Box Score
LAKELAND - Second-ranked Florida Southern began a new winning streak here Saturday evening as the Moccasins shot 58 percent from the field en route to posting a 95-73 victory over Nova Southeastern in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
Saturday's win, which came three days after the Mocs had its 18-game winning streak snapped in overtime at Rollins, improved FSC to 19-1 overall and 8-1 in the SSC and extended its home court win streak to 16 consecutive games dating to last season. The Mocs haven't lost at home since falling 83-78 to Florida Tech in its third-to-last regular season last year. Since that loss to the Panthers, the Mocs won its final four home games last season and are 12-0 at home this season.
"It was a good win for us tonight. I thought we shot the ball much better and executed well after not doing those things well on Wednesday at Rollins," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following the win that came in front of nearly 20 members of FSC's 1981 NCAA Division II National Championship Team. "We were much better tonight against NSU's zone than we were against Rollins' zone defense."
The 1981 National Championship team was honored in a ceremony at halftime on Saturday night. The 1981 Mocs, who were coached by Hal Wissel and led by three-time All-American forward John Ebeling, finished with a 24-8 record and a 5-7 mark against Division I foes.
"It was nice having the national championship team around tonight. They came to shoot around this morning and spoke to our team," the Mocs coach added. "They are still the only team from our league to win a national championship in men's basketball."
The Mocs left little doubt about the outcome of Saturday's game over the final six minutes of the first and opening nine minutes of the second half as they extended a 32-25 lead to a 73-51 advantage following a three-point play from senior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio). During that spurt, the Mocs outscored the Sharks, 41-26.
Junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) and senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) were two of the biggest catalysts for the Mocs on the night as they combined to go 15-for-21 from the field and combined to score 44 of their teams 95 points. Capers finished the night with 23 points and a career-high tying 10 assists for his second double-double of the season, while Adams tallied a season-high 21 points and had seven rebounds against the Sharks.
Capers has now scored 20 or more points in six consecutive games and 12 times overall on the season and increased his career scoring total to 1,252 points, which is 15th on the school's all-time chart.
"I thought Kevin (Capers) and Frank (Adams) really played well tonight," Darner added. "I thought Kevin passed the ball well and stepped up and made some plays, while Frank was able to get going offensively and make some shots."
Following FSC's scoring spree to push its lead 22 points, NSU would score four straight points to drop the Mocs lead to 73-55, before they used a 13-6 run to push its lead to 25 points at 86-61 following a lay-up by junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) with 6:02 left in the game. NSU would get no closer than 21 points the remainder of the contest as sophomore walk-on guard Alex McClanahan (Maitland, Fla.) capped the scoring with an 18-foot jumper with 15 seconds left in the game.
One game after shooting 34 3-pointers in its loss at Rollins, the Mocs shot 21 treys against NSU and hit eight of them as they shot 38 percent from long distance for the game.
"8-for-21 from the 3-point line is more like it for us," said Darner, who is now 175-67 as FSC's coach.
The third Moc in double figures on Saturday was Battle as he finished with 13 points and six boards off the bench. Sophomore guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) and McKnight each fell one point shy of double digits as they both scored nine points in the win.
In the first half, it was the Capers and Adams show as they combined to score 24 of their 44 points in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
After NSU scored the game's first basket on a trey by Stian Berg, the Mocs would score the next nine points, including back-to-back treys by Kelly to push out to a 9-3 lead just three minutes into the game.
After NSU cut FSC's lead to two at 12-10, the Mocs answered with an 18-9 run to push out to a 30-19 lead with 9:53 left in the half. The Sharks would work the deficit down to as much as seven points on several occasions, until the Mocs closed the half on an 11-3 run to take its 49-34 lead at the half.
NSU, who lost 79-73 to the Mocs in Davie in its SSC opener on Dec. 7, was paced offensively on Saturday by Page, who finished with 20 points in the loss. Berg and Maurice Fuller combined for 11 points and Casey Carroll scored 10 points and pulled down five boards off the bench for the Sharks, who had its two-game win streak snapped and fell to 8-12 overall and 5-4 in the SSC.
Along with shooting 58 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line, the Mocs also shot 91 percent (19-for-21) at the free throw line, including Capers going 8-for-8 at the line. In addition, FSC outrebounded NSU, 41-26 and held a 20-12 edge in second chance points.
The one way where FSC struggled was in holding onto the basketball as they committed 20 turnovers on the night, which led to NSU holding a 19-17 edge in points off turnovers. The Sharks committed just 14 turnovers in the loss. FSC has committed 20 or more turnovers in a game just four time this season.
NSU finished the night shooting 36 percent from the field and hit just 9 of its 32 (28.1 percent) of its treys. The Sharks entered play on Saturday having averaging 20 made 3-pointers over its last three games. The Sharks were also strong at the line as they finished shooting 87 percent (20-for-23) from the charity stripe.
FSC will look to make its two wins in row this coming Wednesday, Feb. 5 as they travel to Miami Shores for a 7:30 p.m. SSC tilt at Barry. The Buccaneers suffered a 68-67 road loss on Saturday at Tampa to fall to 14-4 overall and 5-4 in the SSC. The Mocs picked up a 95-79 win earlier this season in Lakeland.
