Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, FL - Florida Southern College men's basketball saw its season come to an end in an 88-72 loss at Eckerd in the quarterfinals of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament on Wednesday at the McArthur Center.
The Moccasins (11-18) entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed after falling to the Tritons (21-7) in the regular-season finale last Saturday. Eckerd earned the No. 2 seed and used an 11-0 run midway through the first half to erase an early deficit and advance to Saturday's semifinal against No. 3 seed Rollins.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Florida Southern got off to a slow start, falling behind 5-0 before reeling off a 9-1 run to take a three-point lead (9-6) with 12:03 to go in the opening half. The teams would trade jabs over the next several minutes as the lead changed hand twice before Eckerd found separation.
• Trailing by three (17-14) with 7:53 to go, the Tritons went on a game-changing 11-0 run to jump in front by eight points (25-17) and would never trail again.
• Eckerd led by as many as 12 points (36-24) late in the first half, but Jack Rauch drilled a three-pointer on Florida Southern's final possession of the half to make it 36-27 at the break.
• The Tritons never led by less than seven points in the second half, and stayed in front by double digits for the final 12 minutes of the game en-route to their second win over the Mocs in five days.
• A poot-shooting first half doomed Florida Southern as the Moccasins shot just 32.4 percent (11-of-34) over the first 20 minutes of action. Eckerd shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the first half and finished the game with a 44-36 edge in rebounds.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Florida Southern fell to 69-37 all-time against the Tritons, including 26-21 when facing Eckerd at the McArthur Center. The Moccasins fell to 68-16 all-time in the SSC Tournament, including 19-8 in the quarterfinal round.
• Jeremiah Davis led Florida Southern with 23 points in his final collegiate game. He finished 9-of-18 from the floor and grabbed five rebounds. Rauch (16) and Brett Hanson (14) also scored in double figures and Tyler Ross fell just shy of a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
• Four different Tritons scored in double figures, while Drushaun McLaurn and Obi Kyei each recorded double-doubles. Kyei had 20 points and 10 rebounds while McLaurn went for 15 and 12.
• Jarel Spellman recorded two blocks on the night to finish with 106 for the season, falling just nine blocks shy of setting the single-season school record for blocks.
