Box Score KISSIMMEE - Top-ranked Florida Southern continued its mastery of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament here Saturday evening at the Silver Spurs Arena as the Moccasins breezed past fourth-seeded Lynn 79-66 in the semifinal round en route to earning its 10th consecutive tournament victory and advancing to the championship game for the fourth straight season.
With Saturday's win, the top-seeded Mocs improved their record to 29-1 overall and extended its win streak to 18 straight games and pushed FSC into their 27th all-time SSC Tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m.
Click here for the video of the Moccasins postgame press conference
"I thought we played, for the most part, really well," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said. "I thought the first half defensively we guarded them really well. The second half they kind of got on a roll but I thought we did a good job of battling back. Any time you play a team for a third time, after beating them twice, it's really hard, especially a really good team like Lynn.
"That was my biggest worry going in is that it's hard to beat a good team three times."
Saturday's game was the third meeting this season between the two teams as the Mocs earned an 87-77 win in Boca Raton on Jan. 24 and then posted an 87-66 victory in Lakeland on Feb. 21. The Mocs have now won 13 straight games against the Fighting Knights.
FSC's offensive attack was paced senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.) as he tallied 17 points, including 10 in the first half. In addition to Battle, senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) finished with 16 points as he battled foul trouble, while junior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) added 13 points and seven boards off the bench. The final Moc in double figures was senior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.) as he had 10 points and five boards in the victory.
The Mocs jumped in front 6-0 and led 14-6 just a little over seven minutes into the game, before Lynn used an 8-3 run capped by a three-point play from Fred Landers to pull within 17-14 with 10:10 left in the first half.
FSC, though, would respond with an 18-6 run to push out to a 35-20 lead with 3:24 left in the opening half. The Moccasin run began with three free throws from senior All-American guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.) after he was fouled by Aaron Harrison on a 3-point shot attempt and ended with a lay-up from senior forward Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.).
The Fighting Knights, who fell to 19-9 on the season, but is in line to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday evening when the NCAA reveals the field of 64 for this year's tournament, closed the half on a 7-3 run to drop the Mocs lead to 38-27 at the half.
Lynn, though, would get back into game in the opening seven-plus minutes of the second half as they used an 18-13 run to pull within 51-45 following a three-pointer from Ben Berry, who had 13 points for the Fighting Knights.
The Mocs would answer Lynn's run with a 17-5 spurt of its own to push out to an 18 point lead at 68-50 with 8:16 left in the game. The Mocs run was keyed by five points from Capers and four points apiece from Battle and senior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.).
Lynn wouldn't be able to get any closer than 13 points in the game's final eight minutes to seal FSC's victory and advance them to Sunday's championship game.
In addition to Berry's 13 points, Harrison led the Fighting Knights with 14 points, while Russell Wilson added 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
For the game, the Mocs shot 45 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line, but struggled at the line as they hit just 17-of-26 free throw attempts (65.4 percent). Lynn finished the game shooting 39 percent from the field, but shot just 4-of-23 (17.4 percent) from the 3-point line. Lynn also struggled at the line as they were 12-for-21 (57.1 percent) from the charity stripe.
The Mocs held a 42-41 edge on the glass as Williams recorded seven boards, while Johnson and junior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) had six rebounds in the win.
Lynn won the turnover battle as they had 16 and forced the Mocs into 17 turnovers for the game.
"I thought we had too many careless turnovers tonight," Darner added. "We need to do a better job at taking care of the basketball."
The Mocs will now await No. 2 seeded and 13th-ranked Barry (24-4) in Sunday's championship game as Barry advanced to the finals with an 86-54 win over sixth-seeded Nova Southeastern in Saturday's other semifinal game. The Buccaneers and Mocs split their two regular season meetings as Barry earned a 107-102 win in Lakeland on Jan. 3 and the Mocs picked up an 88-79 win in Miami Shores on Feb. 4.
"Whoever we play tomorrow it will be a great challenge and one our team is excited for," Darner said about Sunday's championship game opponent.
