LAKELAND, Fla. – No. 14 Florida Southern men's basketball rallied in the second half to get past the visiting Eckerd Tritons Wednesday in a Sunshine State Conference matchup at the Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House. The Moccasins remain unbeaten after the 88-79 home win over the Tritons.
"Really good team effort," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly said. "Our bench gave us a huge lift tonight, and I thought
Tray Alexander did a great job setting the tone for us offensively in the second half. It was a physical game, and I was proud of how our team responded to pull away for another big win."
Florida Southern (7-0, 2-0 SSC) saw team basketball Wednesday where nine different players scored, led by redshirt sophomore
Jadin Booth and
Wes Bongiorni with 16 apiece. Booth, a native of Omaha, Neb., went 5-for-9 from the field including a 4-for-5 mark from beyond the arc. Bongiorni, a native of Baton Rouge, La., scored his 16 points shooting 6-for-9 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Bongiorni led the team with eight boards, four on offense and four defensively.
Junior
Connor Raines and redshirt senior
E.J. Dambreville were next in line in scoring, and in double-figures as well, with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Redshirt sophomore
Tray Alexander rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points, but saw redshirt sophomore
Luke Anderson score nine, freshman
Donovan Smith scored eight, a career-high, while freshman
Alex Steen and redshirt sophomore
Dominick Denny each had two.
Eckerd (3-2, 1-1 SSC) was led by Carr Thiam who scored a game-high 25 points ahead of Daniel Love (17), Jordan Kwiecinski (14), and Joshua Galloway (10).
Both teams would hold an early lead, but the Tritons pushed out to a seven-point advantage, 16-9 before the Mocs closed the gap on a 10-2 run capped by a
Luke Anderson three-pointer, 19-18. Eckerd would answer and the two squads would battle again to the 3:43 mark, tied at 26. Eckerd would extend its lead to eight, 35-27, before the Mocs'
Donovan Smith scored five straight points to end the half, including a three with eight seconds to play. FSC went into the locker room trailing by three, 35-32.
Florida Southern came out pressing and cut into the deficit, getting down to just one-point multiple times, and for the last time at 42-41 with 18:09 to play.
Jadin Booth nailed a three to give Southern a 44-42 lead, which it would never relinquish for the final 16:49 of action. The Mocs would extend out to a 14-point lead, the largest for either team in the game, at the 2:44 mark thanks to a
Tray Alexander jumper. Eckerd would attempt to chip away at the lead but Florida Southern converted on offense and went on for the nine-point victory, 88-79.
Up Next
Florida Southern returns to action Saturday, in Miami Shores as the 14
th-ranked Moccasins battle the Barry University Buccaneers. Tip is slated for 4:00 p.m.
