning a 104-84 win over Stillman College in a match-up between two South Regional opponents.

The victory, extended the Moccasins regular season non-conference win streak to 13 straight games and also extended its home court winning streak to seven consecutive games dating to last season, improved FSC to 7-0 on the season. Stillman, who was playing its third game in the five days, fell to 1-5 with the loss.

"I thought we played well tonight against a very good opponent," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said. "They (Stillman) hit some tough shots and caused us problems at times, but I thought we really a good job on both ends of the floor for the most part."

Stillman, who played four games in the Preseason NIT Tip-off Tournament, make things interesting in the second half as they used a 19-4 run over a span of three-plus minutes to cut FSC's lead from 83-59 to 87-78 following a nearly 35-foot three-pointer from Daniel Bryant. The triple was one of six on the night by Bryant as he finished with a game-high 26 points, including scoring 20 of those points in the second half and 12 of them during the 19-4 run.

In the NIT Tip-off Tournament, the Tigers played two games at Alabama as the fell 102-65 to the Crimson Tide and 81-72 to McNeese State and then they played two games earlier this week at Rutgers as they fell 116-89 to Rutgers and ended the event with a 105-83 loss to Norfolk State. All of the games in the event, with the exception of the Norfolk State game, were exhibition contests and didn't count on Stillman's record.

Following Bryant's trey at the 4:01 mark of the game, the Mocs would close out the game on a 17-6 run to post the 20-point victory and move to 7-0 for the 15th time in school history and first time since 2009-10 when the Mocs opened the season by winning its first 13 games.

"Stillman is never out of any game due to the way they can shoot the ball from the 3-point line," said Darner, who improved to 163-66 as the Mocs head coach. "They made a big run at us and cut our lead in half. We need to find a way to close out teams when we get a big lead and not let them back into the game."

The Mocs hit the century mark on two free throws by redshirt senior forward Garrett Putman (Washington, D.C.) with 58 seconds remaining. It was the first time FSC scored a 100 points in a game since tallying 108 in a 108-80 win over Florida Tech in the semifinals of the 2012 Sunshine State Conference Tournament. The Mocs are now 19-0 all-time under Darner when scoring 100 or more points.

Junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) led the way offensively for the Mocs as he scored 23 points and added four rebounds, three assists and five steals in the win. It was third time this season that Capers scored 20 or more points in a game. 

Capers was one of four Mocs to finish in double figures as junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) and senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) each had 15 points, while Putman added 12 points and junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) chipped in with 10 points. For the game, all 10 Mocs that played scored at least four points.

In the first half, the Tigers jumped out to a 13-7 lead just a little over three minutes into the game thanks to six points from Bryant and five points from Justin Harris, who finished the game with 18.

The Mocs would respond with a 13-6 run to take a 20-19 lead following a free throw by Battle with 9:58 left in the opening half. The Tigers, though, would answer with a 10-4 run capped by a bucket from Jeffrey Wherry to take a 29-24 lead with 7:21 left in the first half.

FSC would close out the opening half on a 23-12 run to go into the half with a 47-41 lead. Battle and Capers would combine to score 11 of FSC's final 23 points of the first half.

The Mocs would open the second half on an 18-5 run to push its lead to 65-46 following two free throws by Battle with 14:52 remaining in the game. After Markeith Madison stopped the Mocs run with a fast break lay-up, FSC used a 4-0 spurt powered by a lay-up from junior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) and two more Putman free throws to push its lead to 69-48 with 12:26 left.

Stillman, who is now 1-2 all-time against the Mocs, answered with an 8-0 scoring spurt capped by a Harris three-pointer to drop the Mocs lead to 69-56 with 10:59 remaining.

The Mocs, though, responded with a 14-3 run over the next three-plus minutes to push its lead to 24 points at 83-59 following a lay-up by Capers with 7:23 left. The run was aided by five points from Lane and four from Putman. The 24 point lead was the largest of the game for the Mocs. 

In addition to Bryant and Harris, Madison also scored in double figures for the Tigers as he finished with 19 points and six boards in the loss.

The Mocs finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field, including shooting 58 percent from the floor in the second half and 82 percent (31-for-38) at the foul line, while Stillman shot 42 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line. The Mocs shot just 24 percent (5-for-21) from the 3-point line.

FSC also finished with a 47-38 edge on the glass, including Battle collecting nine boards and Lane picking up seven boards. The Mocs also forced Stillman into 23 turnovers that led to 33 points and they collected 18 offensive boards that led to a 26-14 edge in second chance points.  

"I thought we did an excellent job going to the offensive glass and creating some second chance opportunities tonight," the Mocs coach added.

The Mocs will conclude play in the Terrace Hotel Classic on Saturday, Nov. 30 as they will face No. 22 ranked North Alabama in the championship game. The Lions (5-1) advanced to the championship game following its 84-68 win in Friday's tournament opener against St. Joseph's (Ind.).