LAKELAND, Fla. – Postseason basketball is headed for Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House Tuesday when the Florida Southern College men's basketball team hosts the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Eagles for the Sunshine State Conference Quarterfinals at 7:00 p.m.
The Moccasins earned the third seed in the SSC tournament after finishing tied for second in the regular season with a 13-7 mark in league play. Florida Southern finished with a 19-8 overall record with three wins on the year over programs that were ranked or receiving votes in the top-25 of the NABC Division II Coaches Poll.
2023 SSC TOURNAMENT
Nova Southeastern University earns the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament after winning a third SSC regular season title following a second consecutive 20-0 record in league play. NSU remains the only MBB team to finish undefeated in SSC play (20-0) since the league expanded beyond six teams in 1981-82. The Sharks also remain the only team in SSC history to finish the regular season undefeated (26-0).
Saint Leo University (No. 2), Florida Southern College (No. 3), and Florida Tech (No. 4) will also host a quarterfinal game in the 2023 championship. Palm Beach Atlantic University (No. 5), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (No. 6), Rollins College (No. 7), and Barry University (No. 8) round out this year's tournament field. Head-to-head results were used to break the tie in the standings between SLU and FSC and the three-way tie between PBA, ERAU, and Rollins.
Following the quarterfinals Tuesday, the SSC tournament semifinals will be hosted at the higher seed before the 2023 SSC Championship game on Sunday, March 5 at the highest remaining seed. The SSC Champion will receive the automatic qualifier to the 2023 NCAA DII Championship.
2023 SSC CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
Top-seeded Nova Southeastern will host the eighth-seed Barry on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the only quarterfinal game to start after 7 p.m., due to the women's quarterfinal being held in Fort Lauderdale.
No. 2 seed Saint Leo will host No. 7 Rollins and the winner will face the winner of No. 3 Florida Southern and No. 6 Embry-Riddle. No. 4 Florida Tech will host No. 5 Palm Beach Atlantic, who will face the winner of Nova Southeastern and Barry.
H2H MATCHUP – FSC & ERAU
Florida Southern and Embry-Riddle split the regular season matchups this season, but the Moccasins are 12-7 all-time in the young series. The squads have split the last four meetings, 2-2, with both programs winning on their respective home courts. When in Lakeland, FSC holds a 7-2 advantage with the lone two losses coming back in 2001 (89-76 ERAU as an NAIA program) and 2016 (102-92 ERAU).
Florida Southern is 19-8 overall and posted a 13-7 mark in league play while Embry-Riddle was 17-10 overall and 10-10 in conference play.
The 2022-23 matchups have been decided by 34 points combined. In a comparison of halves, Florida Southern has the upper hand outscoring Embry-Riddle 99-87 in the first half of the two matchups while both teams are even with 94 second-half points, FSC edging ERAU 193-181 in the pair of games.
Florida Southern's
Jadin Booth averaged 31.5 points, 63 total, while
E.J. Dambreville averaged a double-double with 13.5 points and 10.0 rebounds.
Embry-Riddle's Chris Murray paced the team by averaging 24.5 points per game in the two games while Jon Alessandro, who only played in the contest in Daytona Beach, scored 24 points for the Eagles. Murray and Wesley Simpson matched in a team-best rebounds per game of 8.5, both hauling in 17 for the yearly series.
| 2023 Stat Comparisons |
| CATEGORY |
FLORIDA SOUTHERN |
EMBRY-RIDDLE |
| Field Goal % |
52.1 |
46.2 |
| 3 Field Goal % |
36.5 |
29.2 |
| Free Throw % |
81.5 |
82.5 |
| Points Per Game (Margin) |
92.6 (+7.8) |
81.0 (+6.0) |
| Rebounds Per Game |
38.5 |
39.5 |
| Assists Per Game |
20.0 |
14.0 |
| Turnovers Per Game |
9.5 |
11.0 |
| Steals Per Game |
7.5 |
5.0 |
| Blocks Per Game |
6.0 |
3.5 |
FSC'S POSTSEASON APPEARANCES
Under Head Coach
Mike Donnelly, this is the program's seventh SSC tournament appearance, winning in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and finishing as runners-up in the 2020-21 abbreviated season. It's Florida Southern's 37
th SSC tournament appearance where the Moccasins have a league-best 25 SSC tournament titles, 20 more than Eckerd, Rollins, and Tampa (5).
The Moccasins as a program have dominated the SSC and lead the league in appearances in both the quarterfinals and semifinals of the national tournament. Florida Southern owns two NCAA DII Titles, 1981 and 2015, and finished as runner-up in 1982, leading the SSC with three finals appearances.
