Mocs Wednesday Struggles Continue, Fall on Road at Tampa

TAMPA - Florida Southern should petition the Sunshine State Conference to move all of its midweek games away from Wednesday as the 12th-ranked Moccasins dropped its second straight game on Wednesday as Tampa earned a 71-69 victory in SSC play at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center. It was the fourth time in the last five weeks that the Mocs have lost on Wednesday.  

With the setback, the Mocs, are the No. 1 ranked team once again this week in the NCAA D-II South Regional rankings, fall to 23-4 overall and 11-4 in the SSC, while Tampa improves to 17-8 overall and 10-6 in the SSC. All four of FSC's losses have come on Wednesday night as FSC is 4-4 this season on Wednesday and 19-0 playing on any other day of the week.

The Spartans, who are ranked ninth in the latest NCAA Division II South Regional poll, was able to earn the victory thanks to holding a 45-31 edge on the glass, including an 18-8 advantage on the offensive glass. The Spartans, who were playing its home regular season finale, picked three huge offensive rebounds on missed free throws in the final 42 seconds of the game. The Spartans finished the game with a 23-5 edge in second chance points.

"They (Tampa) outplayed us and played harder than us tonight," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following the game. "We practice harder than we've been playing lately, so we need to get back to playing like we practice. It was not a good night for us tonight."

Perhaps no offensive rebound was bigger than the one picked by Eric Moraes with 42 seconds left in the game after UT's Vincent Cornu misfired on a free throw after the Mocs had pulled within a point at 68-67 after two free throws by junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) with 1:01 left in the game. Moraes' rebound allowed the Spartans to run another 30 seconds off the clock before D'Markco Foster hit 1-of-2 free throws with 12 seconds remaining to give UT a 69-67 lead. Foster, though, misfired on the second free throw and Cornu picked up the offensive board to allow the Spartans to keep the ball.

"We put a guy on the line who is shooting 31 percent from the free throw line on the season and he misses both shots, but we are unable to get a rebound," said Darner. "They killed us on the boards tonight."

Kyle Middleton gave UT a 71-67 lead with 10 seconds left after connecting on two free throws. On the ensuing possession, Capers drove down the floor and scored on a lay-up with 3.9 seconds left to pull the Mocs within a basket at 71-69.

Following Capers' basket, the Mocs put Middleton back on the free throw line and he missed both free throws, but Cornu once again came up with the ball, but the Mocs forced a jump ball with 2.7 seconds left to give them one last shot at either tying or winning the game. The inbounds pass, though, was batted around in the frontcourt as time expired.

Capers led the way for the Mocs on the night as he tallied 19 points in 16 minutes of action before fouling out in the closing seconds of the game. In addition to Capers, junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) added 12 points in the loss. Capers scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half, while Kelly had seven points after halftime.

UT was led in scoring by Foster, who scored 22 points, including 13 in the first half. In addition to Foster, Jordan Davis tallied 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds for the Spartans, who snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Mocs with Wednesday's victory. Prior to Wednesday's victory, Tampa hadn't won a game in the series since posting a 78-72 win in Lakeland on Feb. 27, 2008.

"Jordan Davis is one of the top players in this league and has really made a huge difference for UT this season," the Mocs coach added. "He has an amazing ability to make plays at the end of the shot clock."

In Wednesday's game, Davis hit a trey right before the end of the first half to send the Spartans into the locker room trailing by just two points (33-31) at the half. In the second half, he hit a trey right near the end of the shot clock to give UT a 57-53 lead with 5:50 left in the game. That trey helped cap a 6-0 run by the Spartans. Davis scored eight of his team's final 17 points.

After trailing by just two points at the half, UT opened the second half on a 14-7 run to take a 45-40 lead following two free throws by Moraes with 14:41 left in the game. The Mocs, though, would answer that run with a 9-3 run capped by a three-pointer from junior guard Tyler Logan (Marlboro, Md.) to take a 49-48 with 10:18 remaining.

Foster would connect on a trey about a minute-and-a-half later to give UT a 51-49 lead, before FSC tied the game on a jumper by redshirt senior forward Garrett Putman (Washington, D.C.) with 8:34 remaining. Moccasin senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) would give FSC a 53-51 lead with 7:24 left, before UT's 6-0 run that was capped by Davis' 3-pointer.

The Mocs would pull within one point at 57-56 following a free throw by Capers with 5:01 left, before the Spartans used a 9-6 run capped by a lay-up from Cornu to push its lead out to 66-62 with 2:17 remaining in the contest. A lay-up and free throw to complete a three-point play by Capers pushed the Mocs back within a point at 66-65, before Matt Johnson scored in the final seconds of shot clock to push the Spartans lead to 68-65 with 1:20 remaining.

FSC finished the game shooting 43 percent from the field, but connected on just four of its 16 3-pointers (25 percent), while UT shot 40 percent from the field and 44 percent (8-for-18) from long distance on the night. The Mocs also held an edge in turnovers as they committed just seven and forced UT into 13 that led to 13 points.  

UT jumped out to an 11-7 lead just a little over five minutes into the game, before the Mocs answered with a 9-0 run capped by two free throws by Adams to take a 16-11 lead with 12:08 left in the first half. The Spartans would come right back and score nine straight points to take a 20-16 lead following lay-up by Johnson with 7:26 left. Johnson and Foster scored all nine of UT's points during the run.

FSC, who was playing its final road game of the regular season, came right back with a 16-3 run to take a 32-23 lead with 2:08 left in the half. The run was keyed by six points from Capers and four points from sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.). Williams tallied six points and had five rebounds for the game.

UT would close the first half on an 8-1 run, including ending the half on a three-pointer just before the buzzer by Davis. Davis' trey dropped FSC's lead to 33-31 at the half.

The Mocs will look to close out the regular season this coming Saturday with a win as they return home to Lakeland for a 7:30 p.m. SSC tilt against Rollins (14-11 overall, 8-7 SSC). The Tars gave the Mocs its first loss of the season on Jan. 29 in Winter Park as they earned an 82-76 overtime victory. Prior to the game, the Mocs will honor its four seniors in a pregame ceremony. This year's seniors are Adams, Putman, guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio).

"We need to be ready to play on Saturday," said Darner, who is now 14-4 against UT as FSC's coach. "Rollins is one of the hottest teams in the league and they have already beaten once this season."