Regional Championship or the Sweet 16. Florida Southern College is lined up against No. 1 Nova Southeastern as two of the final 16 teams playing in NCAA Division II men's basketball.
The third-seeded Moccasins (23-9) advanced to the regional final after knocking off 13
th-ranked and second-seeded West Georgia 93-87 in overtime in the first semifinal Sunday at Rick Case Arena. Nova Southeastern (29-2), the overall top-seed in the region, defeated fifth-seed Embry-Riddle 81-73 in the final semifinal matchup to advance to the regional title game.
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Florida Southern (23-9) averages 89.6 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 (16.9),
Akol Arop (13.4),
Dominick Denny (12.1), and
Erickson Bans (10.6) in double-digit averages.
Steen, the SSC Defensive Player of the Year, paces a team that averages 44.6 rebounds per game with 10.8 per game himself. The Moccasins hold opponents to 82.9 points per game and are allowing under their season average of 79.5 per game between the two games in the regional.
No. 1 Nova Southeastern (29-2) continues to be one of the top scoring teams in the nation averaging 101.8 points per game with four players averaging double-figures and two more just outside. Shane Hunter, who only gets 23.7 minutes per game in the Sharks' five-man substitution wave, averages a team-best 15.9 points ahead of Isaiah Fuller's 13.4.
MJ Iraldi (13.1) and GianFranco Grafals (10.9) round out players in double-figures. Trey Doomes (9l9) and Ryker Cisarik (9.3) are right on the cusp of averaging 10 points a game.
The Sharks' defense, a full court press for 40 minutes of regulation, is led by Doomes , Fuller, and Iraldi with 63, 56, and 55, steals respectively. On the glass, Hunter leads the charge with 207 total, 6.7 per game, with 134 defensive rebounds as Nova Southeastern holds opponents to just 79.06 points per game. Though a low season average, the Sharks are allowing 84 points per game between the two regional wins.
Quarterfinal Summaries:
#3 Florida Southern 93, #2 West Georgia 87 - OT
A fight it was in the first regional semifinal as the Moccasins and Wolves played an extra five minutes Sunday night. After West Georgia outscored Florida Southern 42-40 in the first half, the Mocs answered with 41 second half points, edging the Wolves' 39 to tie it at 81, thanks to a battle at the offensive rim where
Alex Steen battled for the rebound, and
Erickson Bans came away with it before getting fouled and tying it with a free throw.
Akol Arop led the charge for the Mocs' comeback after having just six first half points, the Omaha, Neb. native scored 12 in the second half and led all scorers with six points in overtime, tying the Wolves as a team.
Alex Steen,
Luke Anderson, and
Erickson Bans contributed two points in the overtime period as the trio combined tied the Gulf South Conference Player of the Year, Zawdie Jackson who had all six West Georgia points in the extra period.
Four of the Moccasins six scorers went for double figures with Arop at 24, Anderson and
Dominick Denny both at 19, and Bans with 15.
Alex Steen contributed nine while
Joe Moon IV added seven in nine minutes of action.
#1 Nova Southeastern 81, #5 Embry-Riddle 73
A tightly contested game, the third of the season between the Sharks and Eagles, saw Nova Southeastern come out on top 81-73. The Sharks opened the game on a massive run (13) before the first points from Embry-Riddle and first wave of substitutions.
Nova Southeastern claimed a six-point halftime lead, 36-30, and kept pace and edged Embry-Riddle by two, 45-43, in the second half to advance to the third straight regional championship game with an eight-point win, 81-73.
MJ Iraldi nearly doubled his season average with 22 points in the win, finishing ahead of Isaiah Fuller (14), GianFranco Grafals (11), and Trey Doomes (10). Ryker Cisarik added nine points on three made three-pointers.
The Eagles held the Sharks' leading scorer, Shane Hunter to just six points in the game.
Series History:
For the 50
th meeting between the Moccasins and Sharks, it will stand as the first in NCAA Tournament play Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern will square off. The game Tuesday is also the 2023-24 campaign's third meeting between the top two seeds in the Sunshine State Conference as both teams won on their respective courts.
When Florida Southern won 93-82 back on Jan. 3, 2024, in Lakeland, it was the first loss for Nova Southeastern in 62-regular season games. In the second meeting of the season, the Sharks bested the
Alex Steen-less-Moccasins 93-63 on Feb. 24, 2024, in Rick Case Arena.
As of late, between these two powerhouse programs, Nova Southeastern has won six of the last seven with the first win of the current season going to the Mocs.
Nova Southeastern has it all to lose, as the preseason favorites, the Sharks are 63-0 at home since the last loss on Feb. 15, 2020, to, none other than, Florida Southern College (102-96). Later that season, the Mocs then beat the Sharks again, 118-109, in the conference tournament as both teams were lined up to be the No. 1 (FSC) and No. 2 (NSU) seeds in the 2019-20 NCAA DII South Region tournament that was cancelled.
The winner of the South Region will advance and represent the region at the NCAA Elite Eight Championship in Evansville, Ind. March 26-30 hosted at the Ford Center.
