MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's basketball team traveled to the Health & Sports Center on the campus of Barry University and battled through a double-overtime Sunshine State Conference match-up but ultimately fell to the Buccaneers 116-112 in the final seconds.
"Disappointed losing tonight," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly commented. "But certainly not disappointed in our effort."
Donnelly went on to add, "That was a very intense and physical battle and it is unfortunate we came up on the losing end. We told the guys that we just need to learn and grow from it because we will be without question in these types of games for the remainder of the season."
Five players would lead Florida Southern, who moved to 13-5 overall and 7-2 in league play, paced by
Alex Steen's 12
th double-double of the season of 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Luke Anderson followed suit with his fifth double-double, 22 points and 15 rebounds, while
Joe Moon IV notched a career-high, tying Anderson with 22 points.
Dominick Denny added 18 points while
Noah Louis chipped in 10 points off the bench in 16 quality minutes.
Erickson Bans tallied nine points while
Akol Arop closed the scoring for the Moccasins with eight points. Arop added 11 to the tally in the rebounding efforts.
Barry (10-6, 3-5 SSC) had seven players score in double-figures to get the win paced by Nick Anderson's game-high 25 points. James Montgomery had a double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds while Adren Roberts went for his double-double with 10 and 10 (points and rebounds).
Barry University came out and claimed an early lead through the first five minutes, 14-8, and eventually pushed it to 11 points on a Nick Anderson three pointer, 23-13 with 13:34 to go in the opening half. The Moccasins would battle back and cut into the deficit and make it a two-point game twice in the middle of the frame, 28-26 and 30-28, on
Alex Steen and
Erickson Bans' free throws.
Steen's jumper would tie things up in the opening frame, 36-36. Florida Southern's first lead came off a
Dominick Denny layup, 42-40. Barry would take a late lead, 53-51, before
Joe Moon IV's three pointer put the Mocs in front, 54-53, as Florida Southern went into halftime with the lead, 56-55.
The first 11 minutes of the second half both the Buccaneers and Moccasins would go back and forth trading the lead before Barry rank out to a seven-point lead, 79-72. A quick 7-2 run allowed Florida Southern to get within two, 81-79, capped by a Moon second chance three-pointer.
Through the end of regulation, Florida Southern would own the largest lead of just four points, but neither team could put it away. Tied at 93-93, Barry picked up a steal in the offensive half, and would get sent to the free throw line with nine-seconds to play, but OT Delancy would miss both free throws as the ball bounced out of bounds in favor of the Mocs.
Pushing it down the court,
Luke Anderson took a last second three that would rim out as the regulation came to an end.
After winning the tip in the first overtime period, Florida Southern pushed to a four-point advantage but Barry raced back and held a three-point lead with just 1:53 to play, 100-97.
Luke Anderson's second chance layup with 8-seconds left gave the Bucs a one-point lead where the ensuing inbounds saw a quick foul. The Bucs went 1-for-2 at the free throw line where the ball landed in the hands of Steen who gave a quick outlet to
Joe Moon IV. Moon raced the floor and hit a floater with five seconds to tie it, 101-101.
With a bad pass in to play,
Erickson Bans swiped the ball but with not enough time remaining, the clock would run out the game would go to its second overtime period.
Barry and Florida Southern traded opening buckets with the Bucs taking a two-point lead on a pair of free throws, 105-103.
Alex Steen would clean up a missed shot on the other end and would convert an and-one for the 106-105 FSC lead. Nick Anderson hit a mid-range jumper to put the Buccaneers back on top, 107-106 with 3:29 to play.
An Adren Roberts layup put Barry on top by three, 109-106, before an
Akol Arop put-back brought Florida Southern within one, 109-108, with 2:18 to play. After a great defensive stop, the Mocs took the lead, 110-109, thanks to a
Luke Anderson bank shot.
On the ensuing possession, James Montgomery would grab a rebound and slam the Bucs in front, 111-110 with 1:15 to play.
Steen headed to the free throw line with under a minute to play and would go 0-for-2 before the Bucs grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 0:47 to play to think things through. The Mocs would grab a defensive rebound and run down the court and miss a shot to take the lead. Barry would convert 1-for-2 at the free throw line, and the game inched closer to the final with the Bucs in front, 112-110.
With the ball in the offensive half, Florida Southern saw the tying layup rim out by
Luke Anderson before OT Delancy made both of his free throws to make it a four-point game, 114-110 with just nine-seconds to play.
Dominick Denny sprinted to the rim and made the layup, 114-112, with three-seconds to go, before a foul sent Barry to the line once again. Ga'Khari Lacount went 2-for-2 at the line to make it a four-point game once more, 116-112. Florida Southern tried at a three, but the horn sounded as the game went final.
Florida Southern returns to the court next week, Wednesday, Jan. 24 when the Moccasins travel to Rollins for a 7:30 p.m. tip in Winter Park.
