KISSIMMEE - 10th-ranked Florida Southern will look to repeat as Sunshine State Conference Tournament Champions here later today as the No. 2 seeded Moccasins will meet fifth-seeded Rollins in the championship game of the 2013 SSC Tournament at the Silver Spurs Arena.
The Mocs, who shared the SSC regular season title wiht Saint Leo and is seeking to win its second consecutive and its 21st overall SSC Tournament title, earned its 25th appearance in the SSC Tournament finals with its 85-80 overtime win over No. 3 seeded and 25th-ranked Eckerd in Saturday night's semifinal round, while Rollins earned its 11th SSC Tournament finals game appearance with its 62-53 upset win over No. 1 seeded and 16th-ranked Saint Leo. The win over the Lions avenged two double-digit margin losses in the regular season by the Tars to SLU.
FSC, who improved to 23-5 win its win over Eckerd, earned the victory over the Tritons thanks to a 31-17 run over the final four minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime to turn a nine-point deficit into a five-point win. In the win, sophomore guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) scored a season-high 28 points, including 19 points after halftime and hit 14-of-19 from the foul line. Capers connected on 3-of-4 free throws in the final 38 seconds of regulation to send game into overtime. Along with Capers, senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) scored nine of his 21 points in the overtime session, including hitting back-to-back triples in the minute to give FSC a 79-73 lead, while sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) added 12 points and six boards and sophomore guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) also had 12 points in the semifinal win.
Meanwhile, Rollins outscored SLU, 36-27 in the second half, including connecting on 19-of-23 free throws after halftime to secure its spot in Sunday's championship game. For the game, SLU was outshot, 26-9 at the foul line and was outrebounded, 36-28. Four Tars scored in double figures led by Mitch Woods, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Uhle added 13 points in the win. All-SSC First-Team guard Kyle McClanahan tallied 12 points and Dave Diakite had 11 points and nine boards for the Tars, who improved to 19-9 on the season.
Sunday's game will mark the third meeting this season between the two teams as the Mocs swept both of the regular season meetings. FSC picked up a 97-74 win in Winter Park on Jan. 30 and then closed out the regular season last Saturday with a 76-73 win on Senior Night in Lakeland. The Mocs hold a 116-51 edge all-time in the series and FSC has won three straight games in the series, including picking up a 77-63 win over the No. 4 seed Tars last season in the quarterfinals of the SSC Tournament. In addition, the two teams will be meeting in the SSC Tournament for the 13th times as FSC has won the previous 12 meetings, including defeating the Tars in the championship game in 1980, 1981, 2003 and 2009. ÂÂ
The winner of the SSC Tournament receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament, which will get underway at eight different regions next weekend. The NCAA will announce the 64-team field for the 2013 NCAA D-II Basketball Tournament online at www.ncaa,com on Sunday, March 10 at 10:30 p.m. EST.
Both FSC and Rollins are almost assured of earning a berth in the NCAA D-II Tournament regardless of Sunday's result. FSC is ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA D-II South Regional rankings and thanks to the region's No. 2 ranked team, Alabama-Huntsville losing to Valdosta State in the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference Tournament on Saturday, the Mocs are in prime position to host the South Regional next weekend (March 16-19) at Jenkins Field House, while Rollins was ranked sixth in the South Region poll.ÂÂ
Prior to the men's championship game on Sunday, the women will crown their 2013 SSC Tournament Champion as No. 7 seeded Saint Leo will meet No. 4 seeded Rollins in the title game that is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.
Live stats will be available here: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/scoreboard/live.html?tid=100&to=all&theme=ssc
Live video broadcast will be available here: http://www.sunshinestateconference.com/page.asp?articleID=1898
Live audio broadcast of the Rollins game will be available here: http://fscmocs.nmtvsports.com
