Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern put an end to its four game losing streak here Thursday evening as the reigning National Champion Moccasins used a 25-12 run over the final 5:30 of the game to post a 100-90 non-conference victory over Eastern New Mexico at Jenkins Field House.
With the victory, the Mocs improved to 5-6 on the season and avoided its first five game losing streak since dropping nine straight games during the 2006-07 season. Eastern New Mexico fell to 3-6 on the year with the loss.
"Winning solves a lot of issues," Moccasin first year head coach Mike Donnelly said following his team's 24th straight regular season home win against non-conference foes. "I know it will be a happy locker room tonight, but I'll be curious to see how we respond on Saturday against a really good Mount Olive team. We needed this win in the worst way tonight."
The win also helped Donnelly earn his 200th career coaching victory as he is now 200-158 in his 13th season as a collegiate coach.
Thursday's victory was the Mocs 24th straight at home in the regular season against non-conference foes since suffering a 91-89 loss on a half-court buzzer-beating shot by St. Cloud State in the Ledger Media Group/Terrace Hotel Classic on Nov. 23, 2012.
The Mocs, who are now 3-1 at home this season and have posted a 52-7 record on its home court since the beginning of the 2012-13 campaign, trailed 78-75 following two free throws by ENMU's Chaunce Hill with 5:30 left in the game. From that point, the Mocs went on a 16-5 run keyed by eight points from senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) and two straight treys from junior guard Trey Moore in a span of 54 seconds to give the Mocs 91-82 lead they wouldn't let slip away.
ENMU pulled within seven at 91-84 on a lay-up by Javandon Staves, but 37 seconds later the Mocs extended back out to nine points at 93-84 following a basket from senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City) with 1:29 left in the game.
On the Greyhounds ensuing possession, Moore collected his only steal of the night and that led to two free throws from Williams with 1:17 left to give the Mocs a 95-84 advantage. The Mocs would then capped the game's scoring by hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the 70 seconds of the game to seal the win, including hitting the century mark for the first time this season on two free throws by junior guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) with 38 seconds left.
"We were able to make some plays and hit some free throws down the stretch tonight, but more importantly, we were able to get some stops on defense that aided in the win," Donnelly added.
Travis led the way for the Mocs on Thursday as he finished with a career 32 points and added a career high 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. For the game, Travis did most of his damage at the free throw line as he finished the game 17-for-19 at the line, all of which came in the second half. After hitting his first seven free throws to extend his consecutive free throw made streak to 29, he missed his next attempt to halt the streak, but would end the game by hitting 10 of his last 11 free throws. The school record for consecutive free throws is 30, which was set by former Moccasin guard Seth Evans during the 2012-13 season.
"We all have a lot of confidence in ourselves," Travis said. "We all think we're really good 3-point shooters, which we are, but we can't fall in love with that. That's one thing coach was telling me, that every time I go to the rim, I get fouled. I made that adjustment tonight thanks to coach (Donnelly)."
In addition to Travis, Williams finished the game with 20 points, while junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) added a career high 17 points off the bench, including scoring 13 of those points in the first half. The final Moc in double figures was Volovic as he finished with 10 points and dished out five assists. Seven of Volovic's 10 point came after halftime as the Mocs outscored the Greyhounds, 59-55, in the second half.
One of the biggest reasons behind the Mocs win as their ability to create EMNU turnovers into points as the Mocs forced the Greyhounds into 23 turnovers that led to 30 points on the night, including scoring 18 points off nine second half ENMU turnovers. The 30 points off of turnovers by the Mocs was a season high.
"It was nice to see us capitalize on turnovers tonight. That is something we've been stressing a lot this season is to create easy baskets off of turnovers and tonight I thought we did a really good job on that," said Donnelly.
The Mocs jumped out to a 15-7 lead just four minutes into the game and led 17-11 with 12:28 left in the opening half when the Greyhounds used an 8-2 run capped by a Staves lay-up to tie the score at 19 with 11:09 remaining in the first half.
FSC would once again respond by scoring five straight points to take a 24-19 lead, before ENMU answered within 8-2 run keyed by back-to-back treys from Javaan Mumtaz to take a 27-26 lead with 8:30 left in the opening half.
The Mocs, though, would outscore the Greyhounds, 15-8 over the final eight minutes of the half to go into halftime holding a 41-35 lead. Williams and Zablotny combined to score 26 of FSC's 41 first half points.
ENMU would open the second half on a 17-8 run to take a 51-49 lead following a lay-up from Lawrence Domingo with 14:59 left in the game. The run was keyed by a combined 11 points from Kevin Saiz (6 points) and Brady Patterson (5 points).
The Mocs would score four straight points to take a 53-51, but the Greyhounds answered with 6-2 run capped by a Saiz trey to take a 57-55 lead with 12:23 remaining in the contest. FSC would push its lead to 66-61 following a trey with 9:58 left in the game by sophomore forward R.J. June (Sanford, Fla.). June finished the night with a career high eight points and blocked two shots in the win.
Following June's trey, the Greyhounds would respond with a 12-5 run to take a 73-71 lead with 6:43 left in the game. The run began with a bucket from Ladarius Stewart and was capped by 3-pointer from Mumtaz. Travis, though, would tie the game up at 73 26 seconds later thanks to two free throws. ENMU would then score five of the next seven points to take its largest lead of the game at 78-75.
Mumtaz led five Greyhounds in double figures on the night as he had 19 points, while Staves added 15 points off the bench and Domingo chipped in with 14 points and 11 boards. Stewart also posted a double-double on the night as he had 11 points and 10 rebounds, including scoring eight of those points after halftime. The final double-digit scorer for the Greyhounds was Patterson as he had 10, all of which came in the second half.
On the night, the Mocs were outshot and outrebounded, but they blocked five shots and collected a season high 12 steals as Zablotny and Travis each had three in the win.
The Mocs shot 40 percent from the field and 36 percent (13-for-36) from the 3-point line, while ENMU shot 46 percent from the field and 50 percent (15-for-30) from the 3-point line, including shooting 67 percent (8-for-12) from long distance in the second half.
FSC also shot 86 percent from the line as they finished 25-for-29 from the charity stripe, with 19 of those 29 attempts coming from Travis. The Greyhounds finished the night shooting 65 percent (13-for-20) from the line.
The Mocs will have little time to savor Thursday's victory as they close out its pre-Christmas schedule by playing back-to-back games this weekend as they host Mount Olive in a 6 p.m. game on Saturday, Dec. 19 and then will face Miles College on Sunday, Dec. 20 at 6 p.m.
"This team has a lot of issues that we have to take care of, but I've been saying all along to the guys that we don't have to be perfect and that we can still win games by dealing with some these issues," the Mocs coach stated. "We just have to make sure we're ready to go on Saturday and Sunday."
