Box Score
MELBOURNE - Junior guard Kevin Capers scored a career-high 33 points here Saturday afternoon to help lead Florida Southern to a 93-83 victory over Florida Tech in Sunshine State Conference action at the Clemente Center on the Florida Tech campus.
With the victory, the 10th-ranked Moccasins clinched at least a share of the regular season SSC title as they improved to 11-2 in the league and is now three games up in the league standings with three regular season games remaining. The Mocs can clinch its 21st regular season SSC title outright with one win this season.
Heading into the second to last week of the regular season, the Mocs are sitting three games in front of Tampa (8-5) and are three-and-half games in front of both Saint Leo and Nova Southeastern, who are each 7-5 in the league standings. The Mocs own a tiebreaker over Nova should the two teams tie at the end of the regular season thanks to sweeping the season series from the Sharks. SLU and Nova have played one less game than both Tampa and FSC. ÂÂ
"We now control our own fate in terms of winning the conference title and earning the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following his team's 22nd win of the season. "Is all we have to do is win one more game to secure the title outright and earn the No. 1 seed."
FSC, who improved to 22-2 overall with the victory, extended its win streak to three consecutive games and capped an important stretch of four games for the Mocs. Saturday's win followed its 104-103 double overtime win on Wednesday at Eckerd and a 94-71 win at home last Saturday over Lynn. FSC's only loss during that stretch came at Barry (94-76) on Feb. 5.
"These past four games were a key stretch for us and to go 3-1 is a great accomplishment. We were able to win on the road at Eckerd and Florida Tech, which are not easy places to play at," the Mocs coach added.
In addition to Capers' 33 points, four other Mocs finished in double figures as sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) scored 13 points off the bench, while senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) had 11 points and six boards, including scoring nine of those points in the second half. Senior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio) and junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) each had 10 points off the bench as the Mocs finished the game with a 33-27 edge in bench points.
"Our bench was tremendous today. Lamar, Dom and Stephen really came in and brought a lot of energy and were very effective," said Darner, who is now 178-68 as the Mocs coach.
The Mocs, who led 41-32 at the half thanks 16 points from Capers, tallied 52 points in the second half to hold off a Tech rally that saw the Panthers cut a 13-point deficit to just four points following two free throws by Isaac Spence with 7:44 left in the game. The Mocs took a 13 point lead in the opening 90 seconds of the second half on two free throws by junior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.). Johnson's two free throws gave the Mocs a 45-32 lead.
After Johnson's free throws, Tech, who fell to 14-10 overall and 4-9 in the SSC, used a 13-6 run to pull within 51-45 following a bucket by Spence with 14:06 left in the game. The Mocs, though, would score five straight points to push its lead back out to 11 points at 56-45.
The Panthers, who have now dropped four straight games and five of its last six overall, used a 15-8 run to pull within 64-60 following a fast break lay-up by Chris Carter with 8:43 remaining. Capers pushed the lead back out to six following two free throws 41 seconds later, before Spence's two free throws brought Tech within four points at 66-62.
That would be as close as Tech would get, though, as the Mocs used a 10-2 run capped by a lay-up from Capers to push its lead to 76-64 with 5:31 left in the game. The Panthers would get as close as six points at 80-74 following a free throw by Robert Booth with 2:49 remaining, but Capers scored five of the Mocs next seven points, including capping the flurry with a dunk with 52 seconds left to give the Mocs an 87-76 lead.
Back-to-back baskets from Carter and Jermaine Jackson dropped the Mocs lead to 88-80 with 39 seconds left, but the Mocs closed the game by hitting 5-for-6 free throws in the final 37 seconds to seal its second win this season over the Panthers. The Mocs picked up an 87-85 win over Tech in Lakeland on Jan. 18.
Jackson, who entered the game averaging an SSC-best 20.3 points per game, led the way for the Panthers with 18, while Carter and Corbin Jackson each tallied 16 points in the loss. Spence scored a career-high 15 points off the bench for the Panthers.
The Mocs finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field, but shot just 27 percent (4-for-15) from the 3-point line. Tech shot 44 percent from the field and 27 percent (6-for-22) from long distance on the day.
"Florida Tech is a very talented team and to come here and get this win is impressive," Darner added. "I really thought we shot the ball well tonight and also moved the ball well."ÂÂ
The Mocs also finished the day with a 46-39 edge on the glass as Battle led the way with 10 boards to record his first career double-double as a Moc. FSC lost the turnover battle, 14-13, but blocked a season-high eight shots, including a career-best four blocks from Battle.
In the first half, the Mocs scored the game's first four points and led 7-3 when the Panthers used a 9-4 run to take a 12-11 lead with 14:45 left in the half. The Mocs would answer with a 15-4 run to take a 26-16 lead. The run was capped by a 3-pointer from Williams.
After a trey from Jermaine Jackson and a dunk by Corbin Jackson brought Tech within five at 26-21, the Mocs used a six straight points from Capers to push its lead to 34-23 with 6:11 remaining in the opening half. Tech would respond with a 7-0 run to move within 34-30 following a lay-up by Corbin Jackson.
FSC would close the half on a 7-2 run to take its nine-point lead at the half.
The Mocs will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 19 as they host Saint Leo (19-6 overall, 7-5 SSC) in a 7:30 p.m. SSC tilt at Jenkins Field House. The Mocs, who have won 17 consecutive home games dating to last season, picked up a 92-86 win over the Lions earlier this season in Saint Leo.
