Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern opened play here Friday evening in its annual FSC/Terrace Hotel Classic at Jenkins Field House by forcing 28 turnovers and scoring 42 points off those turnovers en route to a hard-fought 99-86 victory over Stillman College in a match-up between two South Regional opponents.
The victory extended the Mocs regular season non-conference win streak to 17 straight games and pushed its home court win streak to four consecutive games. Additionally, the win helped FSC open the season 4-0 for the second consecutive season and 21st time in school history. Stillman fell to 2-3 with the loss.
"They outplayed us (in the first half). They outplayed us and I told our guys at the half that we're lucky we are up by one and not down 15 or 20 points," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following the win. "I thought they (Stillman) dominated the whole the first half on both ends of the floor. If we didn't turn them over and get lay-ups at the other end of the floor, I'm not sure we beat them tonight."
The 28 turnovers and the 42 points off those turnovers were needed as the Tigers outrebounded the Mocs, 51-33 and shot 50 percent from the field and 55 percent from the 3-point line on the night. FSC finished the night shooting 46 percent from the field and 48 percent from the 3-point line, after shooting 43 percent from the floor and 39 percent from downtown in the opening half.
"In the first half we couldn't score on them in the half court and when they got back and guarded us, we couldn't score on them," said Darner, who is now 186-71 in his ninth season as the Moccasins coach. "They killed us on the glass. They just out-competed and outworked us. I thought we did a better job in the second half at competing and working and we also did a better job with our half court offense in the second half."
In the opening half, the Mocs jumped out to a 19-13 lead just a little over seven minutes into the contest, before Stillman used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 19 following two free throws by Maurice Crenshaw. The Mocs would once again push its lead out to as much as six points on three separate occasions, before Stillman responded with a 14-6 run to turn a 31-25 deficit into a 39-37 lead following a lay-up by Rodnerius Lewis with 2:37 left in the opening half.
Following Lewis' lay-up, the Mocs retook the lead 32 seconds later on a three-pointer from senior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) with 2:05 left and after a trey by Lewis pushed Stillman's lead to 42-40, the Mocs would once again use a trey from senior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.) to give FSC a 43-42 edge with 59 seconds remaining.
Jamon Jackson-Wilson gave the Tigers a one point lead at 44-43 following his dunk, but a technical following the play on Lewis put the Mocs on the free throw line with 38 seconds left and senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) drained two free throws to give the Mocs its 45-44 halftime lead.
Despite the final margin of 13 points, the game was close throughout as the Mocs biggest lead of the game (13 points) came in the final 30 seconds of the contest following two free throws by sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.). The game featured five ties and seven lead changes.
After leading 45-44, at the half, the Mocs opened the second half on a 12-4 run that turned a one-point lead into a 57-48 advantage following a three-pointer by junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) with 15:27 left in the game. The Tigers, though, would respond with an 11-4 spree capped by a lay-up from Lewis, who scored a game-high 33 points in the loss for Stillman.
FSC, who shot 50 percent from the field and 63 percent from the 3-point line in the second half, would answer Stillman's run with another of its own as they used an 18-8 run keyed by five points apiece from Capers and Logan. The run was capped by a lay-up from senior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) with 6:15 remaining. Johnson's lay-up gave the Mocs a 79-67 lead.
"We shot the ball better in the second half, which makes us look better. When we shoot the ball the way we did in the second half, 50 percent, it makes us a better team," Darner said.
The Tigers, though, wouldn't go away as they used a 10-0 run capped by an Antonio Penny free throw to push within 79-77 with 4:28 left. That would be as close as Stillman would get as the Mocs closed out the game on a 20-9 run to set the final score, including hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final 90 seconds of the game. On the night, the Mocs shot 64 percent at the line as they connected on just 27 of its 42 free throw attempts.
While FSC struggled at the line, so too, did Stillman as the Tigers shot just 55 percent (16-for-29) at the line in the loss, including shooting just 35 percent (6-for-17) at the line in the second half.
Capers once again led the way offensively for the Mocs as he finished with a season-high 31 points, including going 11-for-16 at the line and 10-for-17 from the field. Capers has now scored over 20 points in seven consecutive games dating to last season, including all four games this season. With his 31 points, he moved into seventh place the school's career scoring chart as he has now scored 1,640 career points and passed John Edwards on the list Friday night. Edwards scored 1,614 points as a Moccasin from 1973-76. Capers is now just 22 points shy of Jerry Johnson, who is sixth on the school's all-time scoring chart as he scored 1,662 points from 1985-88.
In addition to Capers, who scored 15 points in the first half, Volovic chipped in with 16 points, including scoring 14 of them in the second half and Travis finished the night with a season high 14 points in the win. Johnson led the way on the glass for the Mocs as he had a team-high nine boards.
For the game, FSC's bench outscored Stillman's bench, 39-15 as Volovic and Travis combined for 30 of those 39 points. Junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) had eight points, five rebounds and three steals off the bench against the Tigers.
"I think all of our guys off the bench can give us different things. Dylan, Mike and Dominique (Williams) have been giving us scoring and playing good defense," the Mocs coach said. "Those guys can all give us something on different nights. Tonight, they combined to score 38 of our 39 bench points, which we needed."
In addition to Lewis' 33 points, Jackson-Wilson had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Maurice Crenshaw had 11 points and Kairo Cannon added 10 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Mocs dished out 21 assists on its 31 made baskets and collected 18 steals, including a career-high six steals from Kelly, in the victory.
FSC will close out play in the FSC/Terrace Hotel Classic by hosting No. 3 ranked Metro State (5-0) in a 7:30 p.m. contest on Saturday, Nov. 29. Metro State picked up a 73-53 win over Armstrong State in Friday's opening game.
"We will have to do a better job on the glass and we have to be a lot better on the offensive side in the half court because Metro is going to really get up and guard us," Darner added.
