WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Florida Southern College men's basketball team split the home-and-home season-opening series with Palm Beach Atlantic on Monday night, with a 98-83 loss at the Rubin Arena. Southern had defeated PBA in Lakeland, 92-77, on Saturday afternoon.
Senior forward Jalyn Hinton, who had been named the Sunshine State Conference Defensive Player of the Week earlier in the day, led all scorers with 25 points, while graduate student Brandon Carroll added 21 and junior Xavier Rhodes 14. The Mocs and PBA now sport identical 1-1 records.
HOW IT HAPPENED
1st Half
- The game started the same way Saturday's had, with PBA jumping out to an early lead.
- PBA would lead by as many as 11, 17-6, six minutes into the game.
- With the Sailfish lead up to 12, Rhodes made a layup, followed by a pair of free throws from Carroll, and the Mocs started to find offensive rhythm.
- The Mocs would go on a 12-0 run, part of a larger 18-2 run, over a 4:49 stretch, to seize control. Junior DeAndre Campbell started that run with a layup, followed by four consecutive points from Rhodes, and six straight from Hinton.
- The Mocs led, 25-22, with about seven and a half minutes to play.
- Leading 34-33 with 1:15 play, the Mocs ended the half on a 9-0 run, on back-to-back threes from Carroll and a traditional three-point play from Campbell.
- Over the first 20 minutes, Hinton had 16 points, followed by Carroll with 13. Hinton also led the squad with seven rebounds and three assists.
2nd Half
- Southern would push the lead to as many as 12 points quickly, with senior Jacob Schner nailing a three-pointer at 16:53.
- Moments later, a Sailfish 16-2 run would put the hosts back up by two.
- Shortly thereafter, with the score tied at 66 apiece, PBA would go on an 11-0 run to grab the lead, before another triple from Schner stemmed the run.
- The Mocs would manage to trim the deficit back to single digits two more times, on a Hinton layup with 4:04 remaining, then again on a Rhodes three with 3:32 to play.
- Redshirt freshman Farris Kabalaoui scored the final three points of the game for Southern.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Florida Southern had its 18-game win streak snapped with the loss.
- After a school-record 16 blocked shots on Saturday, the Mocs blocked only five shots tonight, as Carroll led the team with two.
- Southern shot just 39.0% from the floor tonight, including 29.2% from three.
- 46 points came inside the paint, with 22 points coming on the fast break.
UP NEXT
Florida Southern will continue the road swing, playing at Saint Leo on Wednesday, February 24. Stay tuned to FSCMocs.com for schedule updates.
