LAKELAND, Fla. — The Florida Southern College men's basketball team kept its hopes for No. 26 alive thanks to
Xavier Rhodes' clutch shots.
Rhodes made two huge layups, one with 1.5 seconds remaining, to give the no. 4 seed Florida Southern an 80-78 victory over the no. 5 seed Tampa in the first round of the Sunshine State Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday night at Streamline Sale Arena at George W. Jenkins Field House.
The road to the Moccasins' 26th SSC Tournament title must go through No. 1 seed and the No. 1 team in the nation Nova Southeastern, in a contest that will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Fort Lauderdale.
"That was unbelievable, what a game," Mocs head coach
Mike Donnelly said. "We got big basket after big basket and we got enough stops. Tampa played really well. We just hung in there and kept mixing and matching offense and defense. I'm really proud of our guys."
First, the Mocs (16-13) had to beat Tampa for the third time this year, and the Spartans fought every step of the way.
Tampa led 75-67 with 2:24 left before Florida Southern charged back. Rhodes started an 8-0 run with a basket in the lane. The redshirt junior drew a foul and made his shot to cut the lead to 75-70.
E.J. Dambreville then hit a jumper and
DeAndre Campbell rattled in a 3-pointer from the corner with :59 seconds left to tie the game at 75-75.
Tampa regained the lead at 77-75 with 37 seconds to go, but then came the first of Rhodes' clutch shots.
Rhodes again made a hard lay-up and drew a foul to have a chance to give the Mocs the lead with :27 seconds left. Rhodes again made the free throw to give Florida Southern a 78-77 advantage.
Tampa went to the line with a chance to take lead with:09 seconds left but could only hit one of two free throws to tie the game.
Rhodes ended it with a near-full court drive to the hoop that hit high off the glass and found the bottom of the net with 1.3 seconds left. Tampa's last-second 3-point heave was futile as the Mocs celebrated with a raucous home crowd of 348 fans.
"It was just confidence," said Rhodes, who finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. "I give it all to my teammates. We fought all the way to the end and we got a big win."
Florida Southern had four other players in double figures as
Jack Casale notched a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds, Dambreville finished with 14, Campbell had 11 and
Wes Bongiorni put in 10 with a couple of highlight-reel dunks.
