Box Score
LAKELAND - Sixth-ranked Florida Southern used a 55-point second half scoring outburst and had two players score over 20 points en route to collecting a 94-71 victory over Lynn in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
The win improved the Mocs to 20-2 overall and 9-2 in the SSC and extended its home court win streak to 17 consecutive games, while Lynn fell to 7-13 overall and 1-9 in the SSC. With the victory, the Mocs also achieved its seventh consecutive season of earning 20 wins and the 11th time in the last 13 seasons the Mocs have won at least 20 games in a season.
"To win 20 games in a season is a tremendous accomplishment, but to do for the past seven seasons is great for the guys and great for the team and for the players that have come before," Mocs coach Linc Darner said following his team's 23-point victory.
FSC's 17-game home court win streak is currently the fourth longest active streak in Division II men's basketball as Central Missouri has the longest active streak at 24 games, while Daemen (N.Y.) is next at 23 games and Drury has the third longest streak at 21 games.
"I thought we played really well tonight, especially in the second half," Darner said following his 250th win as a collegiate head coach. "We got off to a good start in the opening part of the game and then things got a little out of control near the end of the half."
On the night, the Mocs shot 49 percent from the field and 44 percent (7-for-16) from the 3-point line and recorded a season-high 26 assists on 34 made baskets. Junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) was distributing a majority of those assists as he had tied a season high with nine assists.
"When we pass theball like we did tonight and find the open man, we are going to get some very good shots and tonight we were able to knock them down," said Darner, who is now 250-113 in his 12th season as a collegiate coach, including being 176-68 in his eighth season with the Mocs.
After trailing 39-29 at the half, Lynn opened the second half on a 12-9 run to pull within 50-41 following two free throws by Fred Landers with 13:13 left in the game. The Mocs, though, would respond with a 22-5 run over the span of nearly four-plus minutes to turn its nine-point lead into a 26-point advantage at 72-46 following a trey by junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.). The run was keyed by 14 points from sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.). Williams scored the Mocs first 11 points of the run, including hitting all four free throws following a foul and back-to-back technicals accessed on Lynn's Pavle Raickovic, who was ejected after earning his second technical.
Williams had a career night for the Mocs as he scored a career-high 23 points off the bench, of which, all 23 came in the second half. Williams finished the night 7-for-9 from the field and was 4-for-4 from the 3-point and 5-for-5 at the foul line. He has now connected on 14 consecutive free throws.
Lynn would answer with a 13-5 run over the next three-plus minutes to pull within 18 points at 77-59 following a trey from Kaleb Clyburn. That would be as close as the Fighting Knights would get as the Mocs closed out the game outscoring the visitors from Boca Raton, 17-8, including Williams capping the scoring with his fourth trey of the game with 1:41 remaining.
In addition to Williams' career night, junior guard Tyler Logan (Marlboro, Md.) also had a career night in the win as he scored a career-high 16 points, including scoring 14 of them in the first half to help stake the Mocs to a 39-29 lead at the half. Logan finished the night 7-for-10 from the field and was 2-for-3 from long distance in a career-high tying 19 minutes of action.
Thanks to Williams and Logan's production, the Mocs bench scored 54 points in the win. It marked the eighth time this season the FSC had scored 50 or more points off the bench in a game.
In addition to Williams and Logan, Capers added 21 points to extend his streak of 20 points game to eight consecutive games. 16 of those 21 points came in the second half as the Mocs scored 55 points after halftime.ÂÂ
Lynn, who dropped its sixth straight game, was paced offensively by 21 points from Landers, while Aaron Harrison added 16 points and seven boards for the Fighting Knights, who have now lost five straight games to the Mocs in Lakeland.
While its offense was strong on the night, so too was the Mocs defense ss they limited Lynn to 44 percent shooting from the field and 33 percent (6-for-18) shooting from the 3-point line. In addition, they forced the Fighting Knights into 27 turnovers that led to 39 points and held a 41-32 edge on the glass, including collecting 17 offensive boards.
Junior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) led the way on the glass as he collected a career-high 12 boards and finished one point shy of a double-double as he scored nine points in the win. Junior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) added seven board and senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) had six boards to go along with his 10 points.
The Mocs finished the night with 21 turnovers, including 11 in the first half. Lynn scored just 18 points off the FSC's 21 turnovers in the loss.
FSC will hit the road next week for two consecutive games as they begin the road swing on Wednesday, Feb. 12 with a 7:30 p.m. game at Eckerd (13-9, 5-5 SSC), before concluding the road swing on Saturday, Feb. 15 with a 4 p.m. in Melbourne against Florida Tech (14-8, 4-7 SSC). The Mocs picked up an 84-55 win over the Tritons in Lakeland on Jan. 8 and earned an 87-85 come-from-behind win over the Panthers in Lakeland on Jan. 18.
