Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern closed out the 2015 calendar year with perhaps its best game of the season here Sunday evening as the reigning National Champion Moccasins scored a season high 128 points and hit a school record 23 3-pointers en route to posting an impressive 128-84 South Region victory over Miles College at Jenkins Field House.
Along with scoring a season high 128 points and setting a new school record for made 3-pointers, Moccasin senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) etched his name in the school's record book as he became the first Moccasin men's hoops player in the program's 89 year history to record a triple-double as he had 11 points, 10 rebounds and a career high 10 assists to help the Mocs to its 44 point victory.
"What an incredible accomplishment to be able to record the first triple-double in school history. I can't believe in the history of this program that I am the first to achieve it," Travis said following the game. "I am just speechless and thankful to my teammates and my coaches."
Moccasin first year head coach Mike Donnelly said that Travis helped set the tone for his team's performance Sunday.
"I was really proud of how Dylan approached the game tonight. I know he was frustrated with the loss last night and for him to bounce back and lead us was tremendous," the Moccasin coach said. "He was extremely active on the glass both offensively and defensively and he really set the table looking to draw in help defenders and find the open guys and once Mike and 'Nique got hot, Dylan was the catalyst. He was really looking for those guys and that spreads and is contagious. He is a great, great player and he can be effective in so many ways and it showed tonight.
"He has a national championship to his name and now he has the only triple-double to his name in school history and I am so proud of him."
Sunday's win came about 24 hours after the Mocs had its 24 game regular season win streak against non-conference opponents snapped following its 94-84 loss to Mount Olive.
The 128 points scored by the Mocs was the fifth most in school history and the most in a single game since scoring 126 in a 126-103 home win over St. Mary's (Mich.) on Dec. 15, 1990. The school record for points scored in a game is 146, which was set against Clearwater Christian on Dec. 12, 1975.
It marked the second 100 point this week for the Mocs as they also tallied 100 points in its 100-90 home win this past Thursday against Eastern New Mexico. The Mocs are now 134-3 all-time when scoring 100 points.
FSC's 23 treys eclipsed the old mark of 22 set against Rollins on Jan. 31, 2009. In that game, the Mocs were 22-for-43 from the 3-point line. In Sunday's game, the Mocs finished 23-for-46 (50 percent) from long distance. The 46 treys tied a single game record set earlier this season against Palm Beach Atlantic.
"It was big for us to get this win tonight, especially after some of the discouraging losses we've had, especially last night, to end it on a high note where we played by far our best basketball of the season," Donnelly added. "I don't know if I've ever had a team play that well like we did tonight in my 13 year coaching career. It was night and day compared to last night, but I knew these guys were ready to play when they hit the floor, it just so happened, we got hot and did so many things well. I'm glad we could end on a high note heading into the break."
With Sunday's win, the Mocs improve to 6-7 overall on the season, while Miles fell to 5-6 on the year.
The 23 made 3-pointers are the most made in a single game this season by a Division II school as the previous season high was 22 by Newberry against Allen on Dec. 1. In addition, the 128 points is tied for the fifth-most in a game this season as West Liberty also scored 128 points against Salem International on Dec. 1.
"We never plan and say to the guys were only going to take an x-amount of threes, but that was really kind of the flow of the game tonight. We moved the ball well, have really good shooters and those shooters have the green light, so it looks good when they go in and they went in tonight," the Mocs coach said. "I told the guys we scored 128 points as we didn't ran any plays. That's what we've been trying to preach to the guys, it all stems from player movement and ball movement and we did that at an extremely high level tonight."
Travis was one of seven Mocs to score in double figures on the night as senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) fell one point shy of his career high as he had a team and game high 28 points, including hitting six consecutive treys in the second half during a 27-9 run that pushed FSC's lead from 76-49 to 103-58 with 10:29 left in the game. The six consecutive treys by Williams was one shy of tying the school's single game mark of seven consecutive treys by a single player.
"It was fun to see," Donnelly said about Williams' performance on Sunday. "I watched Dominique firsthand when I was at the Bellarmine game last year in the Final Four and he hit those five 3's in the first half and that's what happened tonight. I see 'Nique get hot in practice and has shot the ball well so far this year, but that stretch he went on tonight was just incredible and I don't think I've ever witnessed anything quite like that. Just a remarkable night for 'Nique."
The Mocs hit the century mark on a 3-pointer by redshirt sophomore forward Stephen Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) with 10:29 left in the game. Turner's trey capped the Mocs 27-9 run. FSC's lead reached as high as 58 points following a 3-pointer from freshman forward Joey Morlan (Fort Wayne, Ind.) with 5:54 left in the game. Morlan's trey gave the Mocs a 123-65 lead. Miles would close the game outscoring the Mocs, 17-5, to set the final margin at 44 points.
In addition to Williams and Travis, the other Mocs that scored in double figures were junior guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) with 19, junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) had 14, while sophomore forward R.J. June (Sanford, Fla.), freshman forward Jarel Spellman (Richmond, Va.) and junior guard Trey Moore (Omaha, Neb.) each had 10 points in the win. For the game, 12 of the 14 players that saw action scored at least one point.
The Mocs scored over 60 points in both halves tonight, including scoring 67 points in the second half. It marked the first time the Mocs had scored 60 points in a half since tallying 62 in the second half against Tuskegee in a 106-90 win on Dec. 22, 2013. Ironically, that Tuskegee team was coached by current Miles head coach Leon Douglas.
In the first half, the Mocs used a 26-11 run over a span of six-plus minutes to turn a 10-6 lead into a 36-17 advantage. The run was keyed by 11 points from Zablotny, who scored all 14 points of his points in the first half.
After Maiscei Grier stopped the Mocs run with a free throw, the Mocs would close the half on a 25-19 run to take a 61-37 lead at the half.
Miles, who playing its second straight game against a Sunshine State Conference opponent as the Golden Bears fell 70-46 at 21st-ranked Eckerd on Wednesday, was led offensively on the night by Shaquille Cook as he finished with 21 points and had 10 rebounds. In addition to Cook, Maiscei Grier added 19 points off the bench as Miles bench outscored the Mocs bench, 60-50, on the night. The final double digit scorer for the Golden Bears was Joshua Johnson as he had 13 points and also had four steals in the loss.
One thing Donnelly was pleased about was his team's distribution of the basketball as the Mocs finished the game with a season high 31 assists on 46 made field goals.
"I thought we did an outstanding job of moving the ball and finding the open players," the Mocs coach said.
The Mocs finished the game shooting a season high 52.3 percent from the field, including shooting 57.5 percent from the floor in the first half and 50 percent from the 3-point line. The Mocs also held a 48-41 edge on the glass as along with Travis' 10 boards, sophomore forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.) had eight boards and June added six boards in his first career start.
FSC also forced Miles into 23 turnovers that led to 33 points, while the Mocs had just 12 turnovers, including eight in the first half.
The Mocs will now take now take 12 days off, including seven days off (Dec. 21-27) mandated by the NCAA as part of its "Life in Balance" initiative that was established a few years ago, before returning to the court on Saturday, Jan. 2 as they host Tampa (4-7 overall, 0-3 SSC) in a 7:30 p.m. Sunshine State Conference contest.
"I told the guys when your home, you don't have to talk about our record, it is irrelevant, it is all about what we did in our last game and our last game just happens to be our best game of the season," Donnelly stated. "Tampa is our rival, it's a huge game for us, but we don't have to worry about it this week, but when we get back to work on the 28th that will be our focus."
