Box Score South Regional Tournament Homepage
LAKELAND - Florida Southern used a 22-8 run over a span of nearly 10 minutes in the second half here Saturday evening to push a five-point lead to 20 points en route to opening the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament with an impressive 89-68 victory over eighth-seeded Benedict in front of a season high crowd of 1,621 fans at Jenkins Field House.
With Saturday's win, the top-ranked and top-seeded Moccasins exorcised some ghosts from last season as the Mocs suffered a 98-95 loss in the the first round of last season's South Regional Tournament to Tuskegee, who like Benedict, is a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In addition, Saturday's victory improved to the Mocs record to 31-1 and extended its school record win streak to 20 consecutive games. The Mocs haven't suffered a loss since falling 107-102 at home to then 13th-ranked Barry on Jan. 3.
Click here for link of the Florida Southern postgame press conference vs. Benedict
The Mocs hot start to open the second half was needed as Benedict gave the Mocs all they could handle in the first half as they led by as much as eight points midway through the first half, before the Mocs used a 24-4 run capped by a three-pointer from sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) to push out to a 12-point lead at 46-34 with 2:56 left in the opening half.
Benedict, who closed the season with a 19-12 record, would use back-to-back treys within 67 seconds from Jordan Smith and two free throws from Deonte Johnson to drop FSC's lead to 46-42 at the half.
"I thought in the first half that Benedict played very well," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following his eighth win in the NCAA Tournament as FSC's coach. "We came out a little slow, but the second half we played the way we're capable of. We guarded well, moved the ball well and made the extra pass.
"Plus, guys were able to hit shots."
The Mocs victory was able keyed by a balanced offensive attack that saw six players score in double figures and another player, senior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.) fall two points shy of hitting double digits.
"We have a lot of guys that can score on this team and tonight proved that," said Darner, who is now 213-72 in his ninth season at the helm of the Mocs.
Leading the balanced offensive attack for the Mocs on Saturday was junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) and Volovic, who each had 16 points in the game, while Williams added a career-high nine rebounds.
In addition to Williams and Volovic, senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) added 15 points and also had six boards and seven assists, while junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) had 12 points off the bench. Senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) had 10 points and his frontcourt mate, senior Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) recorded his fifth double-double of the season as he had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
Capers, who scored an FSC NCAA Tournament record record 46 points in last season's loss to Tuskegee, wasn't too concerned when his team trailed early in Saturday's game.
"It's not like we've been up all year," said Capers, who pushed his career scoring total to 2,203 points. "Some games we've been down, but there was never a doubt in my mind that we were going to lose that game tonight."
Following that second half run that pushed the Mocs lead to 20 points, the Tigers, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the last 12 years, used a three pointer from Brennan Reynard to pull within 17 points at 70-53. That would be as close as Benedict got, though, as the Mocs answered with a 12-5 run to push its lead to 81-55 following a dunk by Logan with 5:50 remaining in the game.
The lead would stay around the 20 point mark most of the remainder of the game as Benedict would get as close as 17 points following a lay-up by Kel Robin with 2:25 left in the game. Robin's lay-up made the score, 84-67.
Benedict was paced offensively by a 21 point effort off the bench from Johnson, while Smith finished with 15 points and Reynard added 11 points in the season ending loss.
The Mocs defense held Benedict's leading scorer Andrew Crawford to just three points as he entered the game averaging a team best 12.5 points per game on the season.
FSC's defense held Benedict to 38 percent shooting from the field and 27 percent (6-for-22) shooting from the 3-point line.
"That's the best defensive team we've played by far this year," Benedict head coach Fred Watson said in his team's postgame press conference. "They shoot the ball extremely well and they have the best player in the country in (Kevin) Capers. This is the most complete team and definitely the best defensive team we've seen."
The Mocs, on the other hand, shot 44 percent from the field and 38 percent (13-for-34) from the 3-point line. The Mocs also forced 16 turnovers that led to 17 points.
Benedict held a 45-44 edge on the boards, but struggled at the free throw line as they finished 14-for-23 at line (14-for-23). The Mocs, who are the No. 7 free throw shooter team in Division II, weren't much better as they hit on just 12 of its 18 (66.7 percent) free throw attempts in the game.
The Mocs will look to continue its winning ways on Sunday, March 15 as they host No. 4 seeded West Georgia (22-8) in the second of two South Regional semifinal games at Jenkins Field House. UWG advanced to the semifinal round following its 80-79 win in Saturday's final quarterfinal game.
"Florida Southern is an outstanding team as they are very deep and athletic and it should be a good challenge for our players on Sunday," UWG head coach Michael Cooney said in his postgame press conference when asked about facing the Mocs on Sunday.
