Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern's struggles in Sunshine State Conference play continued here Wednesday evening as the Moccasins fell 88-75 to Rollins at Jenkins Field House.
The loss was the sixth straight for the Mocs in SSC play and its 15th overall setback of the season as FSC is now 9-15 overall and 4-9 in the SSC.
FSC's current SSC losing skid began with an 89-72 loss at Rollins on Jan. 20, but unlike that first match-up when the Mocs led 37-33 at the half and were outscored 56-35 in the second half, in Wednesday's second meeting, the Mocs trailed 49-26 at the half, but rallied in the second half as they outscored the Tars, 49-39.
Since the loss to Rollins on Jan. 20, the Mocs have posted a 1-6 record with the only victory being a 91-77 home non-conference win last Wednesday against Palm Beach Atlantic.
The Mocs, who opened the game by shooting just 32 percent from the field and 20 percent (4-for-20) from the 3-point line in the first half, finished the game shooting 39 percent from the field, but connected on just 11 of its 38 3-pointers (28.9 percent).
For the second straight game, the Mocs played without senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.), who is both the team's leading scorer and leading rebounder on the season. Travis has missed the last two games due to an ankle injury suffered in practice one day prior to last Saturday's game at Florida Tech.
In Travis' absence, the Mocs offense was once again led by senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) and junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.). Williams and Zablotny combined to score 51 of FSC's 75 points, including combining for 36 of its 49 second half points. Williams scored 23 second half points and Zablotny had 13 points after halftime.
"Dominique and Sheldon played well for us offensively and have stepped up in Dylan's absence," said Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly.
Williams tallied a career high 30 points and extended his double-digit scoring streak to 22 consecutive games, inclduing scoring 20 or more points in three straight games, while Zablotny had 21 points and has now reached double figures in eight straight games.
On Saturday in its 82-79 loss at Florida Tech, those two players combined for 49 of FSC's 79 points as Zablotny scored a career high 28 and Williams added 20.
Without Travis in the line-up the Mocs adjusted its starting line-up and started four guards and freshman forward Jarel Spellman (Richmond, Va.).
The change in the line-up worked in the early going as the two rivals played to a 10-all tie just five minutes into the game.
Following that opening four minutes, Rollins, who improved to 17-6 overall and 9-3 in the SSC, used a 23-4 run to push out to 33-14 lead with 5:17 left in the opening half.
Rollins' lead eventually grew to 23 at 41-18, before the Mocs used an 8-5 run capped by a Williams trey to push within 20 at 46-26 with 11 seconds left in the half. The Tars, though, would use Jeff Merton trey at the buzzer to go into halftime holding a 49-26 lead.
The 26 points first half points were the lowest for the Mocs since scoring 24 points in its 77-63 loss to Delta State in the second game of the season on Nov. 14 at the SSC/GSC Challenge in Livingston, Ala.
"It's been tough and there's no sugar coating it," Donnelly said. "It's been tough trying to find the right matchups, trying to find a unit what will work. It was too much too overcome tonight. I'm proud of the guys. They didn't quit."
Rollins' 23 point halftime lead was aided by a 25-17 edge on the boards, including a 14-5 advantage in second chance points.
"Rebounding has been a challenge for us all year and when you take a player from Dylan out of the lineup that is a tremendous rebounder, it makes it that much more of challenge," said Donnelly, whose team fell to 6-6 at home this season.
The six home losses this season are the most for the Mocs since the 2006-07 team coached by Linc Darner posted an 8-7 record at home. Darner's first FSC squad in 2006-07 finished the season with an 8-20 overall record.
Trailing by 23 points, the Mocs opened the second half on a 13-6 run to pull within 56-39 following a trey from Williams. Williams finished the night by going 5-for-15 from the 3-point line, including a 4-for-7 effort from downtown in the second half.
The Tars, who swept the season series from the Mocs for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign, would answer the Mocs run with a 15-6 run to push its lead to 70-45 with 10:21 left in the game.
Prior to this season, the Mocs had posted a 7-1 record against their rivals from Winter Park since posting a 77-63 win in the quarterfinals of the 2012 SSC Tournament on Rollins' home court.
"This is a huge rivalry game. We didn't very well in the first half and had to play catch-up the remainder of the game," the Mocs coach added. FSC now holds a 119-55 all-time edge in the all-time series between the two schools.
FSC, though, would not go away easily as the Mocs began to creep back into the game thanks to a 27-15 run to drop Rollins' lead to 85-73 with 1:42 remaining. FSC's run was keyed by a combined 21 points from both Williams (11 points) and Zablotny (10 points). At one point during the run, Williams drilled three consecutive 3-pointers.
"We are able to make some runs in the second half, but we were never able to close the gap to single digits," said the Mocs coach.
The Tars would score three consecutive points to push its lead to 88-73, before Williams hit two free throws with 39 seconds left to cap the game's scoring.
In addition to Williams and Zablotny, sophomore forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.) turned in one the best performances of his brief collegiate career as he finished with 15 points and a game high 12 rebounds off the bench for his first career double-double.
"Tyler (Ross) played well, but we need that every night," Williams said. "We need more guys coming off the bench and we need more guys playing well the way he did tonight."
Ross got seven of his career high tying 12 boards on the offensive glass. The Mocs finished the game with a 19-12 edge in offensive boards.
FSC also held a 40-38 edge on the boards for the game and blocked five shots, all of which came from Spellman, who has now blocked 72 shots in 24 games this season. The 72 blocks is tied with Christophe Humbert for third-most on the school's single season chart. Humbert blocked 72 shots during the 2001-02 season.
Rollins was paced by 19 points off the bench from Sam Philpott. Philpott scored 13 of his 19 points after halftime. In addition to Philpott, Merton had 14 points, while James Ferrell added 12 points and Joey Galvis had 11 points. Rollins' bench held a 38-17 edge in bench points for the game.
The Tars finished the game shooting 48 percent from the floor and 40 percent from the 3-point line and forced FSC into 11 turnovers. Rollins committed just eight turnovers for the game.
FSC will now take a week off from action before returning the hardwood on Wednesday, Feb. 17 with a 7:30 p.m. in Tampa against the University of Tampa Spartans. The Mocs collected a 93-75 win over the Spartans in the first meeting this season in Lakeland on Jan. 2.
