Box Score
LAKELAND - Sixth-ranked Florida Southern and 16th-ranked Saint Leo battled here for 40 minutes in a Sunshine State Conference battle against the top teams in the league that was ultimately won by Saint Leo 79-75 in front of nearly 1,100 fans at Jenkins Field House.
The loss snaps the Moccasins nine-game winning streak and also halted its 11 game homecourt win streak that had dated to last season. In fact, the Mocs have lost just five home games since the beginning of the 2011-12 season and two of those losses came at the hands of Saint Leo.
With the setback, the Mocs fall to 18-3 overall on the season and falls into a tie for first place in the league standings with SLU as each team have identical 10-2 league records. SLU improves to 18-4 on the season and runs its win streak to six straight.
"Their bench outplayed ours tonight and that was the difference in the game," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said. "I thought we did a good job on their 'Big 3', but we let their bench score nearly half their points."
For the game, SLU's bench scored 48 of their team's 79 total points as Trent Thomas led the way with 15 points, while Cale Girten scored a career-high 13 points and Jaylon Bell added 11 off the Lions bench. FSC's bench finished with 32 points as they were outscored for just the second time this season.
The Mocs defense held SLU's top two scorers Marcus Ruh and Jerrel Harris to a combined six points on the night as they came into the game averaging a combined 33 points per contest.ÂÂ
FSC, who trailed most of the second half, used a 16-4 run to take a 75-72 lead with 2:12 left in the game following a lay-up by junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.). Lane was one of four Mocs in double figures as he finished with 10 points and seven boards.
The Mocs took its first lead since early in the game on a driving lay-up by senior forward Brett Bailey (Davie, Fla.) with 3:54 left in the game. Bailey's basket, which capped a 6-0 run for the Mocs, gave FSC a 73-72 lead.
The Lions, who have now defeated the Mocs two times this season and hold a tiebreaker should the two teams tie at the end of the regular season, tied the game at 75 following three free throws by Thomas with 1:45 remaining. Thomas was fouled by sophomore guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) as he was attempting a three-point shot. The foul on Capers was his fifth of the game.
Capers led the way for the Mocs with 17 points in 18 minutes of action.
"We have to continue to play the whole game. Both games this season between the two teams have been good, we've just fallen a bit short," Darner added.
SLU retook the lead 43 seconds later as Marcus Ruh scored on a lay-up to give the Lions a 77-75 edge. Ruh's basket came after Lane had committed a turnover with 1:15 left.
The Lions sealed the win with two more free throws by Thomas with 15 seconds remaining.
In addition to Capers and Lane, senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) added 15 points, including scoring eight points in the first half, while Bailey added 10 points and six boards and moved within 32 points of becoming the 36th member of the FSC 1,000-Point Club.
The Mocs scored the game's first six points and led 13-7 with 12:50 left in the opening half when the Lions used a 13-2 run capped by a lay-up from Bell to take a 20-15 lead. After Bailey stopped the run with a lay-up of his own, SLU would score eight of the next 12 points to push its lead to 28-21 following a dunk by Shaun Adams with 5:33 left.
FSC, though, would respond by closing the first half on a 15-11 run to go into halftime trailing 39-36.
Adams also reached double figures for the Lions in the win as he tallied 14 points.
On the night, the Mocs shot 46 percent from the field, but just 25 percent (6-for-24) from the 3-point line, while SLU finished the game shooting 52 percent from the field and 32 percent from long distance. The Mocs had 12 turnovers and were outrebounded, 34-32.
FSC will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 16 as they conclude its non-conference slate with a 4 p.m. game in West Palm Beach against Palm Beach Atlantic. The Mocs picked up a 98-62 win over the Sailfish in Lakeland on Jan. 19.
