LAKELAND, Fla. – Florida Southern College men's basketball completed the season sweep of rivals the University of Tampa Wednesday night, 83-80 inside the Streamline Sale Arena at George W. Jenkins Field House.
The Moccasins move to .500 on the year at 12-12 overall and improve to 9-7 in Sunshine State Conference play after the season sweep of the Spartans. Tampa falls to 13-7 and 9-6 in league action.
"It was a grind out game for us and it's great to win those types of games," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly said. "I am proud of our guys because we are still getting used to winning with this groove. We told them at halftime we have to win games all types of different ways, and this is a grind out game; we stuck with it. It wasn't pretty at times but we maintained the lead in the second half, and found a way to get another win against a really good team."
Jadin Booth led the Mocs with 18 points off the bench on 4-of-7 shooting from the field including a 3-for-5 night from beyond the arc and a 7-for-9 tally at the free throw line. Booth added six rebounds, one assist and one steal to his count.
Donnelly expressed, ""Jadin is coming into his own, which is great. He is an unbelievable kid, and it's great when kids like that have success, so we're really happy for Jadin. He gave us a huge lift tonight; the 18 points stand out but he improved defensively. He had six rebounds tonight so he's a lot more active. Jadin played with a lot of toughness tonight and you love to see from a young guy; that's why we started him in the second half. We don't win that game without Jadin."
Four other players joined Booth in double-figures as
Xavier Rhodes tallied 15 points,
E.J. Dambreville right behind Rhodes with 14 points,
DeAndre Campbell with 12 and
Jack Casale with 10. Three players for the Mocs tied for the team lead in rebounds with seven in Dambreville, Casale, and
Luke Anderson.
Tampa was led by Bryan Williams with 20 points just ahead of De'Andre Harvey with 19. Derrick Felder completed a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds on the night.
The first half opened up with the two teams trading missed shots followed by converting the next attempt. Florida Southern's
Xavier Rhodes got things started with a pull up jumper while De'andre Harvey for Tampa made a three to give the Spartans a quick lead. Trailing by one, 16-15, with 8:34 to play, the Moccasins would score six points in 40 seconds to move ahead by five, 21-16. After
Luke Anderson converted an old fashioned and-one,
Jadin Booth swiped the inbounds pass and drained a corner three to give the Mocs the gap. Tampa battled back and tied things up at 26 with 3:26 to go before the Mocs'
E.J. Dambreville made a tip-in seconds before the buzzer sounded to give FSC a 35-32 halftime lead.
Tampa quickly cut the Florida Southern lead to just one before the Mocs extended it to eight, 44-36. Florida Southern would never trail after gaining the lead in the first half. Tampa battled to tie the game up four times leading to the 8:12 mark. The Mocs two layups and four free throws to make it an eight point gap, 67-59 with 5:52 to play. Both teams would make runs over the final eight minutes but Florida Southern was able to maintain the advantage and go on for the 83-80 in to complete the season sweep.
Up Next
Florida Southern will have a tough road match Saturday afternoon as the Moccasins travel to Nova Southeastern, currently sitting as the no. 1 team in the country at 21-0 overall. After the trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida Southern will travel to Saint Leo on Feb. 16.
