Box Score LAKELAND - In a match-up between two teams that advanced to last year's Division II Elite Eight, Mount Olive rallied from a 15 point second half deficit to post a 94-84 come-from victory over Florida Southern in non-conference action at Jenkins Field House.
Saturday's match-up featured two teams that won their respective region titles and advanced to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind., and combined to win 67 games in 2014-15. The reigning National Champion Moccasins posted a school record 36 wins and finished with a 36-1 record, while UMO won a school record 31 games and finished with a 31-4 record. Overall, the two schools, who met on the hardwood for the first time in school history Saturday evening, combined to post a 67-5 overall record.
The Mocs, who fell to 5-7 with the loss, led 48-35 at the half and held a 50-35 lead just 25 seconds into the second half, when the Trojans used a 37-23 run over the next 13-plus minutes to pull within 73-72 following a free throw by Jacque Brown with 7:19 left in the game.
A three-pointer from junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) 13 seconds pushed the Mocs lead to 76-72. From that point, the Trojans, who improved to 7-4 on the season with the win, would close the game on a 22-8 run to post the victory and snap Florida Southern's 24 game regular season home court win streak against non-conference foes.
Saturday's loss to Mount Olive was the first at home in the regular season to a non-conference opponent since suffering a 91-89 loss to St. Cloud State on a half-court buzzer beating shot in the Ledger Media Group/Terrace Hotel Classic on Nov. 23, 2012.
It appeared early on that streak to be extended to 25 games as Mocs outscored the Trojans, 48-35 in the first half to go into halftime with a 13 point lead. In the opening half, the Mocs shot 47 percent from the floor and were 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from the 3-point line and held a 26-13 edge on the glass. In addition, the Mocs had just six turnovers and 12 assists on 17 made baskets.
"We had six turnovers at halftime, we had 12 assists, everyone's feeling good and I think understanding what's making us successful and the things we've been preaching for a long time," Moccasin first year head coach Mike Donnelly said. "We told the guys, this is a really good team that has multiple runs in them. You're going to have to be mature enough to withstand those runs. There's going to be some times that it's not going to go our way, and that's why we've lost games down the stretch."
In the second half, the Mocs shot 52 percent from the field, but was just 4-for-12 (33.3 percent) from the 3-point line and had 12 turnovers that led to 16 points by the Trojans. Over the final eight minutes of the game, the Mocs committed seven turnovers and missed six of its final nine shots, including going just 1-for-5 from downtown during that closing stretch of the game.
"Tonight, they (Mount Olive) turned up the pressure, we didn't...and we absolutely crumbled as a basketball team. It's as simple as that," the Moccasin coach stated.
Zablotny and junior guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) led the way offensively for the Mocs with 17 points, while senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) added 16 points and senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) chipped in with 13 points and added eight rebounds and five assists, but also committed a career high eight turnovers, including six of them in the second half.
"We have terrific kids, but when adversity hits, we tend to go our own way right now and unfortunately right now we're not doing a very good job of playing through adversity," Donnelly added.
Brown and JaQuan Blount each had 17 points in the win for the Trojans, while Jamaal Martin added 16 points and Mike Moore had 10 points.
The Moccasins held UMO's leading scorer Dontrell Brite to eight points on the night. Despite only scoring eight points, Brite did pull down six boards and dished out 12 assists, including nine of UMO's 13 assists in the first half. Brite entered the game averaging a team-best 19.4 points per game.
UMO, who has now won five straight games after opening the season with a 2-4 record, jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the opening five minutes of the game and led 23-18 when the Mocs used a 7-0 run capped by a trey from Travis to take a 25-23 lead with 8:55 left in the opening half.
After Moore hit a trey with 5:23 left in the opening half to tie the game at 33, the Mocs would close the half on a 15-2 run to take its 48-35 halftime lead. The first half closing run was keyed by seven points from Volovic and capped by back-to-back lay-ups from Volovic and Williams.
Both team finished the game shooting 49.2 percent from the floor, but UMO shot 55 percent from the 3-point line, while the Mocs shot 44 percent from downtown. FSC held a 40-30 edge on the glass on the night as along with Travis' eight boards, sophomore forwards R.J. June (Sanford, Fla.) and Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.) each had six in the loss.
The Mocs dished out 21 assists on 31 made baskets, but shot just 67 percent (10-for-15) at the free throw line. UMO had 25 assists on 32 made baskets and shot 86 percent (19-for-22) from the charity stripe.
FSC will have little time to dwell on Saturday's result as they will conclude the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule on Sunday, Dec. 20 with a 6 p.m. game at Jenkins Field House against Miles College (5-5).
"Hopefully, we can put this loss behind us and come back tomorrow and be ready to play," Donnelly said.
