Box Score
TAMPA - Florida Southern used an 20-6 run over a nearly eight minute span in the second half here Wednesday evening to turn what was a 3-point lead into a 17 point advantage that helped lead the 14th-ranked Moccasins to a 77-57 victory over Tampa in Sunshine State Conference action at the Bob Martinez Activities Center.
The victory, coupled with Saint Leo's 69-68 home loss on Wednesday to Eckerd, allows the Mocs to remain alvie to clinch a share of the SSC regular season title on Saturday with a home win over Rollins on Senior Night at Jenkins Field House. SLU, who fell to 20-6 overall and 12-4 with the loss, has already clinched no worse than a share of the regular season title and will earn the No. 1 seed in next week's SSC Tournament thanks to its two wins over the Mocs.
With the win, FSC, who is ranked No. 2 in this week’s latest NCAA D-II South Regional poll, snapped its three-game losing skid in SSC play and secured its sixth consecutive 20 win season as the Mocs improve its record to 20-5 overall and 11-4 in the league, while UT fell to 16-12 overall and 3-12 in the league. The Mocs are one of only six schools in Division II that have won 20 or more games the past six seasons.
"We played better tonight. It is a work in progress for our basketball team," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following the victory. "We have had some really good practices the past couple of days. I thought we did a better job at taking care of the basketball and passing the ball to the open guy."
In Wednesday's victory, the Mocs recorded a season-low six turnovers and had 15 assists on 26 made baskets. Meanwhile, UT committed 17 turnovers that led to 20 points by the Moccasins.
"If we take care of the ball like we did and force our opponents to turn the ball over, then we are going to have success as a basketball team," said Darner, who won his 149th game as the Mocs coach on Wednesday.
The Mocs second half run started after UT opened the second half on an 11-4 run to pull within 43-40 following a lay-up by Terrell Pritchett with 15:48 left in the game. Following Pritchett's basket, sophomore guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) scored on a lay-up 16 seconds later to jump start the 20-6 run that gave the Mocs 63-48 lead. Capers capped the run with another lay-up. During the run, Capers and junior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio) combined to score 15 of the Mocs 18 points.
Capers was one of five Mocs to finish in double figures as he tallied 15 points and had a career-high nine rebounds. In addition to Capers, senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) also had 15 points, while McKnight finished with 13 points and senior forward Brett Bailey (Davie, Fla.) chipped in with 12 points. With his 12 points, Bailey became the 36th member of the Mocs 1,000 Point Club. He has now scored 1,008 all-time points, which is 33rd on the school's all-time list.
Tampa halted the Mocs run with a lay-up by Vincent Cornu with 6:53 left in the game, but the Mocs would push its lead to as much as 21 points following two free throws by sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) with 5:19 remaining in the contest.
The Spartans used a 7-0 run sparked by a 3-pointer from Austin Rettig to drop FSC's lead to 69-55 with 3:25 left. The Mocs, though, had one more run left as they closed out the game on an 8-2 run to set the final margin at 20 points.
The fifth Moc in double figures was freshman guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.), as he tallied a career-high 10 points and added a career-high eight rebounds.
"I thought our guys coming off the bench did a nice job tonight. They gave us some really good minutes," the Mocs coach added. FSC's bench outscored UT's bench, 29-6 in the win.
Tampa was paced by 12 points from Pritchett and 11 points and 14 rebounds from Cornu. The Mocs defense held UT's top two scorers, Da'Markco Foster and Anthony Griffis to a combined eight points as they shot a combined 2-for-20 from the field. Foster came into the game tied for fourth in the SSC in scoring as he was averaging 16.4 points per game, while Griffis was was sixth in the league in scoring at 15.6 points per game. Foster finished with five points and Griffis had three as UT's lone senior battled foul trouble all night.
"We did a good job guarding both Foster and Griffis tonight," Darner said.
In the first half, Tampa jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the opening six minutes, but the Mocs tied the game at 17 following a 3-pointer by Evans, who hit three of his four treys in the first half. The two team would also play to ties at 19 and 21, before the Mocs used a 7-0 run capped by two Williams free throws to take a 28-21 lead with 7:01 left in the first half.
UT, though, would answer with a 6-4 run to pull within 32-27 after a lay-up by Jason Brown at the 2:52 mark. The Mocs would respond with a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from Williams to push out to a 39-27 lead. The Spartans would score the final two points of the half on a lay-up by Eric Moraes to drop FSC's lead to 39-29 at the half.
The Mocs finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field, but shot just 21 percent (5-for-24) from the 3-point line, while UT shot 38 percent from the floor and 15 percent (3-for-20) from long distance. UT also held a 45-39 edge on the glass as both teams picked up 16 offensive boards.
FSC will look to make two wins in a row as they close the 2012-13 regular season on Saturday evening by hosting Rollins (17-8, 9-6 SSC) in a 7:30 p.m. game at Jenkins Field House. Prior to the game, the Mocs will honor its five-member senior class in a pregame ceremony. The five seniors this year for the Mocs are Bailey, Evans, forward Brant Leitnaker (Lancaster, Ohio), forward Jon Gardner (Anderson, Ind.) and guard Jay Hubble (Pendleton, Ind.).
