LAKELAND, Fla. – In front of over 1,100 fans and on a night when Florida Southern College celebrated its 1981 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship team, the Moccasins, and the visiting Rollins College Tars put on a show which ended in favor of the home team, the Moccasins, 124-113, at Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House.
"I thought we played really well for most of the game," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly said. "But exceptionally well in overtime. Things obviously got crazy for us down the stretch in regulation, but hats off to Rollins for making an incredible comeback. We always tell our guys that we have to find all different types of ways to win, and that's exactly what happened tonight. We found a way to get a big win."
The two teams played yet another overtime game this season, the first coming in Winter Park on January 14, when FSC defeated RC 111-106. The season sweep for Florida Southern pushes the Mocs overall record to 16-7 and 10-6 in league play while the Tars fall to 11-12, 7-8 in the SSC.
Six players scored in double-figures for Florida Southern led by redshirt sophomore
Luke Anderson's career-high 28 points. Anderson, a Lakeland, Fla. native, capped his double-double with 12 rebounds, also a career-high, while adding three assists and two blocks. Anderson made 10 field goals on the night with four threes and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
Redshirt sophomore
Dominick Denny notched career-highs in both points, 20, and assists, 16, on the night finishing one point shy of redshirt sophomore
Jadin Booth's 21 points.
Redshirt senior
E.J. Dambreville tallied his 10
th double-double of the season with 16 rebounds and 15 points. Redshirt sophomore
Trey Jones too had a career night, setting career marks in points (18), rebounds (8), assists (3), steals (3), blocks (3), field goals made (8), field goals attempted (11), free throws made (2), and free throws attempted (2).
Junior
Connor Raines came off the bench and provided 11 points for the Moccasins while freshman
Alex Steen tallied nine, ahead of redshirt sophomore
Wes Bongiorni's two points to round out the scorers.
Hutton Yenor's 35 points led Rollins as Matheus Silveira added 20, Kyle Marion 19, John Latimer III 14, and Cody Potter 10.
Florida Southern started off on a quick 5-0 run before Rollins tied things at five. The Moccasins would control the tempo and half going to the break leading by nine, 50-41.
The Mocs would quickly make it a double-digit lead and carry that gap all the way to the 6:16 mark, when Hutton Yenor made a three and cut it to eight points, 82-74. An
E.J. Dambreville dunk would push the Mocs to a 16-point advantage, 95-79, but the Tars battled and traded threes for free throws or empty FSC possessions, cutting the deficit to just six points, 103-97, with 45-seconds to play.
Rollins closed regulation with a 6-0 run, capped by a three-pointer with seven seconds to go, bringing the game to its regulation final of 103-103.
Overtime was all the Mocs. Florida Southern quickly made it a five-point spread thanks to a quick jumper from
Trey Jones and a three-pointer from
Jadin Booth, 108-103.
Dominick Denny's wide-open layup down the middle of the key pushed the score to double-digits, 114-103, where Florida Southern coasted to the final, 124-113, making six free throws and two dunks down the stretch.
The 124 points for Florida Southern are the most since the team scored 124 against Palm Beach Atlantic in 2016, and are the most points in an overtime game, beating the 117 points in a two-overtime matchup with the former-LIU-Brooklyn,
now just LIU, in 1992.
The Moccasins return to action on Saturday, Feb. 11 in Tampa with a 4:00 p.m. start inside the Bob Martinez Athletics Center.
