Mocs Roll Past the Tigers Friday Afternoon

LAKELAND, Fla. – Florida Southern College men's basketball cruised to a 78-63 win over Savannah State Friday afternoon at Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House behind Alex Steen's third career double-double and career mark in rebounds.

"Happy with the win today," Head Coach Mike Donnelly stated. "We were far from perfect, but I was please for the most part with our effort, especially at the defensive end."

Florida Southern (3-0) controlled the game from the start leading for 39:23 of the contest and finished with the 15-point victory to move to 3-0 for the second straight year. Luke Anderson lit up the stat sheet with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field including a 5-of-9 mark from beyond the arc. The redshirt junior and Lakeland native hauled in five rebounds finished with eight assists and have one steal in 37 minutes of action.

Donnelly stated, "It was good to see Luke play with confidence and shoot the ball well from three."
 
Alex Steen posted a career-high 17 rebounds for his third career double-double, second of the young season in 2023-24. Steen finished the night playing 35 minutes with four blocks and two steals to go along with his 14 total points and 17 rebounds. Dominick Denny tied Steen in points with 14 on the night where the redshirt junior guard finished two assists shy of a double-double with eight on the day. 

"Alex Steen was tremendous," Donnelly commented on Steen's performance Friday. "He had a big-time game and keeps getting better. Now, we have a quick turnaround to prepare to play a very good Auburn Montgomery team tomorrow night."
 
Akol Arop challenged Steen's 17 rebounds with 11 boards, his highest total as a Moccasin while he added seven points. All eight players that stepped on the court for the Mocs score at least three points or more paced by Anderson's 21.
 
Savannah State (0-1) saw Qua King and Ayjay Plain lead the way offensively with 19 and 11 points, respectively. Joran Mikel and AuMauri Tillman both finished with nine points for the Tigers.
 
Florida Southern opened the night with a hook shot from Akol Arop and never looked back. The Moccasins would eventually carry a four-point lead two times before Savannah State's three's poured in to tie things at 9-9 with 17:24 to play.
 
Akol and Luke Anderson would hit back-to-back threes to extend the Mocs to a 15-9 lead forcing a quick Tiger timeout.
 
The Moccasins would push the momentum and race the score up to 24-9 with just under 10 to play before heading into the final media timeout, leading 29-14.
 
Florida Southern would get to a 17-point lead but Savannah State cut it to 11 with a minute to play but an Alex Steen dunk and Dominick Denny jumper made it a 40-25 halftime score in favor of the Moccasins.
 
The Tigers would use the quick break to come out and erase the double-digit deficit and get to within nine, 46-37, and to within eight points multiple times including to 10 minutes to play, 59-51.
 
Florida Southern turned back into a fast pace game and used Tiger turnovers to find the team's largest lead of 20 points, 74-54 off a Erickson Bans and-one. The Mocs would cruise to the final 78-63, capped off by a pair of free throws from Bans before Joe Moon IV stole the Tigers final chance at any points with 12-ticks on the clock.
 
Florida Southern returns to action Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. as the Auburn University at Montgomery Warhawks come to Jenkins Field House.
 
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