Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind. - With a trip to the National Championship game on the line here Thursday evening, top-ranked Florida Southern used a three-pointer from the right wing with 8.1 seconds left from senior All-American guard Kevin Capers to post a 79-76 victory over third-ranked Bellarmine in the NCAA Division II Final Four at the Ford Center.
With the win, the Mocs have now advanced to its third national championship game in school history and first since 1982 when FSC fell 73-63 to District of Columbia in the championship game in Springfield, Mass. FSC posted a 73-68 win over Mount St. Mary's in Springfield, Mass., to claim its only national title in men's basketball in 1981.
"What an incredible shot at the end by Kevin. It was a huge shot and now we get to play one more game this season," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said in the postgame press conference following his team's 35th overall win and 24th consecutive victory on the season.
Capers' trey helped the Moccasins (35-1 on the season) erase a five-point deficit with 4:19 left in the game and advance to Saturday's Division II National Championship game where they will meet 25th-ranked Indiana (Pa.) for a chance to win its second-ever national championship in men's basketball and first since 1981.
"I thought it was an unbelivable game. It was the second time we've played them this season and the second time the game came down to the end," Darner added. "I thought the beginning of the game was the best 10 minutes we've played all season as we got up by 18 points, but we knew they'd make a run."
Capers' only made three of the game was set up on Bellarmine's previous possession by a steal by senior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio) as he stole the ball away from Rusty Troutman with 38 seconds remaining in the game. Troutman's turnover was the 20th and final one of the game for the Knights as the Mocs scored 25 points off those 20 turnovers in the win.
"T.K.'s steal was huge. I was thinking that if they (Bellarmine) scored on that possession, how much time would be left on the clock," said Darner, who is now 11-7 as FSC's coach in the NCAA Tournament. "The steal was a huge play, but once again turnovers were important as we forced 20 and only committed seven as a team. That was a big key for us in earning the win."
Capers said that we he looking to drive on his last shot, but Bellarmine's defense forced him to reconsider.
"In the timeout we drew up a play and I was going to drive to the basket, but (Jake) Thelen was sitting in the paint, so I backed up and had an open shot, so I took it and it felt good when it left my hands," said Capers, who scored 17 points to extend his double-digit scoring streak to 23 consecutive games.
It appeared early on in Thursday's second national semifinal game that Capers' heroics weren't going to be needed as the Mocs hit six consecutive three-pointers, including five in a row from junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) to turn a 7-6 deficit into a 24-9 lead with 12:16 left in the opening half.
"It's been kind of a tradition that I have started out my last two tournaments by not playing well in the first game, so this game, I tried to come out aggressive and not think about it," Williams said when asked about this hot start in Thursday's game. "They put me on the team to shoot the ball and that's what I did tonight."
The Mocs lead would grow to as much as 18 points following a triple from senior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.) with 10:48 left in the first half. Logan's trey gave the Mocs a 29-11 lead.
Bellarmine, who closed the season with a 31-4 record, would respond with a 25-11 run to close out to the half to cut FSC's lead at the half to 40-36. The Knights run was aided by a combined 14 points from Jake Thelen and Chris Whitehead as Thelen scored eight of his 16 points during the run, while Whitehead tallied six of his game-high 24 points over that stretch.
"We knew they were going to make a run, we just need to withstand their runs in the game, which I thought for the most part we did a job with that," the Mocs coach said.
The Knights opened the second half by scoring six of the first 10 points to pull within 44-42 with 18:18 left in the game. After BU would pull within a point at 45-44, the Mocs would score four straight points to push back out to a 49-44 advantage.
After BU scored five quick points to retie the game at 49, the Mocs used an 11-6 run capped by a three-pointer from junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) to take a 60-55 lead. The Knights, though, would respond with a 17-7 run capped by back-to-back lay-ups from George Suggs and Troutman to take a 72-67 lead with 4:19 left in the game.
"With about 4 minutes left in the game, I turned to Coach (Ben) Swank my assistant and said I'm going to put my five senior starters back in at the last timeout and we're either going to win it or lose it with them on the floor," Darner said. "I thought they did a great job with helping get us back in the game and ultimately helping us win the game."
The Mocs began their comeback with a 3-pointer from Williams and two free throws by sophomore guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) tied the game at 72 with 4:05 remaining.
Whitehead and Thelen would each score on Bellarmine's next two trips down the floor to take a 76-72 lead. But, the Mocs wouldn't go away as senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) scored on a lay-up and Capers hit a step-back jumper to once again tie the game at 76 with 1:46 remaining.
In addition to Capers' 17 points, Williams led the way with a team high 22 points as he finished 8-for-12 from the field, including going 6-for-9 from the 3-point line, while Battle finished with 16 points and added five boards in the win.
Joining Thelen and Whitehead in double figures was Troutman as he had 11 points and seven boards. In addition to the 16 points, Thelen also pulled a career high 19 boards in his final collegiate game.
For the game, the Mocs shot 46 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line and with its 10 made treys set a new single season record made 3-pointers with 346, which bettered the old mark of 340 set in 2007-08. On the season, the Mocs have now connected on 346 of its 943 treys.
The Mocs were ourebounded, 44-24, including a 15-7 edge in offensive boards, but they collected 12 steals and blocked three shots in the win. FSC finished the game with just seven turnovers.
"They killed us on the boards tonight, but our ability to create turnovers was the difference," commented Darner.
With its victory, the Mocs will now complete the 2014-15 season this coming Saturday March 28 as they face Indiana (Pa.) (31-6) in the national championship game, which is slated for a 3 p.m. Eastern tip-off and will be shown live on television by CBS (Bright House Channel 10 in Lakeland) and will also be aired on the radio nationally by Westwood One.
"IUP is a good team. They are very good defensively and it should be an unbelievable game on Saturday," Darner added. "The funny thing is that we were supposed to scrimmage IUP at the beginning of the season as they came down to play an exhibition game at South Florida, but it didn't work out so we went to Fort Myers to scrimmage Florida Gulf Coast.
"It's kind of ironic that we were going to start the season with a scrimmage against IUP and now we're going to end the year meeting each other for a national championship."
