Box Score LIVINGSTON, Ala. - Florida Southern concluded play here Saturday afternoon in the SSC/GSC Challenge by suffering a 77-63 loss to Delta State at Pruitt Hall on the campus of the University of West Alabama.
Saturday's loss came just about 24 hours after the reigning Division II National Champion Moccasins suffered a 90-78 loss to West Alabama to open the 2015-16 season. The Mocs are now 0-2 on the season.
It marks the first time since 1978-79 that the Mocs have started a season 0-2. In 1978-79, the Mocs opened with a 93-91 loss at home to Ursinus College and then following with a 97-79 defeat at Holy Cross. The 1978-79 squad, which was coached by Dr. Hal Wissel, finished the year with an 18-12 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
Senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) did all he could do to help the Mocs avoid an 0-2 start to the season as he scored a career high 30 points, including tallying 18 of them in the second half to help the Mocs rally after trailing 29-24 at the half.
Travis finished the game 11-for-21 from the field and 5-for-8 from the 3-point line and also added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals in a career high 37 minutes of action.
No other Moccasin scored more than six points in the game as junior guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.), freshman forward/guard Joey Morlan (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and freshman forward Jarel Spellman (Richmond, Va.) each had six points in the loss.
The 63 points scored by the Mocs were the fewest in game since being also held to 63 points in a 71-63 loss to Saint Leo on Jan. 9, 2013.
One night after shooting 38 percent from the field and 30 percent from the 3-point line, the Mocs shot 33 percent from the field and 32 percent from downtown against the Statesmen (2-0). The Mocs shot just 26 percent (10-for-39) from the floor and 4-for-17 (23.5 percent) from the 3-point line in the opening half.
The Statesmen, who opened the season with an 87-77 win on Friday over Eckerd, used a combined 34 points from Devin Schmidt and P.J. Davis in the second half to post the win. Schmidt scored 18 of his team high 24 points after halftime, while Davis scored 16 of his 18 in the second half. Those two players scored 34 of DSU's 48 second half points.
Along with scoring 24 points, Schmidt added eight boards and five assists, while Davis had seven boards and four blocks in the win.
Trailing by five at the half, the Mocs scored the first four points of the second half to pull within 29-28 following a trey from Volovic just 51 seconds out of the locker room. After baskets from Schmidt and Davis gave the Statesmen a 33-28 lead, the Mocs would score seven of the next nine points to tie the game 35. The run was capped by back-to-back baskets from Travis.
That would be as close as the Mocs would get as the Statesmen used a 14-2 run to push out to a 49-37 advantage with 10:18 left in the game. Schmidt scored six of those points as DSU capped the run by hitting three consecutive treys.
The Mocs would respond with an 8-2 run capped by a trey from Morlan to drop Delta's lead to 51-45 with 9:09 remaining. But, Schmidt and Davis scored the next 11 points for DSU as they gave the Statesmen a 62-50 edge with 5:26 left.
DSU's lead would never get under single digits the remainder of the game as they eventually led by 17 points following a lay-up by Davis with seven seconds left in the contest. Davis' lay-up gave DSU a 77-60 lead. The Mocs would cap the scoring on a 3-pointer from junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) with one second remaining.
One night after scoring 16 points in his Moccasin debut, Zablotny was held to five points in Saturday's game.
After trailing by as much as five points midway through the first half, the Mocs used a 10-4 run capped by a trey from Morlan to trim a 13-8 deficit to an 18-17 lead with 7:13 left in the opening period.
The Statesmen, though, responded with a trey from Brett Warner to retake the lead at 20-18. Warner's triple, though, helped ignite a 10-4 run by the Statesmen to push out to a 28-22 lead with 48 seconds left in the first half. After Travis dropped DSU's lead to 28-24, Declan Harrick hit 1-of-2 free throws with two seconds left to give the Statesmen its 29-24 halftime lead.
In addition to Schmidt and Davis, Terry Morris scored nine points and had six assists, while James Kilpatrick added eight points and 11 rebounds in the victory. The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Statesmen against the Mocs.
FSC was outrebounded for the second straight game as Delta held a 48-38 edge on the glass. Spellman led the way on the boards for the Mocs as he had a season high 11 boards, including collecting 10 of those boards in the first half. In Friday's loss to UWA, the Mocs were outrebounded, 47-28. Spellman also blocked five shots, including four in the first half.
Senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) made his debut in Saturday's game after missing Friday's opener due to injury. Against the Statesmen, Williams scored five points and had six boards in 27 minutes, but shot just 2-for-13 from the field and was 0-for-3 from long distance.
The Mocs forced Delta into 17 turnovers, but only scored 14 points off those turnovers, while FSC had 15 turnovers in the game that led to 14 Statesmen points.
Neither team was strong at the foul line as the Mocs went 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) from the free throw line and DSU went 11-for-16 (68.8 percent). All nine of FSC's free throws came in the second half.
The Mocs will look to snap its two-game losing skid as they open the home portion of its 2015-16 schedule on Wednesday, Nov. 18 with a 7:30 p.m. Sunshine State Conference game against 24th-ranked Barry, who was the last team to defeat the Mocs prior to its school record 25 game win streak during its national championship run last year. FSC went 36-1 a year ago, but won its final 25 games after losing at home to Barry, 107-102 on Jan. 3, 2015.
Prior to the start of Wednesday's game, the Mocs will unveil its national championship banner in the gym at Jenkins Field House and the players from last season's team will be presented their national championship rings.
