WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Florida Southern College men's basketball team fell to Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday night by a final score of 94-91, as the teams split the season series.
The Sailfish (9-9, 5-7 SSC) used a strong second half to overcome the tenacious Moccasins (13-6, 7-5 SSC), which saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
"We knew this was going to be a very difficult game," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly commented. "PBA is a very talented team, and they play well at home. Credit to PBA, they made more plays than we did at both ends of the floor. We had some bad breakdowns in the second half, which we couldn't overcome, and it cost us. But we need to move on quickly and get ready to play Saturday. I know our guys will be ready."
The Sailfish moved to 9-2 at home on the season and are winners of five straight in West Palm Beach.
It was an extremely close contest in the first half, as there were nine lead changes and neither team led by more than five points at any juncture in the first 20 minutes.
E.J. Dambreville scored the first points of the game for the Moccasins, draining a 3-pointer in the opening minute to give his team an early lead. He would go on to score 17 points in the loss, tacking on 11 rebounds to give him his fourth consecutive double-double.
Dominick Denny, who started for the fourth straight game, had a solid start to the contest, scoring seven points in the first seven minutes. He would go on to top season highs in minutes (33:45), points (17), and steals (3) in the defeat.
The Mocs were able to spring to a five-point lead at the midway point of the first half, but the Sailfish responded with timely three-pointers to ensure the margin stayed minimal.
Florida Southern would wind up taking a 41-38 lead into the break behind 11 points from
Jadin Booth.
The teams exchanged scoring possessions in the early-goings of the second half until the Sailfish opened up a seven-point scoring run to take a 47-45 lead with 16 minutes to play.
The home team didn't look back after taking the lead early in the half, as they would not trail for the remainder of the game. Palm Beach Atlantic would go on to shoot 55% from the field in the second half and knocked down 21 free throws to stay in control of the game.
The Moccasins didn't go away quietly, as despite trailing by double-digits with eight minutes to play, the team battled back to make it a one-possession game with just over six minutes to go.
Luke Anderson had a big second half, scoring 14 points to keep the Mocs alive.
The Sailfish built another ten-point lead with just over two minutes to go, the score 80-70, but again the Mocs showed resilience and nearly pulled off an improbable comeback. Anderson and Denny each drained a pair of three-pointers in the final minute to keep the comeback bid alive, but Palm Beach Atlantic hit enough free throws down the stretch before the clock ultimately hit double-zeroes.
Anderson's final three-pointer dropped with half a second to play, making the score 93-91, but the Moccasins were called for a foul on the ensuing inbound, and a Sailfish free throw on the other end unceremoniously ended the contest.
The Mocs will turn their attention to Saturday night when they host the undefeated Nova Southeastern Sharks at 7 p.m. inside the George Jenkins Field House.
