#19 Florida Southern Defeats Lincoln (Pa.) in Friday Bout

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – No. 19 Florida Southern men's basketball traveled to Pennsylvania and took on the Lincoln University Lions in a tough battle at Manuel Rivero Hall as the Moccasins defeated the Lions 86-74 in the Friday evening matchup.
 
Florida Southern (10-2) reached the 10-win mark for the 17^th time in 18 years, and the fourth straight under head coach Mike Donnelly. Dominick Denny went for a season-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 mark from the free throw line. He added six assists and five rebounds on the night.

"We got off to an uncharacteristically slow start," head coach Mike Donnelly said after the win. "But, I am proud that our guys stayed with it and kept battling tonight. Our bench production was huge for us. Donovan Smith made big shots and we were able to grind out a big road win."
 
Donovan Smith (17), Alex Steen (12), and Jadin Booth (10) joined Denny in double-figures. Smith went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc in which the Moccasins as a team shot 9-for-22 (40.9%) for the game. Booth was the team leader in rebounds with 11 as he finished just two assists shy of a triple-double, dishing out eight against the Lions. Steen grabbed nine boards to finish second on the team as the Mocs tallied 40 rebounds.
 
Ethan Garita led Lincoln (4-5) with a game-high 25 points while he completed his double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds. Janaie Coates-Sinues was second on the team in scoring for the Lions with 12 points ahead of Bakir Cleveland's 11, and Tyleek Fields' 10.
 
Lincoln came out firing and got off to a quick start and went up 11-4 forcing a Moccasin timeout. The Lions would go 1-for-2 from the free throw line before Donovan Smith came off the bench and went on a quick scoring spree with three straight three-pointers to close the gap to one, 14-13, with 10:43 to go in the first half. With 5:46 to play, Alex Steen would go 2-for-2 from the free throw line to tie the game and push the Mocs in front 23-22, as Florida Southern played in front heading into the locker room up 38-34.
 
The Lions remained within striking distance before Jadin Booth drained his first three at 18:38 for a seven-point lead, 43-36. An Alex Steen free throw pushed the game to 10 points, 46-36, before Lincoln battled back to a four-point game, 50-46, with under 15 minutes to play.
 
Florida Southern would push the gap to 10 points again at the 6:25 mark on a Booth layup and then headed to a 13-point lead with 3:46 remaining. Peyton Gerald's slam with 1:18 remaining gave the Moccasins its largest lead of the game of 15, 82-67. Domnick Denny scored the final four points for Florida Southern as the two teams evened the scoring 5-4 down the stretch as the game drew to its final, 86-74. Denny scored the last Moc points with a tip-in at the 21-second mark as the Lions' Tyleek Fields laid it in with just nine seconds on the clock.   
 
No. 19 Florida Southern will look to get back into action a week from Saturday with the Mocs Christmas Classic Dec. 21-22 inside the George W. Jenkins Field House. The Moccasins will host Barry, New Haven, and Lander in a four-game weekend at the Streamline Sale Court. Barry and New Haven will tip things off at 5:00 p.m. followed by Florida Southern and Lander at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday's games feature the Buccaneers and Bearcats at 5:00 p.m. with the Chargers and Moccasins at 7:30 p.m. All games will be broadcast live on the Sunshine State Conference Digital Network and live stats via StatBroadcast. 
 
 
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