Box Score LAKELAND, FL - Florida Southern College men's basketball raced out to an early five-point lead, but went cold on offense and was unable to hang on to the advantage in a 99-81 loss to Auburn-Montgomery on Saturday at Jenkins Field House.
The Moccasins (4-8) shot just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc in the first half as the Warhawks (4-9) onnected on 6-of-11 from long range in the opening 20 minutes en-route to their third-straight win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Florida Southern jumped out to an 11-6 led on Jack Rauch's layup with just under 16 minutes to go in the first half, but Auburn-Montgomery was able to chip away and eventually took a 22-20 lead on back-to-back three-pointers with 11:51 to go.
• The Warhawks would never surrender the lead after taking it, and were able to outscore the Mocs 31-15 over the final 12 minutes of the first half to take a 50-35 lead into the half. AUM shot 54.3 percent (19-of-35) from the floor in the first half and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
• Desmond DeRamus scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the first half for the Warhawks, while Romoane Eager added 11 off the bench over the first 20 minutes of play.
• Auburn-Montgomery pushed its lead to 20 points (65-45) with 14:24 to play in the game, and would lead by as much as 26 points in the final three minutes of play.
• Florida Southern shot much better from three-point range in the second half, hitting 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from beyond the arc, but went just 7-of-20 (35.0 percent) of its shots from inside the arc.
• On the night, Florida Southern shot 37.7 percent (26-of-69) while AUM shot 52.1 percent (38-of-73) from the floor. The Warhawks went 11-of-24 from downtown and 12-of-15 from the free-throw line, while the Mocs went 9-of-28 from deep and 20-of-25 at the charity stripe.]
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Florida Southern fell to 0-1 all-time against Auburn-Montgomery. The Moccasins also dropped to 886-329 all-time at home, including 697-186 at Jenkins Field House.
• Jarel Spellman had 12 points, three rebounds and two blocks in the game. He has recorded 119 career blocks in 41 career games, and needs just two more to move into fifth place in school history in career blocks. Spellman is 44 blocks from setting the school record, currently held by Christophe Humbert (162).
• Brett Hanson (13) led the Moccasins in scoring, while Michael Volovic added 12 and LaBrian Shiflet scored 11 off the bench. Jack Rauch finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds, and Volovic dished out a team-high five assists.
• Auburn-Montgomery's bench came up big in the contest, scoring 44 of the Warhawks points and outscoring Florida Southern's reserves 44-30. AUM also finished with a 36-23 edge in the paint, and scored 21 points off turnovers.
UP NEXT
• Florida Southern returns to action on December 30 when it faces Tampa in a Sunshine State Conference contest. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. from Jenkins Field House.
