Box Score DAVIE - Florida Southern concluded its two game Sunshine State Conference road swing here Saturday afternoon by posting a 77-74 victory over Nova Southeastern in the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center.
The victory, which improved the seventh-ranked Moccasins to 13-1 overall and 2-1 in the SSC, was sealed when senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) collected a steal near the NSU bench with 21 seconds left and the Mocs holding a 76-74 lead. On the ensuing Moccasin possession, junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Mocs a 77-74 lead with 20.8 seconds left.
NSU (5-7, 1-3 SSC) had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Chris Page misfired on a three-point attempt at the top of the key with two seconds left to seal the Mocs victory.
"It was a good win for our team on a day when we once again didn't play very well," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said. "But some of the credit goes to Nova, because I thought they played hard and made it difficult at times for us."
The Mocs, who led by as much as nine points in the second half, closed the game on 6-2 run after NSU had taken its final lead of the game on a basket by Page with 2:11 remaining. Page led the way offensively for NSU as he scored 27 points, including 19 of his team's 38 first half points.
After Page's basket, the Mocs took the lead again on a 3-pointer from senior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) with 1:59 left and after Maurice Fuller helped the Sharks tie the game at 74 with two free throws, Capers gave the Mocs their final lead of the game on a lay-up with 53 seconds left.
"I thought we played better defense in the second half, but we still had lapses on the offensive end of the floor," the Moc coach added. "We need to get better at running our offense and shooting the ball better."
Capers led the way for the Mocs with a game high 29 points and added five steals in the win. With his 29 points, he moved within 29 points of Kris Kearney for third on the school's all-time scoring chart. Kearney scored 1,869 points as a Moc from 1986-89, while Capers has now scored 1,840 points in his three-plus years in Lakeland.
For the ninth straight game, the Moccasin offense shot under 50 percent from the field as FSC finished the game shooting 47 percent from the field and hit just six of its 20 3-point shots (30 percent). In the first half, the Mocs shot 57 percent from the field.
13 of FSC's final 18 points in the game were either scored by Capers or Kelly as Kelly finished the game with 14 points as he was 4-for-7 from the 3-point line in the win. In addition to those 13 points, senior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.) scored four points and Williams capped the scoring with his free throw in the final 20 seconds.
The Mocs used a 17-6 run over a span of nearly eight minutes in the second to push out to a 65-56 lead following back-to-back baskets from Logan that came within 16 seconds of each other. The final basket of the run, which was a lay-up with 7:21 remaining, gave the Mocs its nine point lead, which was its largest of the game.
Trailing by the nine, the Sharks, who dropped their sixth straight game against the Mocs, wouldn't go away with a fight as they scored 11 straight points capped by a lay-up from Harrison Goodrick with four minutes left in the game to take a 67-65 lead.
A lay-up and a free throw from Capers would tie the game at 68 with 3:09 left, but two free throws from Troy Spears gave NSU a 70-68 advantage with 2:57 remaining.
After a trey from Kelly gave the Mocs a 71-70 lead, Page would put the Sharks back front on his jumper with 2:11 left in the contest.
NSU jumped in front 20-13 in the game's opening 12 minutes thanks to hitting nine of its first 18 shots, including a combined 11 points from Maurice Fuller and Page.
The Mocs, though, would respond with a 13-5 run to take a 26-25 lead following a free throw by Capers. The run was keyed by eight consecutive points from Williams, who finished the game with 11 points off the bench.
NSU would retake the lead on a 3-pointer by Page 21 seconds later, before Capers hit a trey and 1-of-2 free throws to push its lead to 30-28 with 1:57 left.
Page would once again hit a trey to give NSU a 31-30 lead, before Capers helped the Mocs retake the lead on a lay-up with 1:29 left. The Sharks, though, would score seven of the next 11 points capped by Page's third trey of the half to take a 38-36 lead with seven seconds left. The Mocs would tie the game at 38 at half on a lay-up by Capers just before the buzzer.
The Sharks, who shot 56 percent from the floor and 46 percent from the 3-point line in the first half, finished the game shooting 51 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line. It was the third straight Moccasin opponent to shoot over 50 percent from the field this season.
FSC's fourth player to score in double figures on the day was senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) as he finished with 10 points and a team-high tying five rebounds.
In addition to Page's 27 points, the Sharks got 14 points and five boards from Fuller and 10 points from Justin Jeangerard.
The Mocs finished the game with a 29-28 edge on the glass and forced Nova to commit 18 turnovers that led to 22 points. The Mocs committed 16 turnovers, including 11 in the first half.
"We need to take better care of the ball. We had a lot of careless turnovers, especially early in the game," said Darner, who is now 15-4 all-time against NSU as FSC's coach.
Both teams were strong at the foul line on the day as the Mocs shot 77 percent (17-for-22) at the line, while NSU shot 76 percent (19-for-25) from the charity stripe. The teams came into the game sitting second and third in the SSC in free throw shooting percentage respectively.
The Mocs will return home to play two SSC games next week as they open the homestand with a 7;30 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 14 against Eckerd. The Tritons fell to 8-5 overall and 2-2 in the SSC following its 71-67 overtime loss on Saturday at Lynn.
"Eckerd will be a good test for us. There are no off nights in this league, every game is a battle," Darner said. "They (Eckerd) have gotten a lot better since they opened the season playing in the SSC/GSC Challenge event that we hosted."
