LAKELAND, Fla. – With the sole possession of the top of the league standings on the line, Florida Southern College men's basketball upset No. 1 Nova Southeastern, 93-82, at Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House Wednesday night to open 2024. In a new year, the Moccasins continued to roll with the team's seventh straight win, five in Sunshine State Conference play, snapping three long Shark win streaks including 62 consecutive regular season wins, 46 overall wins, and 44 consecutive league wins.
"Proud of our effort tonight," head coach
Mike Donnelly expressed. "Especially in the second half. I thought we played unusually tentative and uptight in the first half, but we did good playing with more intensity and speed the last 20 minutes."
Donnelly continued, "Our defense led the way tonight and we played much better offensively once we played with more confidence. Great win but now we need to prepare to play on the road against a good Florida Tech team on Saturday."
The intense battle showcased Florida Southern's (11-3, 5-0 Sunshine State Conference) resilience and determination to as the Moccasins overcame a halftime deficit of 11 points (49-38). The Mocs rallied and secured the statement win after outscoring the Sharks (10-1, 4-1 SSC) 55-33 in the second half.
This victory marks the third time in program history that the Moccasins have triumphed over the No. 1 ranked team in the nation; March 10, 1990, vs Tampa (69-67) and March 17, 1990, vs Tampa (92-82).
Nine players stepped on the floor for both programs.
Luke Anderson led the charge with 22 points, followed closely by
Alex Steen and
Akol Arop, who scored 18 and 17 points, respectively.
Dominick Denny and
Joe Moon IV also played pivotal roles, contributing 11 points each.
Erickson Bans added 10 points with
Connor Raines tallying the final four for the Mocs.
No. 1 Nova Southeastern saw four players score in double-figures led by Shane Hunter with 17 points. Isaiah Fuller and Ryan Davis each notched 16 while GianFranco Grafals at 14 points in 25 minutes.
In the first half, Nova Southeastern would control the pace for the entire 20 minutes pushing out to the team's largest lead of the game, 14 points, with 3:41 to play. Florida Southern would get within 11 as time expired in the first half. The Moccasins headed into the locker room looking for answers to a 32.1 percent shooting from the field.
Florida Southern came out of the break, chipped away at the deficit, and eventually cut it to five points, 61-56, with 13:11 to play, beating the Sharks press and scoring on the other end. The Mocs turned up the defense and protected the rim out-rebounding Nova Southeastern and tying the game at the 11:21 mark, 62 all on a pair of
Akol Arop free throws.
Momentum swung in favor, thanks to Arop's intense play on both ends of the court, as the Moccasins claimed their first lead, 64-62, as
Connor Raines grabbed a defensive board and found a leaking
Alex Steen for a fast break dunk. The Sharks would tie it at 64, but the Mocs reclaimed the lead and never relapsed pushing out to a seven-point lead, 77-70, capped by another Arop free throw.
Leading by six heading into the final three minutes of action, Florida Southern used the free throw line to stay in front, connecting on eight free throws with a layup from
Luke Anderson and a pull-up jumper from Steen.
Erickson Bans would go 1-for-2 from the free throw line, ending his program record of consecutive free throws at 39, to close the game's scoring as the last-second three-pointer was blocked by Steen and hauled in by
Joe Moon IV with the Moccasins capturing the win, 93-82.
The Moccasins' next challenge awaits as they continue their Sunshine State Conference campaign on Saturday, Jan. 6 in Melbourne, Fla. as Florida Southern travels to No. 25 Florida Tech (9-2, 2-2 SSC). The Panthers are coming off a Wednesday 75-74 loss to Palm Beach Atlantic.
*Nova Southeastern's last loss to a league team was March 8, 2020, a 118-109 loss in the SSC Championship game to Florida Southern; 44 consecutive league games
*Nova Southeastern's last loss was March 22, 2022, a 77-67 loss in the NCAA DII Elite Eight game against Black Hills State; 46 consecutive games
*Nova Southeastern's last regular season loss was February 29, 2020, a 98-89 loss in the regular season finale to Embry-Riddle; 62 consecutive regular season games
