Box Score BOCA RATON - Florida Southern put notice to the rest of the Sunshine State Conference that they are still the team to beat after holding off a furious late Lynn rally here Saturday to post a 98-91 victory over the Fighting Knights at the deHoernle Center on the Lynn University campus.
Saturday's victory came on the heels of the Moccasins opening SSC play with a 74-72 win at home over Barry on Wednesday night.
Barry and Lynn were tabbed to finish first and second in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll, while the Mocs, who have won three straight regular season titles and four consecutive tournament championships, was tabbed to finish third in the preseason poll.
"What a huge win for our basketball team. To come on the road and play the way we did against a really, really good Lynn team is a huge accomplishment," Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly said following his team's 17th straight SSC victory dating to last season.
The Mocs rode the play of senior guards Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) and Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) to its victory on Saturday as Williams finshed with a career high 29 points and added seven boards, while Travis chipped in with 28 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double. He tallied 25 points and had 10 rebounds in Wednesday's win over Barry.
Two other Mocs finished in double figures in Saturday's game as junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) had 16 points, including scoring nine of them in the first half and sophomore forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.) had one of the finest games of his collegiate career as he scored all 12 of his career high points after halftime and also pulled down eight boards.
FSC was up 21 points at 81-60 with 9:35 left in the game following a jumper by Williams, before Lynn answered with a 20-8 run over the next six-plus minutes to pull within 89-80 with 2:52 left. Lynn's run was aided by eight points from Jamal Palmer and capped by a trey from David Johnson.
Williams, though, would score five straight points for the Mocs to push FSC's lead to 94-80 with 1:48 left, before LU scored eight straight points, including capping the run with tip-in and free throw from Fred Landers with 57 seconds remaining. Landers' three-point play made the score 94-88.
Travis and Ross would each hit two free throws sandwiched around a trey from Landers to seal the Mocs win.
"We continue to get better as a basketball team and our guys seem to be a lot more confident now than they were just a week ago," said Donnelly, who is in his first season as the Mocs coach.
The Mocs opened the 2015-16 season with back-to-back losses last weekend to West Alabama (90-78) and Delta State (77-63) at the SSC/GSC Challenge hosted by West Alabama and held in Livingston, Ala.
In the first half, Lynn jumped out to a 21-10 lead in the game's first six-plus minutes, before the Mocs rallied to score 18 of the next 22 points to take a 28-25 lead with 8:28 left in the half. FSC's run was keyed by six points from Travis and capped by a baseline jumper from freshman forward Jarel Spellman (Richmond, Va.).
After LU used a 6-2 run capped by a basket from Allen Baez to retake a 31-30 lead with 7:02 remaining in the half, the Mocs would score 16 of the final 29 points of the half to take a 46-44 lead at the half. Williams and Travis combined for 30 of FSC's 46 first half points.
While Williams and Travis caused fits for Lynn, Landers was a thorn in the side of the Mocs most of the game as he scored a game high 30 points, including 19 of them in the second half to help the Fighting Knights rally.
Along with Landers, Johnson added 22 points, while Palmer had 15 points, including scoring 11 after halftime.
Saturday's win was the Mocs' 14th consecutive in series against Lynn as the Fighting Knights last win in the series came on Feb. 21, 2009 as they earned a 70-69 victory in Lakeland. The Mocs won four meetings last season against the Fighting Knights, including earning an 88-80 win in the championship game of the NCAA South Regional Tournament.
The Mocs shot 52 percent from the field and 44 percent from the 3-point line in the win, including connecting on 54 percent of its field goals after halftime. Lynn shot 40 percent from the field and 38 percent from long distance.
Lynn held a 51-48 edge on the glass and won the turnover battle, 19-18, but the Mocs held a 25-10 edge in points off of turnovers.
The Mocs finished with a season high 10 blocks, including five from Spellman and four from senior forward Dylan Karell (North Miami Beach, Fla.). Karell also pulled down six boards in the win, while Spellman had five.
Neither team was strong at the free throw line as the Mocs finished 14-for-26 (53.8 percent) at the line and Lynn was 10-for-18 (55.6 percent) at the stripe. In the second half, the two teams combined to go 15-31 at the foul line as FSC was 10-for-20 and Lynn was 5-for-11.
The Mocs will return to action this coming Tuesday, Nov. 24 as they host Puerto Rico-Bayamon in a 7:30 p.m. contest, before traveling to Aiken, S.C., for a 3:30 p.m. game on Sunday, Nov. 29 against USC Aiken.
