SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's basketball team held on for a 91-84 road win over the Saint Leo University Lions Wednesday night inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center for a Sunshine State Conference win. In the win, graduate student
Jack Casale scored his 2,000
th collegiate career point.
"We always have a tough battle with Saint Leo, and tonight was another dogfight," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly commented after the game. "Saint Leo made things difficult for us at both ends of the floor, but we found a way which is what I am most proud of. Our three-point shooting was fantastic and we held on at the end of the game with a big three-pointer from
Xavier Rhodes and a huge defensive charge by
Jack Casale."
Florida Southern (13-13, 10-8 SSC) saw three players score in double-figures led by
Xavier Rhodes with 24 points. Rhodes shot 8-of-13 from the field including a 3-for-4 mark from beyond the arc, which featured a key three late in the game. As a team, the Moccasins shot 55.2-percent from beyond the arc (16-29) where FSC had a monstrous first half going 11-for-16 from downtown. Defensively, the Mocs held Saint Leo's leading scorer to just eight points and a team to 49.1-percent shooting from the floor.
Joining Rhodes in double-digits were
Luke Anderson with 23 and
Jack Casale with 20. The Portland, Maine native registered his 2,000
th point late in the first half on a three-pointer at the 2:15 mark to push him over the plateau. Casale played four years at Saint Joseph's College of Maine before joining the Mocs this season.
Donnelly commented on
Jack Casale reaching the 2,000-career point mark, "I am so happy for Jack scoring his 2,000
th point tonight. I love coaching Jack and wish we had him for all four years. He has had a tremendous collegiate career."
Saint Leo (10-14, 5-12 SSC) saw Jared Coomer lead the Lions in scoring with 22 points while Francis Sio registered 19 and Cantia Rahming 17.
After Saint Leo started the game with a quick layup and a two-point lead, Florida Southern gained the lead and carried that up to the 9:20 mark, when the Lions held a 22-21 advantage. Saint Leo pushed it to four, 25-21, before a surge from the Mocs gave the Red and White a 12-point lead, 43-31, heading down the final two minutes of action. The Lions closed to within nine, but
Luke Anderson laid it in for a 14-point lead at the break, 48-34.
Florida Southern would push the difference to 16 points early in the second half and held the gap to double-digits for 19 of the 20 minutes in the second half. The Lions closed to within three, 84-81, before
Xavier Rhodes hit a three-pointer late in the shot clock to push it back to six, 87-81. Saint Leo's Francis Sio hit a corner three to cut it back to just three points, but a pair of free throws from Rhodes handed the Mocs a five-point lead with 20 seconds to go. The Lions' Grant Disken drove the lane and made contact, but the whistle blew for an offensive charge as
Jack Casale helped stopped the drive to give the Mocs the ball back with 15 seconds remaining, 89-84.
DeAndre Campbell closed out the scoring nearly at the buzzer with a fastbreak layup to bring the game to its final, 91-84.
Up Next
Florida Southern returns home for a pair of home games to close out the regular season with the Eckerd College coming to George W. Jenkins Field House for a 7:30 p.m. tip on Feb. 19 before the Mocs host Embry-Riddle on Feb. 23 for senior night.
