Box Score MELBOURNE - Florida Southern's struggles in Sunshine State Conference play continued here Saturday as the reigning National Champion Moccasins dropped a hard-fought 82-79 setback at the Clemente Center to Florida Tech.
Saturday's loss was the Mocs fifth in its last six games with the only win being a 91-77 victory at home this past Wednesday against Palm Beach Atlantic. Additionally, the Mocs have now lost five straight games in SSC play since picking up an 84-79 win at Nova Southeastern on Jan. 16.
With the setback, the Mocs fell to 9-14 overall and is now in a four-way tie for fifth place in the league standings with Florida Tech, Lynn and Nova Southeastern. All four of those teams are each 4-8 in league play.
Saturday's defeat came down Florida Southern's lack of success on the backboards as the Panthers finished the game holding a 41-18 edge on the glass, including a 15-2 edge on the offensive glass. The Panthers advantage on the boards helped them negate the 17 3-pointers that the Mocs hit in the game.
"To get outrebounded 41-18 is an embarrassment. We've got to do a better job on the boards," Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly said. "We lost by three points and were outrebounded by 23 boards."
Despite the disadvantage on the glass, the Mocs still had a chance to either win the game or send it to overtime after rallying from a 12-point deficit to tie the game at 79 with 35 seconds remaining.
"I am really proud of the effort today, but I thought we didn't guard well on some possessions down the stretch and that was the difference," said Donnelly.
After tying the game at 79 on a lay-up by junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.), the Panthers came right back on the ensuing possession to retake the lead on a driving lay-up by Jermohn Queen with 35 seconds left.
On the Mocs next possession, Zablotny, who scored a career high 28 points in the game, air-balled a 3-pointer from about 22 feet. Queen would give the Panthers an 82-79 lead after hitting 1-of-2 free throws with nine seconds left.
Trailing by three, the Mocs came down the court needing a 3-pointer to force overtime, but junior Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) misfired on his 3-point attempt with five seconds left to seal FIT's second win this season over the Mocs.
"Mike had a good look, but just missed the shot," said Donnelly when asked about Volovic's trey that would've forced overtime.
The Mocs needed all 28 of those points from Zablotny as the Mocs played Saturday's game without its leading scorer and rebounder, senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.). Travis missed the game after suffering an ankle injury in practice on Friday.
"Dylan hurt his ankle in practice on Friday and experienced some soreness this morning when we woke up. Hopefully, it isn't too serious and he can play on Wednesday (against Rollins)," the Mocs coach said.
Zablotny scored 20 of those 28 points in the first half to keep the Mocs in the game as Florida Tech held a 40-33 lead at the half. In the opening half, Zablotny was 7-for-10 from the field, including going 6-for-8 from long distance.
"Sheldon really got off to a strong start offensively and was able to hit to shots and get us going," added Donnelly.
In addition to Zablotny, senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) had 20 points and moved to 21st on the school's all-time scoring chart as he has scored 1,152 career points. Williams has now scored in double figures in 21 straight games this season.
Volovic was the third Moccasin in double figures as he finished 17 points, including scoring 14 of those points after halftime and freshman forward Jarel Spellman (Richmond, Va.) followed up bhis triple-double on Wednesday against Palm Beach Atlantic by nearly recording a double-double as he scored eight points, blocked four shots and pulled down a team best 10 rebounds against the Panthers.
"I am proud for Mike. He really stepped up and made some plays and hit some shots for us tonight," Donnelly said.
Corbin Jackson led the way for the Panthers as he finished with 25 points and 15 boards in the win. Jackson had 16 points and eight rebounds in the first half.
In addition to Jackson, Jordan Majors had 14 points and Randy Echols chipped in 12 points off the bench, all of which came from behind the 3-point line.
Saturday's game was close early on as neither team led by more than two points until the Panthers used a 5-0 run capped by a lay-up from Sam Daniel to turn a 14-13 deficit into an 18-14 lead with 11:40 left in the opening half.
The Mocs, though, responded with a 13-7 run that began with back-to-back treys from Zablotny and was capped by a Zablotny lay-up to give the Mocs a 27-25 lead.
FSC's lead was shortlived as the Panthers answered with a 13-2 run keyed by three treys from Echols to push its lead to 38-29 with 3:45 left on the half.
The Mocs would score four of the half's final six points to go into halftime trailing 40-33.
After a lay-up in the opening 33 seconds of the second half by Rafael Casanova gave Tech a 42-33 lead, the Mocs answered with 12-0 run that began with Zablotny trey and was capped by a trey from junior guard Trey Moore (Omaha, Neb.) with 17:29 left in the game. Moore's trey gave the Mocs a 45-42 lead.
Following the Mocs run, Tech would respond with 28-13 run to push out to a 70-58 lead with 8:04 remaining in the game. The Panthers run was keyed by a combined 17 points from Majors (10 points) and Patrick Anderson (7 points).
The Mocs finished the game shooting 52 percent from the field and a season high 52 percent (17-for-33) from the 3-point line. FSC shot 55 percent from the field and 53 percent (9-for-17) from downtown in the second half.
Meanwhile, Tech shot 48 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line. The Panthers also committed 15 turnovers and held a 34-18 edge in points in the paint.
The Mocs were also outshot, 21-3 at the free throw line in the game as Tech finished the game 17-for-21 (81 percent) at the line, while the Mocs were 2-for-3 (66.7 percent) from the line, including going to the line just once in the second half.
FSC will look to snap its five-game SSC losing skid this coming Wednesday, Feb. 10 as they host Rollins in a 7:30 p.m. match-up at Jenkins Field House. Rollins, who earned an 89-72 win over the Mocs in Winter Park on Jan. 20, improved to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the SSC following its 78-75 home win Saturday against Nova Southeastern.
