The Mocs Knock Off the Panthers in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. – In the first-ever meeting, the third-seeded Florida Southern College men's basketball team knocked off the sixth-seed Clark Atlanta University Saturday afternoon as the Moccasins earned an 80-72 win inside the Rick Case Arena on the campus of Nova Southeastern University.
 
Florida Southern (22-9) won its fourth straight NCAA first-round game with an eight-point win over Clark Atlanta (25-6) who moves to 0-6 in NCAA postseason games.
 
The Moccasins saw an even attack in the first game of the South Regional where seven of the eight players that stepped on the court registered five or more points. Sophomore Alex Steen and graduate student Akol Arop both posted double-doubles in their first NCAA postseason appearance. Steen went for 17 points and 12 rebounds, adding six blocks, while Arop went for 11 points and 16 rebounds.
 
Luke Anderson added 15 points ahead of Dominick Denny's 13. Erickson Bans came off the bench and scored 10 points for the Mocs while Joe Moon IV finished with nine points. Trey Jones shot 100 percent from the field making both of his baskets, a quick layup and a three-pointer.
 
Clark Atlanta was led by Chris Martin who scored a game-high 19 points while Jalen Williams came off the bench and went for 16 points in 20 minutes of action. Xavier Griffith closed out the double-digit scorers with 11 points. Kharye Cayne led the team in rebounding with eight of the Panthers' 35.  
 
The Panthers opened the game with the first four points, their largest of the game before the Moccasins got things going to tie it at four on made buckets from Alex Steen and Luke Anderson. Florida Southern pushed to a six-point lead with nine minutes to play (25-19) but a 6-0 run brought the game square over a two-minute window.
 
A Kharye Cayne three pushed Clark Atlanta ahead, 28-27, with 6:25 to play in the opening frame before Florida Southern closed with tempo and carried a 43-35 lead at the break, with a Trey Jones jumper fall at the buzzer.
 
Out of the break and on the Panthers' first possession, Joe Moon IV came up with a steal who found Luke Anderson before dishing it off to Alex Steen for the slam to give the game its first double-digit lead, 45-35. The Mocs followed that up with two more made shots, from Moon and Anderson, to push it to 14 (49-35), the largest of the game for Florida Southern.
 
Clark Atlanta battled and cut the lead to just one over the next nine minutes before claiming a one-point lead, 61-59, on a Jalen Williams three-pointer. Anderson picked the pocket of Jalen Nesmith who again found a slicing Steen for the slam to draw the game even at 61 with 8:29 to play.
 
Florida Southern regained the lead at the 7:44 mark (63-61) before outscoring Clark Atlanta throughout the remainder of the game 17-11 to bring the game to its final 80-72 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
 
The Moccasins will face the winner of #2 West Georgia and #7 Lee Sunday, March 17 at 5 p.m. *the Wolves and Flames were currently playing at the time of publication.
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