Box Score LAKELAND - Fourth-ranked Florida Southern concluded its six game homestand to open the 2014-15 season here Friday evening by eclipsing the century mark en route to posting a 101-74 non-conference South Region victory over Palm Beach Atlantic at Jenkins Field House.
Friday's game was a match-up against two undefeated teams as both the Moccasins and Sailfish came into the game sporting identical 5-0 records, but by the end of the evening, the Mocs were the ones that were unblemished on the season as they improved to 6-0 on the year, while PBA fell to 5-1. The 6-0 start by the Mocs is its second consecutive and 17th all-time in school history.
After allowing the Sailfish to shoot 63 percent from the field, 46 percent from the 3-point line and score 48 points in the first half, the Moccasin defense stepped up in the second half as they allowed PBA to score just 26 points and shoot 27 percent from the field and 8 percent (1-for-12) effort from the 3-point line after halftime.
"I thought we guarded really well in the second half. The shots we made them take were tough ones and we were able to get stops and that led to some easy baskets," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following his team's 19th consecutive home win in the regular season against non-conference opponents. "We changed up at the half how we were going to guard their ball screens and I thought we did a good job with that adjustment."
With the victory, Darner tied George Scholz for second on the school's all-time coaching wins list as Darner improved his Moccasin coaching record to 188-71 in his ninth season at the helm of the program. Scholz posted a 188-63 record with the Mocs from 1983-90.
Darner said that his team in the past few games has allowed its opponents to have a hot hand shooting the ball in the second half, but in Friday's game that didn't hold true to form.
"In the first half, if we didn't turn them over, they scored almost every time down the court, so going into the second half, I was a little worried because in our last couple of games we've allowed teams to shoot high percentages on us in the second half," Darner said. "I told them in the locker room at the half that if we play defense like we had the past couple of games in the second half tonight, we'll get beat, but they came out and did a much better job."
In the second half of last Friday's 99-86 win against Stillman, the Mocs allowed the Tigers to shoot 57 percent from the field and 50 percent from long distance, while in last Saturday's 80-75 win over third-ranked Metro State, the Roadrunners shot 63 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the 3-point line to nearly make up a 19 point halftime deficit.
The Mocs, who led 56-48 at the half, used a 19-0 lead during of a period of nearly five minutes to turn a 66-58 lead into an 85-58 advantage with 10:18 left in the game. During the run, the Mocs forced three turnovers and the Sailfish misfired on two shots and missed four free throws during the Mocs run. The run was aided by six points from sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) and four points from senior forward Stephen Battle(Waldorf, Md.).
After Garet Tucker scored four straight points to stop the Moccasins run, FSC would respond with a 12-8 run capped by another Volovic basket to push its lead to 97-70 with 2:54 remaining. The Mocs would hit the century mark for the first time this season on a dunk by senior forward Daniel Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) with 30 seconds left. Turner's dunk gave the Mocs a 101-72 lead. Jack Tisdale would cap the game's scoring with a lay-up with 14 seconds remaining in the contest.
On the night, five Mocs scored in double figures led by 19 points from Volovic, who was 6-for-9 from the field and 4-for-6 from the 3-point line in the win. In addition to Volovic, junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) added a career-high 18 points and pulled down a career-high eight boards, while senior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) chipped in with 16 points in 16 minutes of action as he battled foul trouble throughout the game.
"I thought Dylan played well off the bench tonight and so too did a Michael," the Mocs coach added. "Dylan is getting better and better each game we play. I didn't think anyone played bad tonight. I thought T.K. (Tyler Kelly) coming in and working on his shooting paid off tonight as he knocked down some shots, which is good for us."
Kelly entered the game shooting just 33 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line on the season, but finished the night 4-for-7 from the field, including going 3-for-6 from downtown to raise his season field goal percentage to 38 percent and his 3-point field goal percentage to 41 percent.
The other two Mocs to reach double figures were senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) and Battle. Capers, who had its streak of 20-plus point games snapped at eight, scored 12 points on the night and added five boards, four assists and two steals in the win, while Battle finished with 10 points, including scoring six of the 10 in the second half.
One area where the Mocs excelled in Friday's game was on the boards as they held a 45-31 edge on the glass, including an 11-2 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Mocs entered the game with a -0.2 rebound margin on the season. Travis led the way with eight boards, while Turner and junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) each had six boards on the night.
"The biggest thing for us tonight was they (PBA) were +11 in rebounding on the season coming into the game, but we were able to outrebound them by 14 boards and they were also a team averaging nearly 15 offensive boards per game, but we only gave up two for the game," Darner said when asked about the edge on the glass for his team.
Ronnell Ross led the way for the Sailfish as he had 18 points, including scoring 16 of those points in the first half as he hit four treys and was 6-for-8 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. In addition to Ross, Nigel Sydnor added 12 points off the bench, while Evin Graham had 11 points and Tucker added 10 in the loss. Graham entered the game averaging nearly 16 points per game on the season.
Ross' hot hand in the first half helped the Sailfish stay with the Mocs as they jumped out to a 14-9 lead in the opening four minutes and led 17-16 before the Mocs used a 5-0 run capped by a Travis free throw to push in front 21-17 with 12:05 left in the half. A lay-up by Sydnor and a trey from Ross helped PBA retake the lead at 22-21.
The teams would take turns trading the lead until the Mocs used a 21-12 run over a span of nearly six minutes to turn a 28-26 deficit into a 47-40 lead. The run was keyed by seven points from Volovic and capped by a trey from Kelly. The Mocs lead would eventually reach eight points late in the half following a lay-up by Travis with 48 seconds left. Travis' basket gave the Mocs a 54-46 edge. The Sailfish's Clayton Williams would hit two free throws with 37 seconds left to push within 54-48, before Travis capped the first half scoring with a lay-up with eight seconds remaining to give the Mocs its 56-48 lead at the half.
Along with outrebounding the Sailfish, the Mocs defense also forced PBA into 22 turnovers that led to 23 points. In the first half, the Mocs forced PBA into 15 turnovers and scored 16 points off those turnovers. FSC committed 17 turnovers in the win, including 11 in the second half.
The Mocs will now take a week off from action to complete first semester final exams and will return to the court next weekend as they travel to Louisville, Ky., to play two games in the Bellarmine Classic. The Mocs will open the event on Friday, Dec. 12 with a 5:15 game against Southern Indiana and will then face No. 3 ranked Bellarmine on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
"We are going to have two really big challenges next weekend against two high quality Division II programs," said Darner, who is now 15-2 all-time against PBA as the Mocs coach.
