Box Score WINTER PARK - Florida Southern concluded the first half of Sunshine State Conference play here Wednesday evening with an 89-72 setback to its rival Rollins at Warden Arena on the Rollins College campus.
The Moccasins, who led 37-33 at the half, couldn't recover from a 33-18 run by the Tars in the opening 11 minutes of the second half to help Rollins take a 66-55 lead.
"Numbers don't lie. We did a good job guarding in the first half as we held them to 37 percent shooting from the field and 27 percent from the three, but in the second half they (Rollins) shot 62 percent from the field," Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly said following his team's 10th loss of the season. "We knew were going to struggle scoring tonight without Dylan in the line-up, but no excuses, we just didn't guard very well after halftime."
FSC, who fell to 8-10 overall and 4-4 in the SSC, played Wednesday's game without senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.). Travis, who is team's leading scorer (21.9) and leading rebounder (8.1) on the season, missed the game due to an injury he suffered in Saturday's win at Nova Southeastern.
"We held Dylan out tonight, but I don't think it's serious," said Donnelly. "He will see the doctor tomorrow and we're hoping he'll play on Saturday."
After shooting just 37 percent from the field in the first half, Rollins (12-6 overall, 5-3 SSC) heated up in the second half as they shot 62 percent (18-for-29) from the field after halftime.
The Tars run to open the second half was keyed by a combined 18 points from Jeff Merton and Sam Philpott as Merton, who didn't score in the first half, had all 12 of his points and Philpott had six of his game-high 21 points during the run.
Back-to-back treys from senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) brought the reignining National Champion Mocs within five at 66-61 with 7:43 left. The Tars, though, would respond with a 7-2 run to push its lead to 73-63 with 5:09 remaining.
Junior guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) would hit two free throws with 4:21 left to bring the Mocs within eight at 75-67, but they would get no closer as the Tars ended the game on a 14-5 run to snap a three game losing skid to the Mocs. Prior to Wednesday's loss, the Mocs had won seven of the eight games in the series against the Tars.
"I was pleased with how hard we played tonight," said Donnelly. "But now we need to take that next step and sustain it and follow through when things get uncomfortable in a game."
Williams led the way offensively for the Mocs as he finished with 20 points and extended his double-digit scoring streak to 16 consecutive games. In addition to Williams, junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) finished with 19 points, all of which were scored in the first half.
After going 6-for-10 from the floor and 5-for-9 from the 3-point line in the first half, Zablotny was 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-2 from long distance in the second half.
"Sheldon hit some shots and provided a spark offensively in the first half, but I thought he got tired in the second half," the Mocs coach said.
In the first half, the Mocs used an 8-3 run keyed by a four-point play from Williams to take a 19-14 lead with 11:32 left in the opening half.
After a three-point play on the ensuing possession by Rollins' Eric Castaneda brought the Tars within two points at 19-17, the Mocs responded with a 6-0 run capped by a trey from Zablotny with 7:11 left in the half. Zablotny's trey gave the Mocs 25-17 lead.
Rollins, though, answered with a 10-3 run to pull within 28-27 with 4:35 remaining in the opening half.
The Mocs would close the half on a 9-6 run to go into halftime holding a 37-33 lead.
In addition to Merton and Philpott, Joey Galvis added 12, while Mike Bedulskis and James Ferrell each had 10 points.
The Mocs finished the night shooting 38 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line as the Mocs hit 15 treys in the game. It marked the 10th straight game that the Mocs have hit 10 or more treys in a game.
Meanwhile, Rollins finished the game shooting 50 percent from the floor and was 6-for-24 (25 percent) from the 3-point line and the Tars also held a 44-27 edge on the glass and had a 42-10 edge in points in the paint.
The Mocs won the turnover battle 13-12, but Rollins scored 19 points off those 12 Moccasin turnovers, including an 18-3 edge in points off FSC's eight turnovers in the second half.
FSC will look to rebound on Saturday, Jan. 23 as they open the second half of SSC play at Jenkins Field House against Lynn (8-8 overall, 2-6 SSC). The Mocs picked up a 98-91 win over the Fighting Knights in Boca Raton on Nov. 21.
"We can't put our heads down, we just have to keep fighting and be ready to get after it on Saturday against Lynn," said the Mocs coach.
