Mocs Conclude Regular Season by Hosting Rollins for Senior Night

LAKELAND - Florida Southern will conclude the 2013-14 regular season here Saturday evening by hosting a red-hot Rollins Tars team for a 7:30 p.m. Sunshine State Conference match-up on Senior Night at Jenkins Field House.

Prior to Saturday's game, the 12th-ranked Moccasins will honor five seniors in a pregame ceremony. The Mocs five seniors are student manager Mike Dubuque, guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.), guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.), forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio) and forward Garrett Putman (Washington, D.C.). Lane and Dubuque are each in their fourth season with the Mocs, while Putman is completing his third season as a Moc after transferring from Alderson-Broaddus College. McKnight is in his second year with FSC after transferring from Walters State Community College and Adams is playing his senior campaign with the Mocs after scoring over 1,500 points in three seasons at Young Harris College.  

Saturday's game is an important one for both squads as the Mocs, who have already clinched the SSC regular season title and have earned the No. 1 seed in next week's SSC Tournament, is looking to rebound after falling at Tampa on Wednesday and solidify its hold on the top ranking in the NCAA Division II South Regional rankings, while Rollins is playing to improve its seeding in next week's SSC Tournament as a win over FSC (23-4 overall, 11-4 SSC) could help push the Tars to the No. 3 seed if the right results occur on Saturday. 

Coming into play on Saturday, Rollins (14-11 overall, 8-7 SSC) is tied for fourth in the league standings with Barry and Nova Southeastern as those teams are one game behind Saint Leo (9-6), who is third in the league standings and they are one game in front of Eckerd (7-8), who is seventh in the league standings. Depending on the results of Saturday's action, the Tars could finish as high as third and as low as seventh in the regular season standings.

In addition to the FSC-Rollins game, other league contests scheduled for Saturday, which will all tip-off at 4 p.m., are Eckerd at Lynn, Nova Southeastern at Saint Leo and Barry at Florida Tech. Tampa, who is 10-6 in the league, plays a non-conference game on Saturday at Palm Beach Atlantic to close out the regular season. The only three seeds determined for the SSC Tournament are No. 1 (FSC), No. 8 (Florida Tech) and No. 9 (Lynn).

The official pairings for the 2014 SSC Tournament will be announced by the league office following the conclusion of games on Saturday evening. The tournament will run from March 5-9 at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee. The tournament has a different format this season than last year as the No. 1 seed (FSC) won't play until the semifinal round on Saturday, March 8 at 12 p.m. The championship game is slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 9 and the winner of the SSC Tournament earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. (complete SSC Men's Tournament bracket) 

Saturday's meeting is the 170th all-time meeting between the two schools as the second this season between the team winningest programs in SSC history. The Mocs lead the all-time series, 117-52 and have won nine of the last 14 meetings in the series, but had its perfect season ruined earlier this season in Winter Park by the Tars as they earned an 82-76 win on Jan. 29. Prior to the loss to Rollins, the Mocs had tied the mark for its best start in school history at 18-0. FSC holds a 57-18 edge in Lakeland and Mocs head coach Linc Darner is 11-8 all-time against Rollins, including being 5-2 in Lakeland.

Rollins, who was tabbed to finish fourth in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll, comes into Saturday's regular season finale as the hottest team in the league as the Tars have won four consecutive games and six of its last eight overall as its two losses came in back-to-back games at home against Tampa (72-57) and at Eckerd (66-57). The Tars were swept in the season series by Eckerd, so they need to finish one game better than the Tritons in the standings as Eckerd holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Tars, who haven't played since earning a 75-71 win last Saturday at Barry, come into the game as one of the top defensive teams in the league as the Tars lead the league in scoring defense as they are allowing 63.8 points per game and have held three of its last five opponents under 67 points, including limiting Lynn to 49 points last Wednesday. Along with holding teams to a league-best 63.8 points per game, the Tars are also fourth in the league in field goal percentage defense (41.9 percent), third in the SSC in blocked shots (4.6) and leads the league in steals as they average 8.7 thefts per game. On offense, the Tars average 68.7 points per game on offense and are shooting 46 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line and are averaging 9.3 made treys per game, which is second-best in the league.

In the team's earlier meeting this season, the Tars connected on 12 3-pointers and outscored the Mocs, 18-12 in the overtime en route to earning an 82-76 victory in Winter Park. The Mocs led 64-57 with 1:46 left in regulation, before the Tars outscored FSC, 7-0 to force overtime.   

Junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) led the way for the Mocs with 23 points, while junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) added 17 points and five assists in the loss. The Tars were paced by 26 points from Mitch Woods, while Adam Allen added 17 points.

Leading the way for the Tars, who are coached by Tom Klusman, who is in his 34th season at his alma mater, is Woods, who is averaging 14.8 points and 3.4 assists per game and is shooting 44 percent from the field, 35 percent from the 3-point line and 78 percent at the free throw line. In addition to Woods, Alex Blessig is averaging 11.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game and is shooting 50 percent from the floor, 43 percent from the 3-point line and 81 percent at the line, while Allen is averaging 9.7 points per game and is shooting 48 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line.

The Tars defense will be tested by a Moccasin offense that leads the SSC and is sixth in Division II in scoring at 88.6 points per game. The Mocs have scored 75 or more points in 25 of 27 games and has scored over 90 points in 13 of 27 games this season. In addition to leading the league in scoring, the Mocs are also first in the league in scoring margin (+10.4) and is third in field goal percentage (46.8 percent) and is fifth in 3-pointers made per game (6.0 per game). The Mocs are also third in the league in assists (16.9 per game), lead the league in turnover margin (+4.1) and is second in steals as they average 8.3 per game.

On defense, FSC is allowing its foes to score 78.1 points per game and is limiting teams to 44 percent shooting from the field and third in the SSC in 3-point field goal defense (33.4 percent) and are outscoring its foes by an SSC-best +10.4 margin.

Leading the way offensively for the Mocs is Capers. Capers, who has scored in double figures in 17 consecutive games, is averaging an SSC-best 20.4 points per game and is also averaging 2.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game and is shooting 51 percent from the field and 78 percent from the free throw line. He enters the weekend standing ninth on the school's all-time scoring chart with 1,419 points as he passed both Rob Eldridge and Corey Turner on the chart after scoring 19 points in Wednesday's setback at Tampa. In addition to Capers, Adams is also averaging in double figures as he averages 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and is shooting 49 percent from the field and 75 percent at the free throw line and has scored in double figures in 17 games, including six time in his last eight games.

Following Saturday's game, the Mocs will take a week off before opening up play in the semifinal round of the SSC Tournament on Saturday, March 8 at 12 p.m. The Mocs will face either the No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 or No. 7 seeded team in the semifinals. Those four teams will open the tournament on Wednesday, March 5 at 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively, with those two winners playing on Friday, March 7 at 5 p.m. The winner of that game will meet FSC in one of the semifinal games.

Live stats will be available here: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=30021.

Live webcast and audio broadcast of the game will be available here: http://fscmocs.nmtvsports.com 

Rollins Game Notes