Box Score
LAKELAND - Fourth-ranked Florida Southern opened the home portion of its Sunshine State Conference schedule here Saturday evening by posting an impressive 95-79 victory over 25th-ranked Barry in front of a little over 1,000 fans at Jenkins Field House.
Saturday's game was a battle between two of the 15 remaining undefeated teams in Division II as the Moccasins entered the game with a 12-0 record, while Barry was sporting a 9-0 mark.
The victory helped the Mocs improve to 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the SSC on the season and extend its homecourt win streak to 12 consecutive games and its SSC win streak to four straight games. Barry suffered its first loss of the season and fell to 9-1 overall and 1-1 in the SSC.
FSC, who is now 2-0 this season against ranked opponents and has won 14 games over ranked foes since the beginning of the 2007-08 season, has now opened the season 13-0 for the eighth time in school history and first time since the 2009-10 squad opened the season by winning its first 13 games. The best start to a season in school history is 18-0, which was set by the 1999-00 squad that finished the year with a 32-2 record and advanced to the Division II Elite Eight.
"Barry is a good team. I thought we played really well tonight, considering we hadn't played in nearly two weeks," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following his 169th victory as FSC's coach. "It was a game of runs tonight. I thought we got off to a decent start, and then they (Barry) made a run. It took us some time to get our legs back."
Saturday's game was the first for the Mocs since they closed out the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule with a 106-90 win over Tuskegee on Dec. 22. Following that game, the Mocs, along with every other Division II program, had to take a seven-day break from practice and competition as part of the NCAA's "Life in Balance" initiative. FSC resumed practice on Monday, Dec. 30.
After trailing for nearly 17 minutes in the opening half, the Mocs closed the first half by scoring the final seven points to go into the locker room at the half with a 39-34 lead. The run was capped by back-to-back lay-ups from senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and freshman forward Stephen Turner (McCordsville, Ind.). Turner finished the night with a career-high seven points and pulled down a career-high six boards.
The Mocs opened the game by scoring the first five points and led 7-2 when the Buccaneers used a 20-7 run to take a 22-14 lead following a bucket by Adrian Gonzalez. The Mocs would drop BU's lead to 22-18 with 9:50 left in the opening half. BU, though, would answer with a 4-0 run of its own to push its lead back to 26-18 after a lay-up by Magne Fivelstad.
FSC would respond with a 14-6 run to tie the game at 32 following a triple from sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.). After a lay-up by Juan Ferrales gave the Bucs a 34-32 lead, the Mocs would close the half on its 7-0 run.
After the teams traded baskets to open the second half, the Mocs used a 19-7 run over the next seven minutes to turn a 43-38 lead into a 62-45 advantage following a lay-up by junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.). Capers scored six of its team-high 24 points during the run.
Barry, though, wouldn't go away as they began chipping away at the Mocs lead as they used a 16-9 run to pull within 71-61 following a free throw by Deric Hill with 8:32 left in the game. The Bucs run was aided by eight points from Gonzalez, who finished the night with a game-high 29 points, including scoring 21 of those points in the second half.
The Mocs would answer with a 9-4 run capped by a lay-up from redshirt senior forward Garrett Putman (Washington, D.C.) to push out to an 80-65 lead with 5:58 left in the game. BU would score seven of the next 11 points to drop FSC's lead to 84-72 following a trey by Gonzalez with 5:06 remaining.
FSC, though, would close out the game on a 9-6 run to seal its first home SSC win of the season and its eighth overall home victory of the year. The Mocs have now won eight consecutive home SSC openers.
In addition to Capers' 24 points, Adams added 16 points, while Williams chipped in with 12 points and junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in the win.
The Mocs victory was aided by a +10 advantage on the boards as FSC outrebounded the Bucs, 46-36. Barry entered the game fourth in Division II in rebound margin (+13.3) on the season. Both teams were strong on the offensive glass as FSC had 17 offensive boards, including six in the second half, while Barry had 16 offensive boards, including 11 after halftime.
Leading the way for the Mocs on the boards was senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.), who pulled down nine boards and added nine points, while Putman had eight boards and Kelly and Turner each had six in the win. Four of Kelly's six boards were on the offensive end.
"I thought we did an excellent job on the boards. To outrebound them by a +10 margin is impressive," the Mocs coach added. "They are really good on the glass."
Along with Gonzalez's game-high 29 points, Barry got 13 points and six boards from Yunio Barrueta and 11 points and eight boards from Fivelstad.
The Mocs finished the night shooting 52 percent from the field, including shooting 63 percent from the field in the second half as FSC scored 54 points after halftime. FSC also shot 28 percent from the 3-point line and connected on just 22-of-34 free throws (65 percent) on the night. The Mocs were 9-for-19 from the line in the first half.
Barry finished the night shooting 42 percent from the field and 28 percent from the 3-point line and they connected on just 18-of-28 free throws (64 percent).ÂÂ
Both teams combined to commit a total of 30 turnovers on the night as the Mocs finished with 16 and Barry had 14. Barry also held a 16-14 edge in points off turnovers.
The Mocs will conclude its season long five-game homestand on Wednesday, Jan. 8 as they host Eckerd (7-4, 1-0 SSC) in a 7:30 p.m. SSC contest at Jenkins Field House. Eckerd opened its league schedule with a 75-63 home win Saturday over Nova Southeastern.
