Box Score LAKELAND - Second-ranked Florida Southern put together a near perfect first half here Friday evening en route to posting a 107-65 victory over Tuskegee at Jenkins Field House in a rematch of last season's first round NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament.
Unlike the match-up in the NCAA Tournament last year when Tuskegee collected a 98-95 win to end the Mocs 2013-14 campaign, in Friday's game, the Mocs were able to come away with a victory to improve its record to 10-0 on the season and extend its regular season non-conference win streak to 29 consecutive games. The Mocs have opened the season 10-0 for the second straight year and the 11th time in school history.
In the first half, the Mocs scored 58 points and shot 54 percent from the field and 64 percent from the 3-point line and held Tuskegee to a total of 28 points and 32 percent shooting from the field. The 30 point halftime margin was the largest of the season for the Mocs and its biggest first half advantage holding a 25 point lead (56-31) in a 98-62 victory over Palm Beach Atlantic on Jan. 19, 2013.
"I thought it was our most complete game of the season at home," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following his team's 21st straight non-conference regular season home victory. "I thought we played extremely well in the first half."
The Mocs strong play in the first half was keyed by a combined 32 points from senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.), senior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) and junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) as Capers led the way with 14 first half points, while Johnson tallied 10 points and eight boards as he was 5-for-7 from the field and Williams had eight points in nine minutes off action off the bench.
"Bubby has struggled finishing around the basket lately, so it was nice to see him finish tonight at the basket," Darner said when asked about Johnson's performance. "It was good because we need him to score around the basket, because it helps keep teams honest guarding us out on the floor."
After the teams traded three-point baskets in the opening four minutes of the game, the Mocs used a 17-5 run over the next four-plus minutes to push out to a 23-11 lead following a lay-up from Capers with 11:02 left in the opening half. After Vladimir Tilme sank one of his four 3-pointers in the game to drop FSC's lead to 23-14 with 10:35 left, the Mocs would respond with a 17-9 run capped by a trey from Capers to push out to a 40-20 lead with seven minutes left in the opening stanza.
Tuskegee would pull within 17 points 31 seconds later on a triple from David Alexander, but could get no closer as the Mocs scored 15 of the next 17 points, including four points apiece from junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) and sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) to push out to a 55-25 edge with 2:35 remaining in the half. Tuskegee would score three straight points on free throws to drop the Mocs lead to 55-28, before senior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.) capped the first half's scoring with a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to give the Mocs its 58-28 halftime lead.
"It was a good win for our team. I think we played extremely well tonight to make the score what it was," said Darner, who is now 192-71 in his ninth season as the Moccasin coach. "Tuskegee has been in every game this season and has beaten some good teams, so it was a good win for us against a region opponent."
On the night, Williams was one of five Mocs to finish in double figures as he tallied a team and season-high 18 points and added seven boards, while Capers scored 17 points, had five rebounds and eight assists before fouling out midway through the second half. With his 17 points, Capers extended his double figure scoring streak to 13 consecutive games dating to last season and moved into fourth place on the school's all-time scoring chart as he passed former Moccasins Donolly Tyrell and Bobby Bowman on the scoring chart. Tyrell scored 1,768 points from 1987-90 and Bowman tallied 1,773 points from 1963-67. Capers has now scored 1,775 career points in 104 games as a Moccasin.
Travis added 15 points, seven boards and five assists off the bench, while Johnson recorded his second double-double of the season as he had a career high 14 points and pulled down a career-high 13 boards and senior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) finished with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line.
"We were able to have a lot of balance on offense tonight. We have a lot of guys that can score and we also have a lot of guys that can pass the ball and handle the ball," Darner added.
The Golden Tigers, who fell to 3-4 with the loss, opened the second half on a 15-8 run to drop the Mocs lead to 66-43 following a trey by Alexander with 15:43 left in the game. Alexander tied for team high scoring honors with 19 points.
That run by Tuskegee seemed to light a spark into the Mocs as they answered with a 17-6 run capped by a lay-up from Johnson to push FSC's lead to 83-49 with 8:37 remaining in the game.
Tuskegee would score the next seven points to drop the Mocs lead to 83-57 with 7:42 left, before scoring 24 of the next 30 points to push its lead out to as much as 44 points following a lay-up from junior guard Melique Hill (Tampa, Fla.) with 1:54 left in the contest. Hill's lay-up, which was his first made field goal of the season, made the score 107-63. FSC would top the century mark for the third time this season following the completion of a four-point play by Williams thanks to a made 3-pointer and a free throw with 4:32 remaining.
In addition to 19 points by Alexander, Tilme also scored 19 points for the Golden Tigers, while Kevin May finished with 11 points, five rebounds and eight assists. May was named the Most Outstanding Player at last season's NCAA South Regional Tournament after leading Tuskegee to its first-ever regional championship and a spot in the Division II Elite Eight.
The Mocs finished the night shooting 49 percent from the field and 48 percent from the 3-point line and held a 51-33 edge on the glass, including a 17-9 advantage on the offensive boards. The Mocs also forced Tuskegee into 23 turnovers that led to 31 points, including scoring 18 points off of 11 first half turnovers by the Golden Tigers.
FSC finished the night with 14 turnovers and outscored Tuskegee's bench, 50-14 and held a 23-4 edge on second chance points.
Tuskegee entered the game second in Division II in turnover margin with a +9.7 on the season and they also were averaging 12.7 steals per game, but had just seven steals for the game against the Mocs.
"One of the things we wanted to do tonight was to keep them (Tuskegee) off the offensive glass as they came into the game with more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds this season," said Darner. "I thought we did a good job on the glass and I also thought we did a good job protecting the basketball as they were forcing about 23 or 24 turnovers per game on the year, but we had just 14."
The Mocs will play their third game in four days to conclude its pre-Christmas schedule on Sunday, Dec. 21 as they host Miles College (1-4) in a 6 p.m. contest at Jenkins Field House.
"Things are going well for us right now and now we have to get ready to go again on Sunday and see if we can go into Christmas with an 11-0 record," the Mocs coach said.
