Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern tuned up for the 2014-15 regular season here Wednesday evening by hanging on to post an 86-75 exhibition game victory over Warner at Jenkins Field House.
The Moccasins, who are ranked ninth in the Preseason NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll and were tabbed to win its fourth consecutive Sunshine State Conference regular season title by the league coaches in the preseason poll, led 80-60 with 4:49 left in the game, before the Royals closed the game scoring 15 of the next 17 points to cut FSC's lead down to seven points at 82-75 with 21 seconds remaining. The Mocs, though, would connect on four straight free throws in the closing 16 seconds to seal the exhibition victory.
"I thought after the first four minutes of the first half we played fairly well, but in the second half, we were awful," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following the win. "We turned it over 12 times, we looked like we couldn't pass or dribble the ball at times and a lot of that was because of our practice habits. We don't practice hard all the time and when you don't practice hard, you can't sustain it.
"I thought we looked tired out there at times tonight."
The Mocs, who trailed 5-0 in the game's opening three minutes, used a 28-12 run over a span of nearly eight minutes to turn a 12-11 deficit into a 39-24 lead following a fast break dunk by senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.). After Warner scored five of the next seven points to pull within 41-29 with 5:47 left, the Mocs closed out the first half on a 12-3 run to take a 53-32 lead into the locker room at the half.
"I really thought we played well the last eight minutes of the first half, but we couldn't sustain it in the second half," said Darner, who is entering his ninth season at the helm of the Moccasin program.
On the night, the Mocs turned the Royals over 28 times and scored 33 points off those turnovers, but didn't take advantage of those turnovers, especially in the second half.
"We turned a team over 27 times and we have to fight to win the game at the end, that is not very good," Darner added. "We need to finish the end of games better and also take advantage of mistakes by our opponents."
FSC, who committed only two turnovers in the first half, finished with 12 in the second half and had 14 for the game.
The Mocs offense did manage to score 86 points on a Royals squad that entered the game allowing its first five opponents this season to score just 53.6 points per game. The Mocs almost had that many points in the first 20 minutes of the game.
Four Mocs finished the game in double figures as junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) finished with a team-high 16 points and added four assists and three steals and shot 5-for-10 from the field and was 5-for-6 at the line. In addition to Travis, who scored nine of his points in the first half, junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) added 14 points, while Capers and senior forward Daniel Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) each had 12 points in the win. 10 of Turner's 12 points came before halftime.
"I thought Daniel and Dylan played really well at times tonight, especially in the first half," the Moccasin coach said. "For their first game, I thought they did pretty good, but I wanted to see how they would close the game out over the last six minutes as they hadn't ever been in that situation. We have to finish the game a lot better moving forward."
In the second half, the Mocs opened on a 19-15 run to push its lead to 70-47 following a three-pointer from Travis with 12:47 left in the game. From that point, the Royals, who came into the game with a 5-0 record on the season, used a 28-12 run over the next 12 minutes to trim a 23 point Moccasin lead into a seven point lead at 82-75 following a free throw by Eddie Delegal. The Mocs, though, would right the ship as sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) and freshman guard/forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.) each hit two free throws in the final seconds of the game to seal the 11 point win.
"We have a veteran team and at the 12 minute we have four seniors on the court and we should be able to increase our lead from 20 points, but instead we go the other way, which was disappointing with the guys we had in the game," the Moc coach commented when asked about his team not being able to extend their lead out more.
Warner, who shot 50 percent from the field on the night, was paced offensively by Delegal as he finished with 24 points, while Warren Hall scored 21 points for the Royals. Hall had 13 of his team's 32 first half points, while Delegal scored 16 of WU's 43 second half points.
"Delegal and Hall are really good players. They caused us problems tonight," said Darner, who is 182-71 as the Mocs coach.
The Mocs finished the game with a 38-33 edge on the boards as senior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) pulled down nine boards, including six in the second half. Turner finished the game with six boards.
FSC shot 42 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line, including shooting 5-for-14 (36 percent) from long distance in the second half. In addition, the Mocs also shot 77 percent from the free throw line, including going 11-for-11 at the line in the first half. FSC was 17-for-22 at the line on the night in the win.
The Mocs will now turn its attention to the regular season as they tip off its 2014-15 season this weekend at the second annual SSC/GSC Challenge, which this year is being held in Lakeland after being played last season in Cleveland, Miss. The Mocs will open the four team, two-day exempt event on Saturday, Nov. 15 with a 4 p.m. game against West Alabama, before facing 13th-ranked Delta State in a 4 p.m. match-up on Sunday, Nov. 16.
"If we play like we played in the second half tonight this weekend, I don't know how we'll win a game," Darner said.
