MELBOURNE, Fla. - No. 18 Florida Southern College men's basketball rallied past the Florida Institute of Technology Panthers 74-67 inside the Charles & Ruth Clemente Center. The Moccasins improved to 8-1 and 3-1 in Sunshine State Conference, while the Panthers fall to 8-2 and suffer their first league loss of the year, falling to 3-1.Â
Trailing 58-56 with 9:15 to play, Florida Southern's
Trey Jones had back-to-back blocks to give the Moccasins momentum to rally back in the contest. A steal at the 8:20 mark by
Jadin Booth led to a fast break layup to tie the game at 58. Florida Tech would jump back to a four-point lead, a lead the Panthers couldn't sustain.
Wes Bongiorni would find himself driving the paint and see help-side defense come his way where he found a cutting
Trey Jones, who slammed it home and pushed Southern ahead by one, 66-65.Â
The Mocs would hold the lead for the remainder of the game, despite the Panthers getting within one, 68-67 on a quick layup. Florida Southern would go on to score six more points, two buckets from
Jadin Booth and a pair of late free throws by
Wes Bongiorni. Â
Florida Southern saw four players do the heavy lifting in double-figures, but key defensive stops by the entire squad allowed for the come from behind win. Redshirt senior
E.J. Dambreville paced the the team with 21 points, all in the first half, while redshirt sophomores
Jadin Booth and
Luke Anderson added 15 points. Redshirt sophomore
Wes Bongiorni chipped in 11 points while junior
Connor Raines and redshirt sophomore
Trey Jones tallied six points. Jones led the team with a pair of blocks late in the game.
Florida Tech was led by Sesan Russell with 24 points while Mekhii Noble and Sean Houpt added 15 points.Â
Up Next
Florida Southern will return to action next weekend when the Mocs host the Christmas Classic inside the George W. Jenkins Field House on Dec. 17-18. Southern welcomes in Barry, Fort Lauderdale, and Post University for a two-day four-game tournament. The Mocs will face Post on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
