ST. LEO, Fla. – It took two extra periods to determine the winner Saturday afternoon. No. 8 Florida Southern fell 102-100 in double-overtime to Saint Leo inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center in Sunshine State Conference action.
"Credit to Saint Leo for playing a great game," said
Mike Donnelly, Florida Southern's head men's basketball coach. "They outworked us. We will bounce back and be ready to play Rollins on Wednesday night."
Florida Southern (15-4, 6-3 SSC) saw
Jadin Booth and
Alex Steen lead the way in scoring with 22 points ahead of
Dominick Denny with 21.
Peyton Gerald notched another double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Moccasins in 43 minutes of action.
Saint Leo (8-9, 3-6 SSC) saw a trio score 20 or more in Tae Wilson (24), Jaylan McElroy (22), and Camden Cerese (22) while Brady Corso finished with 18. McElroy tallied a double-double to lead the Lions with 12 rebounds in the win.
Both teams finished the night shooting 43.4% from the field while Saint Leo edged Florida Southern in three-point percentage (28% to 23.8%). The Lions also made nearly double the trips to the free throw line (46) than the Mocs where they shot 63%. Florida Southern missed just six free throws for a 79.3% free throw percentage.
The Lions sent the troops to protect the rim, as Saint Leo finished with 11 blocks to Florida Southern's four.
Over the first eight minutes of play Saturday afternoon, Florida Southern and Saint Leo exchanged leads, before the Lions snagged an 18-16 lead with 12:25 to go in the first. Despite Saint Leo pushing out to a double-digit lead in the first half, Florida Southern was able to close the gap and head into the locker room trailing, 47-41.
The Mocs would fall behind by 10 again in the second half as the Lions ran out to a 53-43 lead but Florida Southern extended its defense and closed to within two, 55-53 with 13:51 to go.
Alex Steen (2),
Dominick Denny (2) and
Jadin Booth (3) would all score in a quick run by the Moccasins.
Booth tied the game at 59-59 on a pair of free throws at 10:54, but it was the Lions again that claimed a lead and carried it to the 2:09 mark when
Joe Moon IV made a layup to tie it again at 79-79. Both teams had leads late in regulation, Florida Southern's 80-79 and then 82-81, but it was Saint Leo's free throw by Jaylan McElroy that tied it back to 82-all as regulation ended.
The first overtime period would see much of the same, as both teams shared the lead. Florida Southern was up two, 93-91 with 45 seconds left but a key defensive rebound by Saint Leo allowed the Lions to transition and attempt to tie the game. A pair of free throws did just that from Camden Cerese with eight seconds to go.
Jadin Booth's last-second floater at the buzzer fell short as the game headed to a second overtime, 93-93.
Florida Southern grabbed the first lead in the second overtime, 95-93 on a Denny layup, but Saint Leo would run out to a five-point lead, 100-95, with 2:28 to go. The Mocs would stay within striking distance and get an attempt off, but a corner fade-away three by Denny was no good as the Lions took the Saturday night frenzy 102-100.
No. 8 Florida Southern returns home to host Rollins at 7:30 p.m. inside the George W. Jenkins Field House. The Tars (11-7, 4-5 SSC) travel to Lakeland after an 87-81 overtime win against Embry-Riddle Saturday afternoon.
