Box Score KISSIMMEE - Florida Southern opened its quest for a fourth consecutive Sunshine State Conference Championship here Friday afternoon by surviving a challenge from eighth-seeded Eckerd en route to posting an 87-75 victory over the Tritons at Silver Spurs Arena.
"It might not have been our best game today, but we were able to advance and we get to play tomorrow evening," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said following his team's 28th win of the season. "The bottom line for this time of the year is to advance, and that's what we did today."
With the win, the top-ranked and No. 1 seeded Moccasins extend their SSC Tournament win streak to nine straight games, their overall win streak to 17 straight games and improve their record to 28-1 overall on the season. Eckerd ends its season with a 12-16 record.
The Mocs, who had posted two 21 point wins over the Tritons during the regular season, closed the game on a 19-8 run over the final eight minutes of the game after Eckerd pulled within point at 68-67 following a three-pointer from Kevin Walsh.
"I don't think we played as good as we are capable of playing, and I think Eckerd had a lot to do with it," said Darner in the postgame press conference. "I thought we did some things today that we hadn't done in a long time, like throwing the ball around and things like that, coming out of timeouts and not knowing what we were supposed to do, going out and guarding the wrong guys. But I thought in about the last eight minutes of the game when they (Eckerd) got it down to one, we played like we are capable of playing."
Walsh's trey capped a 13-2 run by the Tritons after the Mocs used a two free throws from senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) to push its 41-37 halftime lead to 66-54 with 11:51 left in the game. Walsh finished with 20 points in the loss.
FSC's game closing scoring was jump started by a 15-foot baseline jump shot from senior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) and was capped by two free throws from junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) with 35 seconds left.
The Mocs run was keyed by nine points from Battle, who finished the game with 13 points.
Battle was one of four Mocs to finish in double figures against the Tritons as senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) led the way offensively with 26 points and added four assists and a career-high tying six steals. Capers, who earned his second consecutive SSC Player of the Year honor on Wednesday, has now posted 101 career double-digit scoring games and has scored in double figures in 16 straight games.
In addition to Battle and Capers, the other Mocs that finished in double figures was Travis as he tallied a season-high 22 points off the bench and Johnson, who tallied 12 points and seven rebounds in the win.
"I thought Kevin played well today. He was able to hit some shots and attack the rim and get to the basket," said Darner, who is now 18-3 all-time as the Mocs coach in the SSC Tournament. "Also, I thought Bubby and Dylan also played a good game. I thought Dylan came off the bench and gave us a lot. He hit some big shots for us, got to the foul line, made some free throws and I thought Bubby's shot when it was a one-point game, his 15-footer on the baseline maybe won the game for us because it put us up three instead of, if he misses it, they go down and score and now they're up one.
"I thought that was a huge, huge shot."
After trailing 6-2 in the game's opening two-plus minutes, the Mocs used a 19-5 run over the next four minutes to push out to a 21-11 lead. The Tritons, though, answered with an 11-2 run to pull within 23-22 following a lay-up from Malcolm Brunner, Jr., with 10:39 left in the first half.
The Mocs would use back-to-back treys from Capers and Travis to push in front 29-22, before Eckerd, who has now lost seven straight games to the Mocs, including three straight times in the SSC Tournament, pulled within 32-31 following a lay-up by Kendall Roberts.
FSC would score nine of the final 15 points in the first half to go into halftime holding a 41-37 lead.
In addition to Walsh's 20 points, Brunner, Jr., added 14 points and Shane Phillips chipped in with 10 points for the Tritons, who played a majority of the game without its leading scorer, Jerrick Stevenson. Stevenson, who entered the game averaging 13.6 points per game, was ejected following a flagrant 2 foul about eight minutes into the contest.
For the game, the Mocs shot 45 percent from the field and 30 percent from the 3-point line, while Eckerd shot 46 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line.
Eckerd held a 39-32 edge on the glass, but the Mocs forced the Tritons into 23 turnovers that led to 28 points and also picked up 12 steals. The Mocs had 14 turnovers, which was nearly three over its season average. Eckerd scored 21 points, including second half points off of FSC's turnovers.
"We had a few too many turnovers for us today, but the big key for us was we were able to cause Eckerd to turn the ball over 22 times," Darner added.
The Mocs will continue play in the SSC Tournament on Saturday, March 7 as they face No. 4 seeded Lynn (18-8 overall) in the first semifinal match-up, which is scheduled to tip at 5 p.m. Lynn advanced to the SSC Tournament semifinals with an 84-83 overtime win over No. 5 seeded Florida Tech Friday afternoon. The men's championship game will begin at 4:03 p.m. on Sunday, March 8 and will be shown live on ESPN3.
