Mocs Survive the Sailfish in the SSC Opener Saturday

LAKELAND, Fla. – Florida Southern men's basketball remains unbeaten after surviving the visiting Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish, 73-72, inside the George W. Jenkins Field House in the Moccasins' Sunshine State Conference opener.

"Always happy to get a win, especially in conference play, but PBA really made us work tonight," Head Coach Mike Donnelly said.  "We were out of sorts in the first half, but I'm proud of our effort in the second half which resulted in better execution at both ends of the floor. Give PBA a lot of credit, they really battled tonight and pushed us right to the very end."
 
The Mocs (4-0, 1-0 SSC) survived the late push from the Sailfish (1-1, 0-1 SSC) with four minutes to play. Florida Southern held a 69-62 advantage after a free throw from junior Connor Raines but PBA fought back to make it a one-possession game with 1:42 to play, 71-70.
 
Redshirt sophomore Tray Alexander would hit a turnaround floater in the paint to give the Mocs a three-point lead, 73-70, with 1:14 on the clock before Marcus Montalvo returned the favor with a jumper in the paint, 73-72. In the final 30-seconds, Florida Southern took a step back three that fell short, and presumably would've been the dagger, but PBA rushed down and missed a jumper at 15.0 on the clock. Redshirt senior E.J. Dambreville hauled in the board and was immediately fouled but missed the front end of the one-and-one giving the 'Fish hope. Palm Beach Atlantic took two chances at the win, but the buzzer sounded as the second layup hit the front of the rim and fell to the ground, for a Mocs win, 73-72.
 
The two teams played a tight first half, but Palm Beach Atlantic held a 40-33 lead at the break. Florida Southern found itself down seven, 49-42, with 15 minutes to play but putting the pressure on allowed the Mocs to slip into the lead, 50-49 (11:25). After a jumper from redshirt sophomore Jadin Booth cut it to three, Raines would make a free throw to make it just a two-point deficit. After a pair of missed shots, Alexander rushed down the court and swiped the ball, where the Mocs transitioned into a Booth three-pointer and the lead, 50-49. Southern used a 13-4 run to gain a four-point lead with under eight to play and saw itself up six at the four-minute mark.
 
Booth paced the team with his fourth 20-point game of the season. The Omaha, Neb. native also contributed four assists, one block, one assist and grabbed nine rebounds, a new career high. Dambreville played nearly all 40 minutes and tallied 19 points with 14 rebounds, three assists and one steal. Alexander chipped in 12 points while redshirt sophomore Wes Bongiorni and redshirt sophomore Luke Anderson each tallied eight points. Raines closed out the scoring on the night with six points.
 
Palm Beach Atlantic was led by Marcus Montalvo with 20 points, edging Will Lee who had 17 and Jalen Cooper who notched 15 points.
 
As a team, the Mocs held a slight advantage in the rebounding category, 42-39, and finished the night with a .426-percent shooting clip.
 
Up Next
Florida Southern will take five days to prepare for the Terrace Hotel Thanksgiving Classic, hosted in Lakeland, Fla. by the Mocs inside the George W. Jenkins Field House, Nov. 25-26. Four teams will play in four games where the Mocs welcome SSC foe, Saint Leo, as well as Anderson University and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside to campus. Florida Southern tips on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Anderson. Saint Leo and Wisconsin-Parkside will play first at 5:30 p.m.
 
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