NCAA South Region Semifinals: #3 Florida Southern vs #2 West Georgia

The stage is set for the first of two NCAA South Region semifinals hosted at the Rick Case Arena in Fort Lauderdale as three of the top four seeds all advance to the semifinal round Sunday night.
 
In the first game of action at the regional, the No. 3 seed Florida Southern defeated the No. 6 seed Clark Atlanta 80-72. Following that game, the No. 2 seed 13^th-ranked West Georgia defeated Lee 75-61. Overall No. 1, seed and national rank, Nova Southeastern defeated No. 8 Benedict 115-95 before the only low-seed winner of No. 5 Embry-Riddle defeated No. 4 Alabama-Huntsville 104-78.
 
The Moccasins of Florida Southern will take on the Wolves of West Georgia at 5 p.m. before the Sharks of Nova Southeastern will square off with the Eagles of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University at 7:30 p.m.
 
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Florida Southern (22-9) averages 89.5 points per game behind the team's scoring leader and Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year, Luke Anderson. The Lakeland, Fla. native averages just under 20 points per game at 19.8 while pulling down 8.2 rebounds per game. He is joined by Alex Steen (17.2), Akol Arop (13.1), Dominick Denny (11.8), and Erickson Bans (10.4) in double-digit averages.
 
Steen paces a team that averages 44.5 rebounds per game with 11.5 per game himself. The Moccasins hold opponents to 82.8 points per game and are at 72.0 per game in the regional.
 
No. 13 West Georgia (27-5) averages 81.1 points a game and holds opponents to 69.7. Gulf South Conference Player of the Year Zawdie Jackson leads the team with 21.8 points a game ahead of Camron Donatlan (16.5) and Marlon Smith (11.4) as the trio of double-digit scorers.
 
The Wolves edge opponents on the glass 39.5 to 34.1 per game as Kolten Griffin and Donatlan are neck-and-neck for the lead at 6.8 and 6.7 per game.
 
Quarterfinal Summaries:
#3 Florida Southern 80, #6 Clark Atlanta 72
Florida Southern held Clark Atlanta to 72 points, 35 first half and 37 in the second half. The Moccasins saw collective basketball with five players in double-figures with Steen at 17, Anderson at 15, Denny at 13, Arop 11, and Bans with 10. Joe Moon IV and Trey Jones combined for the other 14 of the Mocs' 80 points with nine and five, respectively.
 
Florida Southern won the rebounding battle against Clark Atlanta, 47-35 paced by Arop's 16 and Steen's 12.
 
#2 West Georgia 75, #7 Lee 61
After a one-point first half, the Wolves outscored the Flames 44-31 in the second half to get past the quarterfinals. Both Camron Donatlan and Zawdie Jackson went for 17 points apiece while Marlon Smith added 13 points off the bench. All other six players that saw playing time contributed at least two points in the win.
 
West Georgia out-rebounded Lee 46-35 led by Donatlan's eight and Tamaury Releford's seven.
 
Series History:
This is the ninth meeting between the two programs and the fifth in NCAA Tournament history. Overall, Florida Southern has edged West Georgia 6-2 in previous meetings starting back in 1961-62 with its last in the 2014-15 National Championship run. In both Moccasin runs to the national title, Florida Southern defeated West Georgia in the regional.
 
The Moccasins defeated the Wolves 84-81 in the second round of the 2014-15 NCAA South Regional, played in Lakeland. West Georgia bested Florida Southern in 1996 (92-80) and 2005 (89-68). 
 
Florida Southern averages 78.4 points per game in the series while West Georgia averages 74 points per game.
 
 
The winners of the two semifinals are headed to the NCAA South Region Championship set for Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. inside Rick Case Arena.