Box Score LAKELAND - In a match-up between two Top 10 nationally ranked teams and two of the winningest Division II programs over the past five seasons, No. 6 ranked Florida Southern ultimately prevailed over No. 3 ranked Metro State 80-75 in the final game here Saturday night of the 2014 FSC/Terrace Hotel Classic at Jenkins Field House.
With the victory, the Moccasins extend its non-conference home win streak to 18 straight games and improved the Mocs to 5-0 on the season. Metro State, who has lost a total of five games the past two seasons, fell to 5-1. The Mocs have also opened the season 5-0 for the second consecutive year and 19th time in school history.
Since the beginning of the 2009-10 season, FSC and Metro State have combined to post a 266-53 record as Metro State is 135-27, while the Moccasins have gone 121-35 over the same time period. In addition, the Roadrunners have advanced to the Elite Eight the past three seasons, while FSC played in the Elite Eight in 2013 and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament the past seven seasons.
"It was an incredible basketball game tonight against two really good teams. I think everyone saw tonight how good Metro State is, they're really good," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following his program's second win this season over a nationally-ranked foe. "We've beaten two nationally ranked teams in Delta State and now Metro State. We've taken care of the home court. We're going to become everybody's bigger and bigger game if we stay where we're at, so we'll have to be ready to play each and every night.
"I thought our guys competed hard, played hard, battled and found a way to get it done against a very good Metro State team and that's the bottom line."
Along with collecting its second win over a nationally ranked foe this season as the Mocs defeated then 13th-ranked Delta State, 97-80 in the final game of the SSC/GSC Crossover in Lakeland on Nov. 16, the win was also FSC's 16th over a nationally ranked foe since the beginning of the 2006-07 season. The Roadrunners are also the second highest ranked team the Mocs have defeated in the last eight-plus seasons as they earned an 83-75 win over then No. 2 ranked USC Aiken on Dec. 30, 2008.
The Mocs, who shot 61 percent from the field and 60 percent from the 3-point line in sprinting out to a 49-30 lead at the half, had to survive a second-half rally from the Roadrunners as they shot 63 percent from the field and scored 45 points in the second half to rally from its 19-point deficit at the half.
"In the second half they (Metro State) shot unbelievable, much like we did in the first half," Darner said when asked about Metro's hot shooting in the second half. "That's why they're good and that's why they've been the Elite Eight the past three seasons and played in the National Championship game. We knew they would make a run, the question for us was could we withstand their run and could we make big plays to withstand it? I could've told you at halftime it wasn't going to be 19 point game, it was going to come down to the end, which it did.
"That's how good they are."
The loss by Metro State was only its second regular season loss in non-conference play since the beginning of the 2012-13 campaign as they went 4-0 in regular season non-conference games in 2012-13 and were 3-1 last season with the only setback being a 72-69 loss at Western Washington and had won its first five non-conference games this season prior to Saturday's setback.
Along with being a match-up between two of the top Division II programs in the country over the last several years, the game was also contest against two All-American guards - Moccasin senior Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) and Roadrunner senior Mitch McCarron. Those two players didn't disappoint the fans as Capers finished the night with a game-high 27 points to push past former Moccasin Jerry Johnson for sixth on the school's career scoring chart, while McCarron finished the night with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but he also committed six turnovers, including four in the first half.
With his 27 points on Saturday, Capers has now scored 20 or more points in eight consecutive games dating to last season and increased his career total to 1,667 points, which is five more than Johnson scored as a Moccasin from 1985-88.
"This win says we're doing good right now, but it is just the beginning," Capers said about defeating the No. 3 ranked Roadrunners. "Everybody goes through the season to get better and hopefully we'll continue to get better as a basketball team as the season progresses."
Saturday's game was a tale of two halves for both teams as the Mocs used lights out shooting and some strong defense to push out to a 19 point lead at the half, only to see Metro use high percentage shooting and a strong defensive effort on their part in the final 20 minutes of the game to make the contest close at the end. For the game, the Mocs never lost the lead and Metro State was never able to tie the game.
