Box Score WINTER PARK - 3-Peat. 3-Peat. 3-Peat.
Those are the words the top-ranked Florida Southern Moccasins uttered after posting an 82-67 victory here Saturday over Rollins at Warden Arena en route to claiming its third consecutive and 22nd all-time Sunshine State Conference regular season title.
It marked the second time in the tenure of Moccasin head coach Linc Darner that that Mocs have won three consecutive regular season titles as FSC also regular season titles from 2007-08 through 2009-10. The 22 regular season league titles are the most of any school any the league.
"We have achieved one of our goals for this season, which was to win the regular season league title, but we still have other goals we want to achieve this season," Darner said following his 400th game as a collegiate coach on Saturday. Darner is now 283-117 in his 13th season as a collegiate head coach, including posting a 209-72 record in nine seasons with the Mocs.
With Saturday's victory, the Mocs improved to 27-1 overall and 15-1 in the SSC and also extended its winning streak to 16 consecutive games, which is tied for the longest active streak in Division II men's basketball. The 15 wins are the most ever won by an SSC team in league play since the league began in 1975-76.
The Mocs will now turn its sights on winning a fourth consecutive SSC Tournament title as they begin play in this year's SSC Tournament on Friday, March 6 at 12 p.m. against No. 8 seed Eckerd (12-15 overall, 4-12 SSC) at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
2015 Complete SSC Men's Basketball Tournament bracket
In Saturday's regular season finale, the Mocs used strong shooting from long distance to outpace the Tars, who closed the 2014-15 campaign, with a 9-19 overall record and a 2-14 mark in the SSC. Saturday's contest featured a combined 62 3-point shot attempts and a combined 29 three-point field goals made, including the Mocs hitting a season high 18 treys in the win. The 18 treys were four shy of FSC's single game record of 22 treys, which ironically came against Rollins on Jan. 31, 2009.
The Mocs 3-point barrage was led by senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) as he hit 7-of-8 from long distance en route to scoring a game high 27 points. Battle hit his first seven treys before misfiring on his final attempt with 5:48 left in the game. The seven consecutive made 3-pointers tied a single game school record which is also held by Cameron Wooten in 2006-07 and Chet Galloway in 1992-93.
"Stephen really had a great day shooting the ball," said Darner, who has now won seven regular conference titles as a head coach, including six at FSC and one at St. Joseph's (Ind.).
In addition to Battle, senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) chipped in with 17 points, including scoring 14 of those points in the second half. It marked the 15th consecutive double-digit scoring game for Capers and his 100th career double figure scoring game.
The Mocs needed everyone of those three-pointers they hit in the game as Rollins also had the hot hand from long distance as they hit 11 in the game, including connecting on 8-of-15 in the second half to help keep the Tars within striking distance until late in the game.
For the game, Rollins shot 54 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line, while the Mocs shot 44 percent from the floor and 46 percent from the 3-point line.
Despite its prowess from the 3-point line, the Mocs, who entered the game fourth in Division II in free throw shooting, struggled at line against Rollins as they hit just eight of its 17 free throws (47.1 percent).
"We have been a really good free throw shooting team the entire season, but lately we've struggled at the line. We need to do better at the line moving forward because that could be the difference between winning and losing a game in the postseason," Darner added when asked about his team's poor free throw shooting.
Rollins, who didn't make the SSC Tournament this season as only the top eight teams earn a spot in the postseason even, was paced offensively by 21 points from Jeff Merton, while Alex Blessig added 14 points in his final collegiate game. Chris Uhle chipped in with 13 points and Scott Schutte scored 10 points and had six assists for the Tars.
Another big edge for the Mocs in the game was turnovers as they forced Rollins into 22 turnovers that led to 21 points. In the first half, Rollins committed 14 turnovers that led to 15 Moccasin points. FSC finished the game with just 10 turnovers, of which, two came in the final minute of the game.
"We were able to get some pressure on them and force them to turn the ball over," the Mocs coach added. "Those turnovers allowed us to get some easy baskets and more scoring chances."
It appeared early on in the game that the Mocs wouldn't be in line for its 16th straight victory as Rollins scored the game's first seven points and led 10-3 when the Mocs answered with a 12-5 run capped by a three-pointer from junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) to tie the game at 15-all.
"The first six or seven mintues today we didn't play very well and looked like we didn't want to play, but then I thought we woke up and began to hit some shots and give better effort on both ends of the court," Darner said when asked about his team's slow start.
The Mocs trailed 28-26 with 4:03 left in the first half, before closing the opening stanza on a 14-0 run to take a 40-28 lead at the half. The run was keyed by nine points, including two treys by Battle and capped by a tip-in just before the buzzer from freshman forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.).
In fact, the Mocs extended their run to 19-0 in the opening minutes of the second half after scoring the first five points of the second half to push its lead to 45-28.
Rollins would chip away at the lead as they used a 21-9 run to pull within 56-49 with 11:51 left in the game. The Mocs, though, would respond with a 14-5 run capped by a three-pointer from senior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.) to take a 70-54 lead with 8:57 left.
After Blessig halted FSC's run with a trey of his own, the Mocs used a 12-5 run to push its lead to 82-62 with 3:34 remaining in the game. That run was aided by 3-pointers from junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) and sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) and capped by a lay-up from senior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.).
Rollins would score the game's final five points to set the final margin at 15.
FSC will now take almost a week off before facing Eckerd in the first of four quarterfinal games on Friday, March 6 at the SSC Tournament. The Mocs swept the season series from the Tritons as they won 80-62 in Lakeland on Jan. 14 and earned an 86-65 win in St. Petersburg on Feb. 18.
