Box Score MIAMI SHORES, FL - Florida Southern College men's basketball mounted a furious rally late in the second half, but was unable to overcome a double-digit deficit in a 98-88 loss at Barry on Wednesday night.
The Moccasins (11-16, 8-9 SSC) dropped their third-straight game while the Buccaneers (20-5, 13-5) clinched their second-straight Sunshine State Conference regular-season title.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Florida Southern found itself in an early double-digit hole (18-8) just five minutes into the first half, and saw the deficit swell to 14 points (24-10) before reeling off an 11-0 run to pull within three points when Tyler Ross connected on a free throw with 10:48 to go in the opening period.
• Barry answered with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to stop the run and push its lead back to six points (27-21), but the Moccasins outscored the Bucs 12-7 over the next two minutes to pull within a single point (34-33) with 8:15 on the clock.
• The Buccaneers were able to maintain the lead throughout the rest of the half, and Arie Williams nailed a three-pointer with 42 seconds left to send Barry to the locker room with a 55-48 halftime lead.
• In the second half, the Bucs never led by less than five points and saw their lead swell to as many as 17 points (85-68) with 7:36 to play. Florida Southern did its best to claw back, cutting the lead to eight points (88-80) with just over four minutes to go, but was unable to complete the comeback.
• Florida Southern shot 47.1 percent (32-of-68) from the floor, including 10-of-26 from beyond the arc, and went 14-of-22 at the charity stripe. Barry connected on 51.4 percent (37-of-72) of its shots, including 14-of-31 from long range. The Bucs finished 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.
• Barry finished with a 40-37 edge in rebounds, and outscored the Moccasins 30-26 in the paint. The Moccasins finished with the edge in points off turnovers (18-13) and second-chance points (12-7).
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Florida Southern fell to 48-21 all-time against Barry, including 18-11 on the road. The loss also marked the fourth-strai ght time that the Bucs have topped the Moccasins, marking Barry's longest winning streak in the all-time series.
• Michael Volovic led the Mocs with 29 points on 10-of-17 from the floor. He made 7-of-12 three-pointers, and eclipsed 20 points for the ninth time this season. Volovic has made seven three-pointers in three different games this year.
• Jeremiah Davis added 19 points to go with seven points and four assists. Tyler Ross scored 17 points and hauled in eight rebounds, while Brett Hanson poured in 16 points off the bench and grabbed seven boards.
• Jarel Spellman finished the night with five blocks to push his season total to 100. He is just the second player in school history to record 100 blocks in a single season, and needs 15 more to set the school record for single-season blocks. Spellman already holds the Florida Southern record for career blocks (190).
• Volovic has scored 977 points in three years for the Moccasins, and scored 11 as a freshman at Butler to give him 988 for his career. He needs just 12 more to score 1,000 career points.
UP NEXT
• Florida Southern wraps up the regular season on Saturday against Eckerd. The game is slated for a 4 p.m. start at the McArthur Center.
• The Moccasins have clinched a spot in the SSC Tournament, and will be on the road in the first round on March 1. The Mocs will have to wait until Saturday's conference games are completed to find out who their first-round opponent will be.
