Poor First Half Against Eckerd Sends Mocs to Second Straight SSC Defeat

ST. PETERSBURG - Florida Southern couldn't recover from a poor start here Wednesday evening as the sixth-ranked Moccasins fell 85-75 in Sunshine State Conference to Eckerd at the McArthur Center on the Eckerd College campus.

The Moccasins, who trailed by as much as 19 points in the first half, outscored the Tritons 48-43 in the second half to close a 15 point halftime gap, but Eckerd hung on to post the victory thanks to hitting eight straight free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

With the loss, the Mocs fall to 19-4 overall and 10-3 in the SSC, while Eckerd improved to 16-6 overall and 9-5 in the league standings. The setback was the second straight in league play for the Mocs as they fell 79-75 at home last Wednesday to Saint Leo.

"We didn't play very good in the first half, but Eckerd gets some credit for that because of the way they played defense," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following the game. "I thought we played better in the second half as we got open shots and we just played."

Eckerd's strong play in the first half was attributed to 60 percent shooting from the field and 63 percent shooting from the 3-point line. The Mocs shot 29 percent from the field and 31 percent from long distance in the opening half.

"We get everyone's best shot whenever we stepped on the floor and tonight Eckerd played very well," said Darner, who fell to 8-7 against the Tritons as the Mocs coach. "Our guys did a good job at battling back in the second half."

The Mocs second half comeback was fueled by better defense as FSC held Eckerd to 42 percent shooting from the floor and 38 percent shooting from long distance and better shooting on their part as the Mocs shot 57 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the 3-point line after halftime.

Senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) led the way offensively for the Mocs as he tallied 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the 3-point line. In addition to Evans, sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) added 11 points and junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.), who was playing in his hometown, chipped in with 10 points, five boards and seven assists.

Eckerd, who led 42-27 at the half, opened the second half on a 9-2 run to push its lead to 22 points at 51-29 following a lay-up by Woody Taylor. That run, though, seemed to wake up the Mocs as used a 26-10 run over the next seven minutes to pull within 61-55 after two free throws from senior guard Jay Hubble (Pendleton, Ind.).

The Tritons would come right back and push its back to nine points following a trey by Walade Wade with 7:57 left in the game. Wade's trey, which was just his second of the season, gave Eckerd a 64-55 lead.

FSC, who is No. 1 in the initial NCAA Division II South Regional rankings that were released earlier in the day on Wednesday,  would once again fight back as they used a 10-4 run capped by dunk from Vines to drop EC's lead to 68-65. That would be as close as the Mocs would get as Eckerd answered with a 9-5 run that pushed its lead to 77-70. The run was capped by a three-pointer from Jerrick Stevenson with 1:43 left. Two Mocs had a hand in Stevenson's face as he shot the ball.

After Vines hit a trey with 57 seconds left to drop FSC's lead to 77-73, the Tritons closed the game by hitting those free throws to seal its first win over the Mocs since Feb. 1, 2012. 

Darrien Mack led the way for Eckerd with 27 points and 14 points, while Alex Bodney had 17 points and Stevenson added 16 points in the victory.

For the game, FSC finished shooting 42 percent from the field and 41 percent from the 3-point line, while Eckerd finished shooting 51 percent from the floor and 50 percent from long distance.

The Tritons held a 39-29 edge on the glass and scored 20 points off of 18 FSC turnovers. Eckerd finished the night with 21 turnovers.

"We need to do a better job at not turning the ball over. In our past couple of games we haven't taken care of the ball like we did earlier this season," the Mocs coach added. "The season has its peaks and valleys and right now were in a valley.

"We just need to get back to playing well."

The Mocs will attempt to snap its two-game SSC losing skid on Saturday, Feb. 23 as they host Florida Tech in a 7:30 p.m. game at Jenkins Field House. The Mocs picked up a 95-92 win over the Panthers in Melbourne on Jan. 26.