Mocs SSC Woes Continue, Fall at Home to Florida Tech

LAKELAND - Florida Southern's late season struggles continued here Saturday evening as the sixth-ranked Moccasins suffered an 83-78 defeat at the hands of Florida Tech in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.

The loss was the third straight in SSC play for the Mocs as they fell to 19-5 overall on the season and are now 10-4 in SSC play, while Tech won its seventh straight game to improve to 14-10 overall and 7-7 in the league.

After starting the season winning 18 of its first 20 games, including 10 of its first 11 SSC contests, the Mocs have won just one of its last four games overall, which was a 91-70 non-conference victory last Saturday at Palm Beach Atlantic. 

FSC, who led 39-31 at the half thanks to 50 percent shooting from the field, allowed the Panthers to score 52 points after halftime and shoot 64 percent from the field as they picked up its win victory in Lakeland since Feb. 25, 2006. In that game, Tech earned an 85-82 victory over the Mocs.

The Mocs, who split the season series with the Panthers for fourth consecutive season, led by as much as 11 points early in the second half, before Tech used a 23-11 run to turn a 46-35 deficit into a 58-57 lead following a lay-up by Jermaine Jackson with 11:10 left in the game. Jackson's basket gave the Panthers its first lead since the 4:12 mark of the opening half.

After Jackson's basket, the Mocs retook the lead 17 seconds later on a lay-up by freshman guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) to take a 59-58 advantage. Tech, though, would use a 4-0 run to retake the lead at 62-59 with 9:20 remaining.

The Mocs, who have now lost two straight games at home, responded with a 10-0 run capped by a three-pointer from junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) with 5:37 left to take a 69-62 lead.

Tech would answer with a 17-7 run that was spearheaded by 10 points from Terrace Tubbs to take a 79-76 lead with 45 seconds left in the game. Junior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio) drew the Mocs within a point following a lay-up with 31 seconds left, but Chris Carter hit two free throws with 12 seconds left to push Tech's lead to 81-78.

On the Mocs ensuing possession, senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) had a look at a three-pointer, but his shot missed the mark and Tech sealed the win with two free throws from Randy Echols with five seconds left.

Evans led the way for the Mocs with 15 points and added five assists, while Lane tallied 13 points and seven boards and senior forward Brett Bailey (Davie, Fla.) chipped in with 10 points and eight boards in the loss. With his 10 points, Bailey moved within four points of becoming the 36th Moccasin to score 1,000 career points. He has now tallied 996 career points in four seasons at FSC.

The Mocs finished with a 46-39 edge on the glass and had 19 assists on 27 made field goals.

Jackson led the way for Tech with a game-high 25 points, while Tubbs added 24 points in the win. Julius Reid had 13 and Carter finished with just 10 points, but had six boards, eight assists and six steals on the night.

In the first half, the Mocs jumped out to an 11-5 lead just a little over seven minutes into the game, before Tech used a 9-2 run capped by a lay-up from Jackson to take a 15-13 lead.

The Panthers would eventually push its lead to as much as four points at 24-20 following a three-pointer by Julius Reid, before the Mocs closed out the opening half on a 19-7 run keyed by eight points from Lane to take its eight point lead at the half.

FSC finished the game shooting 39 percent from the field and 30 percent from the 3-point line and had a 46-39 edge on the boards, while Tech shot 49 percent from the field and 31 percent from long distance.

The Mocs committed 19 turnovers that led to 21 Panther points, including Tech scoring 13 points in the second half off of 11 Moc turnovers. Tech finished the game with 20 turnovers.

FSC will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday, Feb. 27 as they travel to Tampa for a 7:30 p.m. SSC game against the University of Tampa. The Mocs collected a 91-65 win over the Spartans in Lakeland on Jan. 26.