Moon's Layup Lifts Mocs Over Sailfish; FSC Earns #2 Seed of SSC Tournament

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Down one with 2.2 seconds on the clock, a wild play unfolded but left the Florida Southern men's basketball team on top of Palm Beach Atlantic to earn the season series split and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Sunshine State Conference tournament. The Moccasins escaped the Sailfish thanks to a Joe Moon IV layup with 0.9 seconds allowed for Florida Southern to earn the 77-74 win at the Rubin Arena.
 
"Huge Win!" Head Coach Mike Donnelly said. "We always tell our guys to find a way, and we certainly did that today with a big-time come from behind last second play. Joe (Moon) made a great play reacting to the ball and then made a tough left-handed layup to give us the lead and win the game."
 
Florida Southern (23-7, 14-6 SSC) earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament after tying with Lynn (14-6) for second. However, the Mocs hold the tiebreaker over the Fighting Knights. Florida Southern will host Rollins in the Sunshine State Conference quarterfinal on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
 
The Moccasins called timeout with 2.2 seconds left with the ball in their offensive half. Peyton Gerald would be called on to bring the ball in and threw a lob to a cutting Alex Steen, but the ball glanced off the glass and right into the hands of Joe Moon IV who laid it in with just 0.9 seconds remaining, 75-74. The Sailfish attempted to throw the ball the full length of the court, but Josh Ward stepped over the line and turned it over. On the ensuing play, Jadin Booth was fouled and went to the line to make it a three point game with still 0.9 seconds remaining.  Palm Beach Atlantic's (17-11, 10-10 SSC) final attempt was a ¾ court heave that was no good allowing Florida Southern to leave victorious.
 
Jadin Booth paced the Mocs with a game-high 32 points, 25 in the first half, on 8-of-17 shooting from the field and 4-for-9 from beyond the arc. The graduate student from Omaha, Neb., went perfect from the line at 12-for-12. Booth was second on the team in rebounding with nine total, all on the defensive side.

Alex Steen notched his 15^th double-double, seventh-straight, with 16 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. Steen cleaned the glass pulling down 17 defensive boards.
 
In all, seven of the eight players that logged minutes contributed to scoring for Florida Southern with Booth at 32, Steen at 16, Joe Moon IV with 13, Peyton Gerald with eight, Dominick Denny with five, Amare Miller two, and Kristians Feierbergs with one. Gerald led the defensive efforts with five blocks on the night
 
Jamaal Walker led PBA with 21 points ahead of Josh Ward (17) and Will Lee (13) as the three double-digit scorers. The Sailfish also saw solid production with seven of nine players scoring as Broderick Ellis had eight, Tyler Burton seven, Jakob Hester five, and Alvin Tumblin three. 
 
Florida Southern looked to control the game as the Moccasins had the lead for the first 12 minutes and even went up by five on a Jadin Booth jumper before the Sailfish cut the deficit and took a brief lead at 21-20 (8:47). Both teams traded points over two minutes before Florida Southern opened to a 10-point lead thanks to a 15-4 run to the 5:20 mark. The Sailfish would rally again and cut into the Mocs' lead to a two-point game but Dominick Denny's free throw with 41 seconds left allowed Florida Southern to carry a 39-36 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Mocs scored on three straight possessions to open the second half to claim a seven-point lead, 45-38, but the Sailfish again wiped it away and tied the game at 45. Florida Southern ran out to an eight-point advantage, 53-45, capped by a Joe Moon IV three, but again Palm Beach Atlantic closed the gap and eventually took a lead with 13:12 to play.
 
PBA would play in front over the next 12 minutes and hold a late five-point lead with a three-point play from Broderick Ellis with 1:49 to play, 74-69. Despite three empty possessions by the Mocs, persistent fight to the end prevailed as Florida Southern went 4-for-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to get within one with 37 seconds to play, 74-73. Steen would grab a rebound with 10 seconds to play, and the Mocs would set up a final play with two seconds to go.
 
Peyton Gerald's pass would find Joe Moon IV who laid it in left-handed for the eventual game-winning points. PBA was tagged with a turnover as Josh Ward stepped over the line in the heave where the Mocs looked to seal the game with 0.9 remaining. On the pass to Jadin Booth, Ward fouled Booth which sent him to the line for two where he sealed it with free throws. The Saiflish got one last attempt off from ¾ court as time expired, 77-74.
 
Florida Southern earned the No. 2 seed in the upcoming tournament and will host No. 7 Rollins (9-11) on Tuesday, March 4, at 7 p.m. at Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House. The Moccasins and Tars meet for the 15th time in SSC tournament history, where Florida Southern holds a record of 14-0. The last meeting occurred during the blind draw tournament in 2021, which was the Tars' only game of the year, resulting in an 88-82 loss in the quarterfinals in Lakeland.
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