Mocs Escape Winter Park with Three-Point Win Over the Tars

WINTER PARK, Fla. – After a week off, Florida Southern men's basketball bounced back to the win column with an 88-85 win over Rollins at Warden Arena inside the Harold & Ted Alfond Sports Center Wednesday night. The Moccasins move to 14-5 overall and 8-2 in Sunshine State Conference play while the Tars move to 5-12 and 2-8 in league play.  
 
"Wasn't easy, but happy we found a way to pull out a big win," Head Coach Mike Donnelly commented after the road win. "Our bench play was great. On a night when we didn't shoot the ball well, our bench stepped up and made big plays for us."
 
Akol Arop paced six Moccasins in scoring with 20 points, shooting 9-for-13 from the field including a pair of three-pointers. Arop added five rebounds on the night. Erickson Bans came off the bench and scored 14 points with a pair of threes while Luke Anderson added 12 points and eight rebounds.
 
Donovan Smith came off the bench and provided a spark with 11 points with three three-pointers ahead of Alex Steen and Joe Moon IV with 10 points. Noah Louis came in and provide big minutes and had seven points as Dominick Denny and Trey Jones closed the scoring with two points each.
 
Rollins saw four players score in double-figures paced by Kyle Marion's 20 points, just ahead of Sergey Grishaev's 19.
 
Akol Arop scored the game's first points on a jumper in the paint before Rollins went on a 5-0 run to take its first lead of the game. Florida Southern came back and answered with its own run and claimed a five-point lead, 10-5, with 16:57 to play.
 
Over the next five minutes, the teams played neck and neck with four ties, leading to an 18-18 tie with 11:09 to play. After going back and forth for six minutes, Florida Southern finally pulled out to a seven-point advantage thanks to an Arop second chance layup made it 33-26.
 
Both the Tars and Mocs would play even over the final six minutes of the half, where Florida Southern carried an 51-44 lead into the halftime break, capped by Arop's two-handed slam off a feed from Joe Moon IV.
 
Rollins came firing out of the break and erased the seven-point deficit and tied the game once again at 53. The Tars pushed out to an eight-point lead, 65-57 with 13:33 remaining.
 
The Mocs would go on their own run of nine points and take a one-point lead, 66-65, highlighted by an Erickson Bans' three-pointer. Florida Southern would carry an eight-point lead to the nine-minute mark before holding onto a six point lead with five minutes to play, 80-74.
 
Rollins would battle and get within one before eventually tying it at 85 all with 1:22 to play. A Bans' jumper put the Moccasins back on top, with a minute to play. The Tars would have a chance at the lead but it fell short leaving the ball in Florida Southern's possession. Three quick fouls to attempt to stop the clock and the Mocs from scoring saw Luke Anderson head to the free throw line for two.
 
Anderson would connect on the first but miss the second with the Mocs up three, 88-85, and just 17-ticks left. Rollins would have two looks at a tie but Joe Moon IV came up with a block with four seconds to go as the ball fell to the Tars for one last desperation shot.
 
The final horn would sound before the last second shot could get off as the Moccasins escaped the Tars, 88-85.
 
Florida Southern returns to action Saturday, Jan. 27 with a trip to West Palm Beach, Fla. for a 4:00 pm matchup with the Sailfish of Palm Beach Atlantic University.
 
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