Box Score
KISSIMMEE - Florida Southern began its quest for a repeat Sunshine State Conference Tournament title here Friday evening as the 10th-ranked Moccasins used a 23-10 run over a span of seven plus minutes in the second half to turn a seven-point lead into a 20 point cushion en route to posting a 75-57 win over seventh-seeded Barry in the quarterfinals of the 2013 SSC Tournament at the Silver Spurs Arena.
The Moccasins, who tied for the SSC regular season title with Saint Leo, but earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament thanks to SLU's two victories during the regular season over the Mocs, improved to 22-5 overall and advanced to the tournament semifinals for the sixth consecutive season and 29th time in school history. FSC is the defending SSC Tournament champion and has won a league-best 20 tournament championships.
It appeared early in the game that the Mocs, who earned its third win of the season over Barry, would have a short stay in Kissimmee as the Buccaneers jumped to an 11-2 lead just a little over four minutes into the game and led the majority of the first half until the Mocs used a 10-5 run to turn a 19-16 deficit into a 26-21 lead. FSC led 35-28 at the half.
The Mocs, who won its third straight game on Friday and its fourth straight SSC Tourmament contest, opened the game by missing 10 of its first 12 shots, but finished the first half making 11 of its final 22 shots. On the night, the Mocs shot 48 percent from the field, but struggled from the 3-point line as they shot just 26 percent from long distance and only connected on 12 of its 26 free throws (46 percent).
"We got off to a slow start. I thought we rushed things on the offensive end," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said in the postgame press conference. "I thought Cam (Vines) and Kevin (Capers) came in a got us going off the bench."
Darner earned his fourth SSC Coach of the Year honor earlier in the day on Friday when the league announced its All-SSC Teams and award winners for the 2012-13 season.
Sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) led the way offensively for the Mocs as he scored 17 points, including nine straight for FSC during its decisive second-half run and scored 48 points in three games this year against Barry, while fellow sophomore guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) scored 16 points and added eight boards and four steals off the bench. Six of Capers' points and three of his steals came during a 14-6 run by the Mocs in the first half that pushed FSC within a point at 17-16.
"I thought our team made good traps and that allowed me to get out and get some steals and drive the ball to the paint," said Capers, who has now scored in double figures 19 times this season.
Gardner also contributed in the first half as he had two points and four rebounds in eight minutes of action. He finished the game with just two points, but recorded a new season high in rebounds with five.
"Jon stepped up and did some nice things in the first half that helped us win the game," the Mocs seventh-year coach said.
One of the biggest reasons behind the Mocs win was its ability to dominate the boards as they finished with a 41-29 edge on the glass, including collecting 15 offensive boards that led to a 12-2 edge in second chance points.
"I thought we did a good job on the boards," Darner added.
Following the Mocs 23-10 run in the second half, the Buccaneers, who finished its season with a 13-14 record, got back into the game with an 11-2 run to pull within 65-52 with 3:49 left in the game. The Bucs run was keyed by eight points from Justin McCoy, who scored 19 of his team's 29 second half points and finished with a game-high 27 points in his final collegiate game.
That would be as close as the Bucs would get as Capers scored on fast break lay-up with 3:43 left to push the Mocs lead to 67-52. After Filip Toric scored on a lay-up with 3:13 remaining, the Mocs closed the game on an 8-3 run to set the final margin.
In addition to Vines and Capers, junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) also scored 16 points and had seven boards in the win, while senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) added 10 points to extend his double-digit scoring streak to 11 straight games.
Evans, who was named a First-Team All-SSC selection earlier in the day on Friday, scored eight of his points in the first half, including giving the Mocs its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer with 6:46 left in the opening half. Lane, who was named a Second-Team All-SSC selection on Friday, also tallied eight of his points in the first half.ÂÂ
After Barry pulled within 26-24 following two free throws by Damien Dwaine with 3:44 left, the Mocs would close the first half on a 9-4 run to take its seven point lead at the half.
Barry finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field, but was held to just 29 percent shooting from the 3-point line and was 21-for-25 (84 percent) at the free throw line.
The Mocs also forced Barry into 16 turnovers for the game, while they committed just nine.
FSC will now advance to the semifinal round on Saturday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. The Mocs will face the winner of the Eckerd/Nova Southeastern quarterfinal match-up that will conclude Friday's action. The tournament's championship game is slated for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 10.
