LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's basketball team picked up a 99-86 victory over USC-Aiken in its first home game of the year on Tuesday night in Streamline Sale Arena at the Jenkins Field House.
Five different Florida Southern (2-2) players finished in double figures led by
Tarik Mckelphin's season-high 24 points. Joining Mckelphin in double-digits were
Jack Casale with 21 points
, Xavier Rhodes with 19, and
E.J. Dambreville and
Luke Anderson each had 11.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- Casale 3-pointer opened scoring for Florida Southern giving the Mocs a 3-2 lead.
- Rhodes lay-up at 16:16 pushed FSC run to 13-4.
- Back-to-back 3-pointers by Dambreville and Jadin Booth gave the Mocs a 26-10 lead with 13:00 left.
- Florida Southern began hot, shooting 10-for-12 from the field to lead 26-12 with 11:52 left in the half.
- Moccasins built a 36-21 lead with 7:37 left on 8-for-11 3-point shooting, led by Casale with three.
- Mckelphin's 3-pointer with 3:50 left gave Florida Southern a 43-31 lead.
- Moccasins took a 51-38 lead into halftime.
- Florida Southern ended the half shooting 20-for-32 (62 percent), including 10-for-14 from 3-point range (71.4 percent).
- Mckelphin led all scorers with 14 points for Florida Southern, while Casale joined him in double-figure scoring with 12 points (all 3-pointers).
- The Mocs recorded three blocks, one each from Mckelphin, Dambreville and Anderson.
- Six of the nine Mocs that entered the game scored.
Second Half
- Babatunde Ajike got the Mocs' first basket of the half on a lay-up for a 53-38 lead with 19:45 left.
- A Rhodes steal and a lay-up gave the Mocs a 10-0 run and their largest lead of the game at 63-41 with 17:35 remaining.
- Mckelphin nailed a jumper with 13:19 left at the first media timeout to give the Mocs a 69-54 lead.
- USC-Aiken used a 9-0 run to cut the Florida Southern lead to 72-66 with 9:47 left.
- Mckelphin ended a drought for the Mocs with a slam dunk a missed 3-pointer from Casale to make it 75-66.
- Booth hits a 3-pointer to extend the Mocs' lead back into double-digits at 85-74 with less than 5 minutes left.
- Anderson's lay-up with less than a minute left gave the Mocs a 97-85 lead.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Florida Southern's biggest lead was 22 points with 17:38 left in the second half.
- USC-Aiken outrebounded Florida Southern 41-34.
- Florida Southern enjoyed a 5-1 advantage in blocks.
- Dambreville and Rhodes tied for the team lead in assists with five apiece.
- The Mocs ended up shooting 55.9 percent from the field (38-for-68) and connected on 13 3-pointers.
- Dambreville stuffed the stat sheet with nine rebounds to go with his 11 points and five assists.
- Anderson was second on the Mocs in rebounding with seven.
THEY SAID IT
"We looked like Barry did the other night being a home team. We were dying to play at home. There's nothing like playing at Jenkins Field House. We got off to a great start. We preach a five option offense, sometimes it's difficult, and it was good to see it click tonight. E.J. is the glue, I don't know if we have a lead in the first half if not for him. The one thing about E.J. that's underrated is his IQ and that showed tonight with how many plays he made."
UP NEXT
Florida Southern begins its play in the Terrace Hotel Thanksgiving Classic at 7:30 p.m. on Friday against Grand Valley State.