Florida Southern has seven semifinals appearances and has reached the NCAA quarterfinals 10 times, both leading the conference programs; Lynn has two semifinals appearances, while Barry, Lynn, Rollins, and Nova Southeastern all have two quarterfinals appearances.
Florida Southern is 75-18 overall in the SSC tournament and has advanced out of the quarterfinals in 32 of the program's 37 tournament appearances.
2022-23 SEASON OVERVIEW
Florida Southern has posted a 19-8 record overall and 13-7 in the Sunshine State Conference. The Mocs opened the season by hosting the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic where the team went 2-0 with wins over Flagler, who received votes in the preseason poll, and then-no. 5 West Texas A&M.
FSC went on to win its first seven games, earning a rank of 14
th in the NABC DII Coaches Poll on Nov. 29, 2022. The Mocs posted records of 7-0 in the month of November, 3-2 in December, 3-5 in January, while going 6-1 in February heading to the final day of the month against Embry-Riddle.
In overtime contests this season, the Mocs are 2-0 with a 111-106 road win at Rollins before a 124-113 win against Rollins at home. When playing at home, the Mocs are 13-3, falling to Post, 87-83 (12/17/22), Saint Leo, 71-64 (1/11/23), and 114-107 to then-no. 2 Nova Southeastern (1/28/23), the closest any program has come to defeat the Sharks.
Embry-Riddle fell to Nova Southeastern on Feb. 25 98-90.
Jadin Booth is the team leader in scoring, 571 points, with an average of 22.0 per game on a 46.5% clip and a 41.6% mark from beyond the arc. He is an 86.8% shooter from the free throw line.
E.J. Dambreville is second on the team in scoring, with 486 total points, with an average of 18.0 per game through 27 games played with a 44.7% field goal percentage. Dambreville averages a double-double with 10.0 rebounds per game, hauling in a team-best 269 this season.
Lakeland native,
Luke Anderson is the last Moc to average double-figures at 14.5 per game, 376 points this season, where the redshirt sophomore shoots 49.1% from the field and 44.1% from beyond the arc while adding an 86.4% clip from the free throw line. Anderson is the second leading rebounder, behind Dambreville and ahead of Booth's 113 on the season, with 146 total rebounds. Anderson's 6-7 frame has him as the leading blocker this season with 28 through 26 games.
PLAYING THROUGH JADIN BOOTH
Redshirt sophomore
Jadin Booth has paced the Moccasins all year, leading the team in scoring with 571 points this season, 374 more than last year which playing time and minutes for the Omaha, Neb. native have increased significantly.
Booth, who averages 35.1 minutes per game, leads the conference and Mocs in scoring with 22.0 points per game. Booth has 92 made three-pointers this year, which ranks eighth all-time for a single season mark.
After one season at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where he registered just two games of double-digits, he has 24 games in 53 games for Florida Southern in double-digits with 16 20-plus point performances and four 30-point games, all coming this year. His career high of 39 points came against Rollins on Jan. 14, 2023, after a week of sitting out.
In the last five games, where the Mocs have went 4-1 including 3-0 at home, Booth has scored 143 points (28.6 ppg) on 51.2-percent shooting from the field (44-86) while going 40-percent from beyond the arc (18-45). The guard adds an 88.1-percent clip from the free throw line (37-42) and has 23 assists, 18 rebounds, 10 steals, one block, and just two turnovers in that span.
DAMBREVILLE'S CHASE
Redshirt senior
E.J. Dambreville recently eclipsed the 1,500-point mark in the final regular season game of 2022-23 where he heads to postseason with 1,512 career points, all at Florida Southern. Dambreville is chasing history, with 943 rebounds, he is inching closer to the top-3 in program history for career rebounds (946, Kris Kearney, 1986-89), where the Dorchester, Mass. native is eyeing to become just the program's third player to score 1,500 points and grab 1,000 rebounds, sitting 57 off the mark (John Ebeling - 2,514 points / 1,362 rebounds and John Edwards – 1,614 points / 1,214 rebounds).
Currently, Dambreville is on pace to finish third overall in program history in rebounding and looks to crack the top-10 in scoring where he is eyeing to be the sixth player to finish in the top-10 in scoring and top-10 in rebounding, the last player to finish inside the top-10 in both categories was Brett Hanson (2017-20) with 2,238 points and 844 rebounds.
This season alone, Dambreville has already surpassed his career-best points in a season (486) and is two rebounds shy of his best rebounding season (271 in 2021-22).
With 13 double-doubles coming in 2022-23, Dambreville stands at 28 career total double-doubles. In the last five games, Dambreville has 85 points scored and 59 rebounds hauled in for 17.0 ppg and 11.8 rpg.