After Sam Porter opened the second half scoring with a basket just 25 seconds out the locker room, the Mocs would push its lead back out to 19 points about 90 seconds later on a lay-up by Capers to make the score 51-32. Following Capers' lay-up, MSU Denver used a 29-14 run over the next 11-plus minutes to trim the Mocs lead to 65-61 following a lay-up by Dalante Dunklin with 7:58 left in the game.
The Mocs would push its lead back out to seven just 10 seconds later on a trey from junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.), before MSU Denver's Nicholas Kay answered right back with a trey of his own to make the score 68-64 with 7:28 remaining in the game.
MSU Denver would eventually whittle FSC's lead to three points at 72-69 following a free throw by Will Sinclair with 3:38 left, before senior forward Daniel Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key with 3:22 remaining to give the Mocs a 75-69 advantage. The lead would grow to 77-69 following two free throws by Capers with 2:37 left in the game.
The Roadrunners, who are now 1-2 all-time against the Mocs, would answer Capers' two free throws by using a 6-1 run capped by a lay-up from Dunklin with 22 seconds left that dropped the Mocs lead to 78-75. On the Mocs ensuing possession, junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) would hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Mocs 79-75 lead with 19 seconds left. MSU Denver's Sam Porter would misfire on a trey five seconds later that all but sealed the Mocs win as Capers, who collected the rebound on Porter's missed 3-pointer, would connect on 1-of-2 free throws with 12 second remaining to set the final score.
"It was the first time this season we've had a really tight game with two minutes to go and I thought we did a good job of finishing the game," said Darner, who tied former Moccasin coach Tom Greene for third on the school's all-time coaching wins list with Saturday's victory. Greene won 187 games as FSC's coach from 1957-71, while Darner improved his FSC record to 187-71 with Saturday's victory.
In addition to Capers' 27 points, Travis tied his season high with 14 points off the bench, including going 5-for-6 from the field and tallying 11 points in the first half and senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) added 11 points and four assists in the win. Senior point guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) finished the night with seven rebounds, seven assists and added five points.
The Mocs jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the games opening four minutes, before MSU Denver responded with an 8-2 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Jourdan Hunter to drop the Mocs lead to 10-9 with 13:54 left in the first half. From that point, the Mocs would score 12 of the next 16 points to push out to a 23-13 lead following two Capers free throws with 8:26 left in the opening stanza.
After a trey from McCarron brought the Roadrunners within nine points at 26-17, the Mocs would close out the first half on a 23-13 run to go into the half with its 49-30 lead. The first half closing run was capped by back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute of the half by Battle.
Along with McCarron's 21 point night, Nicholas Kay finished with 20 points and five boards, while Dunklin had 14 points, including scoring 10 of them in the second half and Hunter added 12 points in the loss.
"Our big thing tonight was we wanted to wear both Kay and McCarron out. We wanted to trap them some, give them a lot of things and wear them down," Darner added when asked about guarding both McCarron and Kay. "I know they had 21 and 20, but I thought we guarded them pretty good. I thought they had to work for their points tonight."
Kay came into the game averaging 23.4 points per game, while McCarron was averaging 19.8 points per game on the season.
For the game, the Mocs shot a season-best 51 percent from the field and 53 percent (9-for-17) from the 3-point line, while Metro State shot 50 percent from the floor and 39 percent (7-for-18) from the 3-point line.
The Roadrunners held a 29-24 edge on the glass and committed 16Â turnovers as the Mocs scored 15 points off those turnovers on the night. The Mocs also dished out 21 assists on 25 made baskets and had just 12 turnovers in the win.
Both teams were also strong at the foul line on the night as the Mocs finished the game shooting 81 percent (21-for-26) at the line, including going 9-for-9 at the charity stripe in the first half and Metro State shot 76 percent (16-for-21) from the line, including going 7-for-8 (88 percent) in the second half.
The Mocs will close out its season opening six game homestand this coming Friday, Dec. 5 as they host Palm Beach Atlantic (3-0) in a 7:30 p.m. non-conference South Region game at Jenkins Field House.
"We've got a week to get ready for our next game. PBA is a good team and it won't be an easy game as will none of them we play this year," added Darner.
