Box Score
SAINT LEO - Third-ranked Florida Southern used a 47-point second half here Wednesday evening to post an impressive 92-86 victory over Saint Leo in Sunshine State Conference action at the Bowman Activities Center on the SLU campus.
The win, which improved the Moccasins to 16-0 overall on the season and 5-0 in the SSC, snapped a four-game regular season losing streak to the Lions and extended its SSC win streak to eight consecutive victories. FSC had lost its last four regular season meetings against the Lions, including losing two straight games at Saint Leo, before earning Wednesday's victory.
FSC's current 16 game winning streak is tied with East Stroudsburg for longest active streak in Division II men's basketball. In addition, FSC is also one of the six lone remaining undefeated teams in Division II after fifth-ranked Indiana (Pa.) lost in overtime on Wednesday to Gannon.
"This was a huge win for us tonight. They (SLU) are a very good team and I thought we played extremely well in the second half," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said. "SLU got off to an unbelievable start, but I knew they couldn't keep that hot shooting up for the entire game."
The Mocs, who trailed 47-45 at the half, opened the second half on an 8-3 run to take a 53-50 lead following a bucket by junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.). Battle's basket capped a 6-0 run by the Mocs, who have now started 16-0 for the just the third time in the program's 87-year history.
SLU, who fell to 13-4 overall and 2-3 in the SSC with the loss, answered FSC's run with a 13-7 scoring spurt over a span of nearly six minutes to turn a 53-50 deficit into a 63-60 lead following two free throws by Kadima with 10:27 left in the game.
The Mocs, though, would answer with a 16-6 run to take a 76-69 lead following a trey by senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) with 6:38 left in the contest. The Mocs run was aided by a combined nine points from junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) and senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.). Adams scored five of his 11 second half points during the run, while Capers tallied four of his team-high 14 second-half points.
"Frank really stepped up and played well in the second half tonight," said Darner, who is now 172-66 in his eighth season as the Mocs coach. "Plus, I thought Kevin hit some big shots for us in the second half and made some big plays when we needed them."
Capers finished the night with 23 points, while Adams tallied 13 points in the win. In addition to Capers and Adams, Lane scored 17 points, while Battle added 14 points and six boards and senior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio) finished with 11 points and six boards, including collecting four of those six boards after halftime.
"Lamar really did a nice job on the boards and was able to get some big rebounds tonight," Darner added. The Mocs finished the game with a 42-40 edge on the glass. SLU entered the game second in the SSC in rebound margin (+8.7) on the season.
The Lions wouldn't go away as they used a 15-10 run over the next six minutes of the game to pull within 86-84 following a trey from Harris, who scored a game-high 25 points to pace the Lions.
That would be as close as SLU would get as Capers and Lane combined to hit 6-of-6 free throws in the final 15 seconds of the game to hold off the Lions and snap SLU's five-game home court win streak.
"I thought we did a good job executing tonight on both ends of the floor. We were able to penetrate and pitch tonight, which is something you need to do well against SLU's defense," the Mocs coach said following his team's eighth straight regular season road win dating to last season.
Early on in the game it didn't appear a second-half rally would be enough on Wednesday as the Lions opened the game by hitting six of its first eight shots, including connecting on four of its first six three-pointers to sprint out to an 18-4 lead just four minutes into the game. The run was aided by seven points from Harris and three straight treys by Cale Girten, Harris and Kadima, who finished with 18 points and five boards off the bench.
Following SLU's run, the Mocs would come right back with a 14-2 run keyed by seven points from Capers and capped by dunk from Battle to pull within 20-18 with 14:20 left in the opening half.
SLU would score five straight points to push its lead out to 25-18, before the Mocs answered with a 12-6 run to pull within 31-30 following a 3-pointer from Lane. Battle scored six of FSC's 12 points during the run.
The Lions answered with an 8-0 run to push its lead to 39-30 with 3:39 left in the first half, but FSC would once again come back as they scored six straight points, including junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) hitting four free throws to drop SLU's lead to 39-36.
SLU would answer with five consecutive points to push its advantage to 44-36, before FSC closed the half on a 7-3 run to go into halftime trailing by two points at 47-45.
Devin Crisosto was the third Lion to finish in double figures as he scored 14 points, including eight in the second half, while Ron Foxx added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss.
One of the biggest advantages for the Mocs in Wednesday's game was their ability to score off of turnovers as they turned 13 SLU turnovers into 21 points, including an 11-2 edge in points off turnovers in the first half. FSC finished the night with a season-low seven turnovers.
The Mocs finished the night shooting 41 percent from the field and 28 percent from the 3-point line, while SLU shot 47 percent from the field and 36 percent from the long distance.
Both teams were strong at the free throw line as the Mocs finished the night shooting 88 percent (21-for-24) at the line, including going 15-for-17 from the line in the second half. SLU shot 68 percent at the line as they were 23-for-34 on the night.
FSC will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 18 as they host Florida Tech (12-3 overall, 2-2 SSC) in a 7:30 p.m. SSC contest at Jenkins Field House. The Panthers, who were idle on Wednesday night, were the last team to defeat FSC at home as they collected an 83-78 win in Lakeland last season. Since that home loss, FSC has reeled off 13 consecutive home wins, including going 9-0 at home so far this year.
