Mocs Roll Past Barry On Road, Extends Win Streak to Eight Straight

MIAMI SHORES - The eighth-ranked Moccasins put five players in double figures and used a strong second-half charge here Wednesday evening to post a 98-78 victory over Barry in Sunshine State Conference action at the Health and Sports Center on the Barry campus.

With the win, the Mocs improve to 17-2 overall and 9-1 in the SSC and extend its winning streak to eight straight games. Barry falls to 9-10 overall and 3-7 in the SSC.

"It was a good win for our team. To come on the road and win in conference play is difficult, but I thought we did a nice job tonight," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following his team's seventh straight game of scoring 90 or more points.

In Wednesday's game, sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) established a new career-high with 20 points and added 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. In addition to Vines, senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) added 19 points and a career-high nine assists in the win, while sophomore guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) added 14 points.

The two other Mocs in double figures were junior forward Lamar McKnight (Bedford, Ohio), who finished with 13 points and seven boards and senior forward Brett Bailey (Davie, Fla.) had 10 points.

After shooting 47 percent from the field and 44 percent from the 3-point line in the first half and scoring 44 points, the Mocs offense was even hotter in the second half as they shot 56 percent from the field and 57 percent from the 3-point line and outscored the Bucs, 54-46 to earn its fifth consecutive win over the Bucs. The 54 second half points tied a season high for the Mocs.

"I really thought we did a better job finishing in the second half," said Darner, who won his 145th game as the Mocs coach.

For the game, the Mocs shot 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line, while Barry finished shooting 44 percent from the floor and 23 percent from the 3-point line.

Along with outshooting Barry from both the field and 3-point line, the Mocs also finished with a 42-38 edge on the glass and forced 21 turnovers that led to 20 points. The Mocs are second in Division II in turnover margin with a +8.1 margin.

The Bucs cut the Mocs 44-33 halftime lead to 58-48 following a basket by Filip Toric with 14:59 left in the game. Toric's basket capped a 10-6 run by Barry. Following Barry's run, the Mocs answered with a 22-13 run to push out to an 80-61 lead following a free throw by Vines.

After two straight buckets by Barry dropped the Mocs lead to 80-65, senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) hit a trey to begin a 14-8 run that pushed the Mocs lead to 94-71 with 1:27 remaining. The run was capped by a trey from Vines, who scored 11 of his 20 points in the second half.

The Mocs lead hit as much as 23 points following a free throw by sophomore guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) with 33 seconds left. Kelly's free throw gave the Mocs a 98-75 advantage. 

Barry was paced by 18 points from Justin McCoy. Chad Renfro tallied 15 points and Filip Toric added a double-double as he had 11 points and 11 boards. The fourth Buc in double figures are Damien Dwaine as he scored 10 points. 

In the first half, the Mocs jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the game's opening five minutes, but the Bucs used an 11-5 run to tie the game at 15 with 11:51 left in the opening half. Following BU's run, the Mocs began to flex its muscles as they used a 6-0 run to retake a 21-15 lead following two free throws by Capers at the 8:41 mark.

Barry, though, used a 10-8 run to pull within 30-25 following a lay-up by Justin McCoy. Two quick lay-ups by McKnight and Vines pushed the Mocs lead to 34-25, before the BU's Bryan Van Cott converted a three-point play to drop FSC's lead to 34-26 with 3:40 left.

The Mocs would gain some momentum heading into the half as they outscored Barry, 10-5 to take a 44-33 halftime lead. The Mocs lead grew to as much as 13 points in the final minute of the half following a three-pointer by Evans with 39 seconds remaining.

The Mocs will put its 10-game homecourt winning streak on the line on Saturday, Feb. 9 as they host Nova Southeastern in a 3 p.m. SSC battle at Jenkins Field House. The Mocs began its current seven game win streak with a 78-68 win at NSU on Jan. 12.

"Nova is a good very good team and we'll have to ready to play," the Mocs coach added.