Florida Southern Men's Basketball Wins SSC Title with 118-109 Win Over NSU

LAKELAND, Fla. – Champions.

The top-seeded Florida Southern College (29-2) men's basketball team claimed its 25^th Sunshine State Conference Championship with a 118-109 victory over #2 seed Nova Southeastern (23-6), in the Championship Finals of the Sunshine State Conference Men's Basketball Championship presented by Jimmy John's.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Brett Hanson scored 26 points tonight, while fellow senior Jack Rauch recorded a career-high 31 points and junior Jalyn Hinton scored 14. Rauch and Hinton were named to the All-Tournament team.

HOW IT HAPPENED

1st Half 

• The Sharks got off to a fast start, scoring the first six points of the game, before senior center Jack Rauch drained a three-pointer from deep on the right-wing.
• Minutes later, the Mocs tied the game on a layup by Rauch, before taking their first lead of the game on an alleyoop from senior forward Brett Hanson to junior Jalyn Hinton.
• The teams traded baskets, until the Mocs built a four-point lead, 18-14, on a free throw by junior guard Brandon Carroll.
• After the 12-minute media timeout, the Mocs pushed the lead to six points, on a Hanson jumper.
• Each team would score, with the Mocs not relinquishing the lead. With 8:28 remaining in the first half, senior guard Jair Rodgers made a layup, making the score 27-22.
• Moments later Hanson hit one of his fadeaway turnaround jumpers, and the Mocs led 31-24, the largest lead of the game to that point.
• With 4:34 to go in the half, Rauch was back at it, sending home a three-pointer to push the lead to nine. After a quick bucket by NSU, Rodgers sent home his own three-pointer, and the lead was up to ten, 41-31, heading into the media timeout.
• The lead went to 11 on a Rauch uncontested layup, after Rodgers pulled the ball out of a scrum and made an easy pass to Rauch.
• Rauch was not about to stop, and hit another three-pointer at 2:59, to make the score 46-34, a 12 point lead for the Mocs.
• Southern kept trading two's for threes, and after a NSU layup, Carroll made a triple to push the lead to 13, 49-36.
• After a pair of NSU free throws, Rauch was at it again, making a layup to push the Mocs over 50 points for the half with 2:04 to go.
• The lead would touch 14 points on a Rodgers free throw, before settling back to 11 at the half, 54-43.
• Through the first 20 minutes, Rach led all scorers with 20 points, while Rodgers had 15. Hanson had nine points and six assists.

2nd Half 

• As fast-paced as the first half was, the second half started rather slowly. Both teams missed shots before the action picked up two minutes in.
• Hanson would make a jumper from the top of the key, before a three-point play for NSU trimmed the lead to just nine points, 60-51, with 16:57 to play in regulation.
• The Mocs would go on an 8-2 run to lead 68-53 with 16:07 remaining.
• Eventually, the Sharks would go on their own run, this time 6-0, to trim the lead back to nine, 76-67, with 12:20 to play in regulation.
• Each team made big shots, with the lead fluctuating anywhere between nine and 12 points.
• At the 7:32 mark, the Sharks trailed by only eight and seemed poised to make a final push.
• Winning by seven points, 93-86, the Mocs instead rallied. Carroll and Hanson made back-to-back buckets, before a NSU three-pointer. Hinton came back with a pair of free throws, and the Mocs now led 99-89 with 4:31 to play.
• Moments later, the Mocs went on a 6-0 run to extend the lead back to 13 points, at 107-94, on a Hanson fast-break layup.
• Nova Southeastern would find traction offensively, but get no closer than six points, at 112-106, on a three-pointer.
• However, the Mocs made their free throws down the stretch for the 118-109 final.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Hanson was named the SSC Tournament MVP, after being named the conference's Player of the Year earlier this week. Tonight, the senior scored 26 points, bringing his career total to 2,238 points, the third-highest in school history. Additionally, he has grabbed 844 rebounds (6^th all-time), dished out 439 assists (6^th all-time), and forced 216 steals (4^th all-time).
• Hinton was also on the All-Tournament team, after being named the SSC Defensive Player of the Year earlier in the week. In the championship game, Hinton had 14 points, making all four shots he took, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots. Hinton continues to lead all of Division II in blocked shots with 3.41 per game.
• Rauch had a career night en route to making the All-Tournament team, with 31 points, 20 of which came in the first half. He now has 1,188 career points. Tonight, he shot 10-of-15, including 5-of-8 from three-point land.
• Rodgers had a great effort, with 21 points, one-off of his career-high. But his 21 points were enough to give him exactly 1,000 points scored in his two seasons in NCAA competition. A year ago, he scored 628 at Concord, and now has 372 with the Mocs.
• This was the eighth time this season Florida Southern has scored at least 100 points. Tonight's 118 is the second-highest scoring output of the season, as the Mocs dropped 119 on AIC back in December.
• FSC shot 57.8% from the floor, while NSU shot 51.4%
• NSU actually out-scored FSC in the second half, 66-64.
• The Runnin' Mocs were at it again today, scoring 46 points on the fast break.
• This will be the 31^st NCAA appearance in school history, and the third in as many seasons.
• This is the 25^th time the Mocs have won the SSC post-season tournament, having defeated Nova Southeastern a year ago in the championship game. It's also the 23^rd regular-season title.
• Southern is now 74-16 all-time in the SSC tournament.

UP NEXT

Having captured the Sunshine State Conference regular and post season championships, the Mocs claimed the SSC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Championships.

The NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Selection Show will air tonight, Sunday, March 8th at 10:30 PM ET on NCAA.com (show will appear live on the front page of NCAA.com at the air time). 

NCAA Regionals will begin on Saturday, March 14, with four games being played, beginning at 12 noon. The Second Round of the Regionals will be on Sunday March 15, with two games, slated for 5:00 and 7:30 p.m. The Regional Championship game will take place on Tuesday, March 17, at 7:00 p.m.

Florida Southern currently is the No. 1 ranked team in the NCAA South Region.