Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern opened 2016 much the same way they closed out 2015 by posting an impressive victory as the reigning National Champion Moccasins collected a 93-75 victory over Tampa here Saturday evening in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
With the victory, the Mocs extend its win streak to two consecutive games and improve its record to 7-7 overall and 3-2 in the SSC. Tampa falls to 4-8 overall and 0-4 in the league.
"It was good win for our team tonight, especially after having almost a two week break from playing," Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly said. "After the Miles game we said to the guys that were 1-0 and I said all week after we came back from break that our overall record is irrelevant and there is nothing we can do about it. We're happy to be 2-0 and be on a two-game winning streak."
Saturday's game was the first for the Mocs since they closed the 2015 calendar year with a 128-84 home victory over Miles on Dec. 20. In that game, the Mocs scored a season high 128 points and set a new school record by hitting 23 3-pointers and senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) posted the first triple-double in school history as he finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the 44 point victory.
"We are getting better as a basketball team and continue to make strides every day and tonight we took another step in the right direction," said Donnelly.
Saturday's win over Tampa was keyed by strong performances from Travis and senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.). Against the Spartans, Travis and Williams combined for 46 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists.
Travis finished the game with 20 points, tied a career high with 13 rebounds and dished out four assists, while Williams scored a game high 26 points, had four rebounds and three assists. Those two players combined for 30 of FSC's 53 second half points.
"They've (Dylan and Dominique) been great for us this year," Donnelly said about the play of Travis and Williams. "Both of those guys are so talented offensively, but they're doing so much more for us, than just scoring. They're hitting their stride right now and everybody's feeding off of those two.
"When we need big plays, those are the guys we're going too."
Travis' double-double was his sixth of the season and his third in the last four games as he posted double-doubles against Eastern New Mexico (32 points, 13 rebounds), Tampa (20 points, 13 rebounds) and a triple-double against Miles (11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).
After shooting just 41 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line in the first half, the Mocs offense got hot in the second half as they opened the half by hitting 11 of its first 20 shots, including hitting five of its first nine three-pointers to turn a 40-33 halftime lead into a 67-44 advantage with 11:42 left in the game.
In the second half, the Mocs shot 51 percent (21-for-41) from the field and 44 percent (8-for-18) from downtown and finished the game shooting 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.
"At the half, we talked about the odds of us making 22 or 23 three's in a game probably won't happen, so let's not get caught up in living and dying by the 3-point shot," the Mocs coach added. "I thought in the second half, instead of relying on and settling for 3-point shots, we came right out, shared the ball, got quick ball and player movement and that led us to getting easier shots."
The Mocs third double digit scorer on the night was junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) as he scored all 14 of his points in the first half, including shooting 4-of-10 from the 3-point line. It was Zablotny's fourth consecutive double-digit scoring game and his 11th game of scoring 10 or more points on the season.
FSC opened the second half on a 12-2 run to push out to a 52-35 lead just a little over three minutes out of the locker room. The run was keyed by back-to-back treys from Williams and capped by a lay-up from sophomore forward R.J. June (Sanford, Fla.). June finished the night with eight points, four boards and three blocks. Since being inserted into the starting lineup against Miles, June has scored 18 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and has blocked four shots.
"R.J. has really provided us a spark in the starting line-up over these last two games," added Donnelly.
After two free throws from Duke Shelton brought the Spartans within 17 at 57-40, the Mocs used a 20-7 run to push its lead to 77-53 with 9:09 left in the game. The run began with a dunk from senior forward Dylan Karell (North Miami Beach, Fla.) and was capped by a trey from sophomore forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.). Travis scored six of his 20 points during the run.
FSC's lead eventually grew to as much as 29 points at 87-58 following two free throws by Williams with 5:33 left in the game.
UT, who has now lost five of its last six games this season, would close out the game on a 17-6 run. All six of the Mocs points during the run came on back-to-back treys from redshirt sophomore forward Stephen Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) in the final two minutes of the contest.
UT was led by 19 points from freshman Pat Bacon. In addition to Bacon, Shelton posted a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Austin Rettig added 13 points in the loss. Bacon, Shelton and Rettig combined to score 24 of UT's 42 second half points.
The game was close early on as after the Mocs jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening three minutes, the Spartans used an 8-3 run to pull within 12-11. That would be as close as UT would get as the Mocs answered with a 14-8 run capped by a Travis lay-up to push out to a 26-19 lead with 8:31 left in the opening half.
UT, though, wouldn't go away as they responded with a 10-5 run capped by a Jaylen Taylor dunk with 4:14 left in the first half to drop FSC's lead to 31-29. The Mocs would close the half on a 9-4 run, including Williams drilling a trey with eight seconds left to send FSC into the locker room at the half holding a 40-33 lead.
"I thought that shot at the end of the half by 'Nique gave us a lot of momentum coming into the second half," Donnelly stated.
While FSC shot 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line in the game, UT finished the night shooting 44 percent from the floor, but was just 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) from the 3-point line.
The one area where the Mocs struggled at was from the free throw line as they finished the game 11-for-18 (61 percent) from the line. The Mocs entered the game fourth in the SSC in free throw shooting at 73 percent.
FSC held a 45-42 edge on the glass and forced UT into 18 turnovers that led to 20 points. The Spartans scored 21 points off of FSC's 14 turnovers, including scoring 13 points on seven second half turnovers by the Mocs.
The Mocs will look to make it three wins in a row as they return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 6 as they travel to Daytona Beach for a 7:30 p.m. game against Embry-Riddle (9-2 overall). Embry-Riddle, who is in its first season as a provisional member of the SSC, had its four game win streak snapped on Saturday as they suffered an 87-64 loss at Nova Southeastern. It will mark just the fifth ever meeting the two schools and first since the Mocs earned a 65-55 win in Daytona Beach on Dec. 3, 2002.
