LAKELAND - 10th-ranked Florida Southern will begin its quest for a repeat Sunshine State Conference Tournament Championship trophy on Friday as the No. 2 seeded Moccasins face seventh-seeded Barry in the quarterfinals of the 2013 SSC Men's Basketball Tournament. Tip-off for Friday's third quarterfinal game is set for 5 p.m. at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
Printable SSC Tournament Bracket
The Mocs, who have won a league best 20 tournament titles, will look to become the first repeat champion since Rollins claimed back-to-back tournament titles in 2010 and 11. Prior to Rollins winning two straight SSC Tournament titles, FSC won back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009. The Mocs, who were seeded fifth last season, won last year's championship with a 61-58 win over third-seeded Saint Leo in Lakeland at Jenkins Field House.
Along with looking to win its 21st SSC Tournament title this weekend, the Mocs will also look to solidfy its chances of hosting the eight-team NCAA Division II South Regional, which is scheduled to run from March 16-19 at campus sites. In this week's latest South Region rankings that were released by the NCAA on Wednesday, the Mocs moved back up to the top spot in the rankings after claiming a share of its 20th SSC regular season title with wins last week over Tampa and Rollins and a loss by Saint Leo to Eckerd. FSC is one of five SSC teams ranked in the Top 8 of the poll as Eckerd, who ended the regular season winning its final six games, is third, while Saint Leo, who was the No. 1 team a week ago and shared the SSC regular season title with the Mocs, is fourth. Rollins, who lost its final three regular season games, is sixth and Florida Tech, who ended the regular season winning nine consecutive games, is eighth.
The NCAA will announce the 64 team field for the 2013 NCAA Division II Tournament on the internet at www.ncaa.com on Sunday, March 10 at 10:30 p.m. EDT. The champion of the SSC Tournament will receive an automatic bid to the tournament, along with the champions of both the Gulf South Conference (Alabama-Huntsville is the defending champion) and SIAC Tournaments (Benedict won this year's tournament crown).
Juding by the regular season results, this year's SSC Tournament might be one of the most unpredicatable in recent memory as the No. 1 seeded team Saint Leo, who defeated the Mocs twice during the regular season, lost two times to Eckerd, which lost twice to Rollins, who lost both of its games against Florida Southern. The Lions, who are 20-6 and ranked 16th in this week's latest NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll, also split with No. 9 seeded Tampa, who advanced to Friday's quarterfinal match-up with SLU thanks to its 74-49 opening round win on Wednesday night in Kissimmee.
"I think this year's tournament is really wide open. Everybody can beat everyone in this league," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said.
Friday's meeting with Barry will be the third of the season as the Mocs picked up a 96-70 win in Lakeland on Jan. 5 and then posted a 98-78 win in Miami Shores on Feb. 6. That win in Miami Shores was the Mocs' eighth during a nine-game winning streak that stretched from mid-January till late February. In addition to being the third meeting this season, the teams will also be meeting for the 58th time as FSC holds a 43-14 lead in the series and has won five straight games since the Buccaneers won three straight games in the series. Friday's game will also mark the sixth meeting between the two teams in the SSC Tournament as FSC holds a 4-2 edge in those meetings. The two teams last met in the SSC Tournament in 2010 as the Bucs picked up a 79-61 win over the Mocs in the semifinals of the 2010 Tournament held at Nova Southeastern.
