ST. LEO, Fla. – Florida Southern College men's basketball, who received votes in the latest National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) Top-25 Coaches Poll, bounced back and battled Saint Leo to a 100-98 final inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center Wednesday night. The Moccasins improve to 6-1 in Sunshine State Conference standings after earning the road win.
"Tonight, sure wasn't easy," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly commented post-game. "But I am proud of our guys. We made big shots down the stretch, and we needed every basket, because Saint Leo played terrific at the offensive end."
Donnelly went on to add, "Credit to their players and coaches. We haven't been picked apart like that defensively all year. They were very difficult to guard tonight."
After dropping its first Sunshine State Conference game on Saturday at Florida Tech, Florida Southern rallied and snuck out of the Lions' den Wednesday by two, 100-98, after Saint Leo missed a pair of free throws with just 1.9 ticks left on the clock. The 100-point game was Florida Southern's third of the season, and the Mocs improve to 3-0 in games with 100-points-or-more.
In a tightly contested game, that saw the lead change 19 times and the score tied 10 times, Florida Southern (12-4, 6-1 SSC) edged Saint Leo (7-7, 2-4 SSC) in possession 17:07 to 16:59. Committing just seven turnovers in the full contest, the Moccasins would score 16 points off the Lions' 12 turnovers.
Six of the eight student-athletes that registered time for the Mocs would score in double-digits led by
Luke Anderson and
Alex Steen who each tallied a double-double and finished the game with a game-high 24-points. Anderson capped his double-double with 11 rebounds while Steen achieved a game-high 14 boards. Anderson's double-double is his fourth of the year and Steen's his 11
th during his sophomore campaign.
Dominick Denny was third on the team in scoring with 14 points, nine in the second half, just ahead of
Joe Moon IV and
Erickson Bans' 13 points.
Akol Arop finished the game with seven points and eight rebounds, while
Connor Raines was the only other Moccasin to step on the court and finished the game with five points in 17 minutes. Denny led all players in the game with eight assists, where Florida Southern finished with 23 assists on 35 made buckets.
Saint Leo saw five players tally double-digits led by Greyson Pritzl who notched 24 points off the bench ahead of Grant Disken's 21 points.
Collectively in the game, 23 three-pointers were made, 13 by Saint Leo and 10 by Florida Southern. Pritzl would make five to lead all players ahead of SLU's Logan Ryan and FSC's
Luke Anderson with four each.
The Mocs finished the game 20-for-25 from the free throw line, led by
Alex Steen's 6-for-8 performance and
Erickson Bans' perfect 5-for-5.
Saint Leo started the game off in front, leading through nearly the first five minutes of play before Erickson Ban's three pointer tied the game at 11-11. The Lions would capture the lead but the Moccasins would rally to tie it at 14-14, and then against at 16-16, before taking their first lead on an
Akol Arop layup, 18-16.
Trailing 38-37 with 3:51 to play in the first half, Florida Southern would use its best run of the game (11) to take a six-point lead, 44-38 to the 2:29 mark. The two teams traded three's to bring it to a 47-41 game with two minutes to play in the opening frame. The lone two points in the final two minutes would be a pair of free throws for Saint Leo, as Florida Southern headed into the break lead 47-43.
The Mocs pushed the pace out of the break and ran the score difference to 10, 53-43, but Saint Leo answered with its own run to tie it at 53 (16:32). Florida Southern and Saint Leo battled back and forth, trading points and the lead, until two free throws from Bans pushed the Mocs ahead by five, 69-64.
After falling behind by one, 70-69, with 9:47 to play, Florida Southern would jump in front and play with the lead for three minutes. Saint Leo would charge and take a two-point lead, 79-77, and run it to four, 81-77, on a fastbreak layup.
The Lions' held the lead for the next three minutes until
Joe Moon IV hit a clutch three pointer to push the Red and White ahead of the Green and Yellow, 87-85. With two minutes to play, Florida Southern would climb back into the lead on a Steen layup, 93-92, and momentum began to swing in favor of the Mocs.
Pushing out to a six-point lead twice with under a minute to play, 98-92 and 99-93, the Mocs withstood the pressure and hot shooting by the Lions in the final minute as
Dominick Denny capped the team's 100
th point with a free throw. Saint Leo would get within two, 100-98, on a driving layup by Cantia Rahming before Greyson Pritzl was mysteriously fouled in the final second chasing a loose ball down.
Pritzl would go to the line and miss the first free throw, and desperation to get two points, he purposely missed the second and Steen hauled in the rebound to secure road win for the Moccasins, 100-98.
Florida Southern returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 13 against Lynn University at 7:30 p.m. inside the George W. Jenkins Field House.
