Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern found its offense in the second half here Wednesday evening as the third-ranked Moccasins rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to post a 74-70 victory over Rollins in Sunshine State Conference action in front of 1,237 fans at Jenkins Field House.
The Mocs, who were held to a season low 21 points in the first half, scored 53 second half points to rally for the victory and extend its win streak to seven consecutive games and improve its record to 18-1 overall and 7-1 in the SSC. Rollins fell to 7-12 overall and 0-8 in the SSC.
"They (Rollins) controlled the tempo in the first half. When you can't score, you can't press and we couldn't press them," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following his 200th victory as FSC's coach. "I thought in the second half, we did a better job of attacking their zone, but we also got stops and were able to run out and get a few easy ones here and there.
"Once we started scoring and pressing them, I think it was a big advantage for us."
The 21 first half points were the fewest scored by the Mocs since scoring 22 points against Saint Leo in its 71-63 loss to the Lions on Jan. 9, 2013. In fact, it is the first time this season the Mocs have failed to score at least 34 points in the opening half.
FSC's struggles in the first half could be attributed to poor shooting as they connected on just 26 percent (8-for-31) of its field goals and hit just two of its 13 3-point attempts (15.4 percent). In addition, the Mocs were outrebounded, 21-13 and committed six turnovers that led to eight points for the Tars. Rollins, who held a 31-21 lead at the half, shot 52 percent from the field and 44 percent from the 3-point line in the first half.
"We just did some things tonight early in the game we haven't done this year. Some of our passes were out of bounds and then we passed it to guys when they weren't looking," said Darner, who improved to 13-8 all-time against Rollins as FSC's coach. "We never threw the ball to the corner against their 2-1-2 and that was the biggest thing. We talked about how you have to get the corner against that zone and we threw it there once in nine minutes and Stephen (Battle) hits a jumper."
The Mocs opened the second half on an 18-7 run to take a 39-38 lead following a trey from junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.), who finished the game with 12 points, all of which came in the second half. The Mocs run was keyed by a combined 14 points from Williams and senior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio).
Kelly opened the second half by scoring the Mocs first eight points as he hit a trey 20 seconds in the half and then capped the spree with a 3-pointer with 16:04 left to pull the Mocs within 35-29.
FSC's lead was shortlived as Rollins answered by scoring eight of the next 15 points to retake the lead at 46-45 following a dunk from Jeff Dirkin with 9:44 left in the game.
The Mocs would respond with a 10-1 run following Durkin's dunk to push out to a 55-47 lead. The run began with a trey from sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) and was capped by two free throws from senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.), who finished the night with team-high 17 points in the win.
Rollins' wouldn't go away as they answered the Mocs scoring spree with a spree of their own to take a 57-56 lead following a lay-up from Chris Uhle with 5:27 left in the contest. Uhle's lay-up capped a 10-1 run by the Tars.
Following that run, the Mocs would score 10 straight points, including capping the flurry with back-to-back triples from Williams to take a 66-57 lead. The nine point advantage was the largest lead of the game for Mocs.
"Dominique hit some huge threes tonight," Darner said. "He didn't shoot any in the first half, but in the second half, he stepped up and made some huge, huge shots for us."
Rollins would get within four points at 66-62 with 49 seconds left, but the Mocs hit 6-of-6 from the free throw line and also got a dunk from Capers to seal the win.
After shooting 26 percent from the field and 15 percent from the 3-point line in the first half, the Mocs finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line.
In addition to Capers and Williams, junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) scored 13 points off the bench, while Kelly added 11 points in the win.
Rollins, who is the lone winless team in the league and dropped its seventh consecutive game, was paced offensively on the night by a career high 23 points from Sharif Almulla, including scoring 15 of those points in the first half. Along with Almulla, Jeff Merton tallied 11 points and added 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Uhle and Alex Blessig each chipped in with nine points for the Tars.
The Tars finished the game shooting 54 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line and held a 36-31 edge on the boards. FSC, though, collected 16 offensive rebounds, including six from senior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.). Johnson and Kelly led the way on the boards for the Mocs with seven apiece, while senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) added six in the win.
FSC forced Rollins into 20 turnovers and held a 33-12 edge in bench points. FSC finished the night with just nine turnovers, including just three in the second half.
The Mocs will step out of SSC play this coming Saturday, Jan. 31 as they conclude non-conference play with a 4 p.m. game in West Palm Beach against Palm Beach Atlantic (7-11). FSC collected a 101-74 win over the Sailfish in Lakeland on Dec. 5.
"This is another big test for our team on the road on Saturday and we need to be ready to go," the Mocs coach said when asked about Saturday's rematch with the Sailfish.