While FSC comes into the tournament looking to repeat as champions, Barry comes into the tournament looking to play the role of spoiler as the Buccaneers are sporting a 13-13 overall record and finished with a 6-10 mark in league play for the second straight season. Barry, who is making its 22nd appearance in the SSC Tournament and has a 13-21 record in the event and has had four runner-up finishes, closed the regular season winning three of its last four games with the only loss being a 61-57 setback in the regular season at home last Saturday to Nova Southeastern.ÂÂ
The Bucs, who played six overtime games during the regular season and went 4-2 in those games, is paced by the play of senior guard Justin McCoy. McCoy, who is the 12th leading scorer in the SSC, is averaging 14.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and has scored in double figures in 23 of 26 games. Along wiht McCoy, sophomore guard/forward Magne Fivelstad is averaging 10.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and is shooting 59 percent from the field and has scored in double figures in six of his last seven games and senior guard Chad Renfro is averaging 10.0 points and 4.2 boards per game and is shooting 36 percent from the floor and has scored in double figures in 15 games, including three times in his last four outings. ÂÂ
As a team, Barry is averaging 69.0 points per game and is shooting 40 percent from the field, 34 percent from the 3-point line and is fourth in the league in free throw shooting at 73 percent. Defensively, Barry is allowing 69.7 points per game and is allowing its opponents to shoot 43 percent from the field and is third in the SSC in 3-point field goal defense (33.6 percent) and are fifth in blocked shots as they average 2.5 per game.
Barry's defense will be challenged by the Mocs top-ranked offensive unit that is seventh in Division II in scoring at 85.3 points per game. FSC has scored 75 or more points in 24 of its 26 games, including scoring 90 points in 11 games. Additionally, the Mocs are outscoring its foes by an SSC-best 11.3 points per game and have held eight of its foes under 70 points. FSC is shooting 46 percent from the field, 35 percent from the 3-point line and leads the SSC in assists (17.8), assist/turnover ratio (1.3) and turnover margin (+6.8) and is second in steals as they average 11.1 per game. The Mocs are also second in the league in 3-point field goal defense as their foes are shooting just 33 percent from downtown.
One of the big keys to the Mocs success this season has been its depth as they have four players averaging in double figures and eight players that are averaging 15 or more minutes played per game. That depth might be needed as the Mocs could play three games in less than 48 hours at the tournament. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday at 5 and 7:30 p.m., while the championship game is slated for Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
"If we can get by our first game it suits us because we have the deepest team in the league," said Darner, who is 150-65 in his seventh season at the helm of the FSC program. "Hopefully, our depth will be a huge advantage for us."
Leading the way offensively for the Mocs is senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) and junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.). On the season, Evans is averaging 15.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game and is shooting 43 percent from the field, 42 percent from the 3-point line and is second in the league and 15th nationally in free throw shooting at 89 percent. Evans enters the SSC Tournament having scored in double figures in 10 straight games and 22 times on the season, including scoring a season-high 25 points in the regular season finale against Rollins. Meanwhile, Lane is averaging 14.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and is shooting 42 percent from the floor and 74 percent at the line and has tallied double figures in 22 games and has had a team-best three double-doubles.
The other two double digit scorers for the Mocs are sophomore guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) and senior forward Brett Bailey (Davie, Fla.). Caper is averaging 11.8 points, 3.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game off the bench and has scored in double figures in 18 games, while Bailey is averaging 10.6 points and 5.1 boards per game and is shooting an SSC-best 59 percent from the field and became just the 36th Moc to join the 1,000-Point Club in last week's win over Tampa. Along with being a member of the 1,000 Point Club, Bailey is also one of 16 Mocs that is a member of the 1,000 Point/500 Rebound Club as he has scored 1,017 career points and has pulled dwon 521 career boards.
The Mocs have had a lot of success in the SSC Tournament as they are making its 36th all-time tournament appearance and has compiled a 60-15 record, which is 30 more wins than any other school in the league has compiled. The Mocs have won an SSC-best 20 tournament titles and have also had four runner-up finishes. The Mocs are playing as a No. 2 seed this season for the second time in the past three seasons as they were a No. 2 seed in the 2011 Tournament that was held at Florida Tech and lost in the semifinals to Eckerd (70-69). FSC has won three straight tournament games since that loss to Eckerd in 2011.
Complete Moccasin SSC Tournament Game Notes
Live stats for all game of the SSC Tournament will be available here: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/scoreboard/live.html?tid=100&to=all&theme=ssc
Live video broadcast of the SSC Tournament will be available here: http://www.sunshinestateconference.com/page.asp?articleID=1898
Live audio broadcast of the Barry game will be available here: http://fscmocs.nmtvsports.com
