No. 4 Moccasins Open SSC Play With Victory at Nova Southeastern

DAVIE - Fourth-ranked Florida Southern survived a late second-half rally here Saturday afternoon by Nova Southeastern to collect a 79-73 victory over the Sharks in the Sunshine State Conference opener for both teams at the NSU Arena.

With the win, the Moccasins improve to 9-0 on the season and 1-0 in the SSC, while NSU falls to 2-6 overall and 0-1 in the SSC. The 9-0 start is the 12th in school history and first since winning 13 straight games to open the 2009-10 season.

The Mocs, who led 73-55 following a lay-up by senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) with 7:59 left in the game, wouldn't score again until junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla., hit a 12-foot jumper with 1:47 left in the game. Capers' basket gave the Mocs a 75-70 lead. In between the buckets, the Sharks scored 13 consecutive points, including three consecutive 3-pointers from Justin Jeangerard, to pull within 73-68 following a free throw by Stian Berg.

"It was a good win for us today, but we still need to get better at putting opponents away when we get a big lead," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said. "We were able to push out to a 20 point lead, and then they (NSU) hit some shots and we turn the ball over and that makes it a game down the stretch."

After NSU's Chris Page scored on a jumper and Berg hit 1-of-2 free throws to drop FSC's lead to 75-71 with 33 seconds left, senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) would hit four consecutive free throws to push FSC's lead to 79-71. Page capped the game's scoring with a lay-up with nine seconds remaining.

Lane's four free throws capped a career-high day for the former Lakewood High School product as he tallied a career-high 29 points and added five boards and five assists. Lane finished the game 9-for-15 from the field, including going 7-for-11 from the 3-point line for his eighth career 20 point game.

"Dom really shot the ball well tonight. The best he has all season," said Darner, who improved to 4-4 in SSC openers. "Our players were able to get him the ball in the right spot and he was able to convert."

Prior to NSU's run, the Mocs, who led 49-38 at the half, opened the second half on an 11-2 run over the first four minutes out of the locker room to push its lead to 60-40 following a basket by senior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio). The run was keyed by two treys from Lane.

The Sharks, who were playing its second nationally ranked foe at home this season as they opened its home schedule with a 100-86 win over West Liberty State, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the latest NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll, answered with a 10-2 run that was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Jeangerard and Page to drop FSC's lead to 60-52 with 13:47 left. FSC would once respond as they used a 13-3 run capped by Adams's lay-up to push in front 73-55.

In the first half, NSU jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening two minutes of the game, before the Mocs used a 12-3 run to take a 12-8 lead following a trey by Lane. The Sharks would regain the lead on a 5-0 run capped by a Page three-pointer to move in front 13-12.

The Mocs, though, would answer with a 15-5 run to take a 27-18 lead. The run was aided by eight points from junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) and capped by two Capers free throws. Following FSC's run, NSU answered with an 18-11 run to drop the Mocs lead to 38-36 following a trey by Berg, who scored a team-high 22 points in the loss.

FSC would answer by hitting three consecutive treys, including two by Lane, to push out to a 47-36 lead with 2:03 left in the opening half. The Sharks would push within 47-38 on two free throws by Casey Carroll, before sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City) scored on a lay-up with 1:09 left to take its 11-point halftime lead.

The Mocs used 56 percent shooting from the field and 67 percent shooting from the 3-point line to contribute to its halftime edge. Lane scored 16 of his 29 points in the first half, while Battle had 10 of his points before halftime.

In addition to Lane, Battle added 12 points and five boards, while Adams tallied 11 points and five boards in the win and junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) chipped in with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Along with Berg's 22 points, Jeangerard added 19 points and seven boards and Page scored 18 points and pulled down five boards. FSC held NSU's leading scorer, Brian Cahill, to just two points in 37 minutes of action. Cahill entered the game averaging 13.4 points per game.  

FSC finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and shot a season-high 53 percent from the 3-point line. NSU shot 37 percent from the field and 36 percent from long distance in the loss. For the game, the Sharks casted up a school record 36 three-pointers and made 13 of them.

The Mocs also finished with a 39-32 edge on the glass and forced the Sharks into just 12 turnover and scored 16 points off those turnovers, while FSC had 15 turnovers that led to 13 points and they dished out 21 assists.

The Mocs will now take a week off before returning to action next Saturday, Dec. 14 as they host Palm Beach Atlantic in a 4 p.m. non-conference game at Jenkins Field House.