LAKELAND, Fla. — Brady Corso scored a team-leading 17 points, and four Moccasins reached double figures as the RV Florida Southern College men's basketball team (3-1) pulled away in the second half for a 92-58 win over Fort Valley State (1-1) on Saturday night at Jenkins Field House.
"I was pleased with our defensive effort tonight and we did a great job on the glass," stated Mocs' head coach Mike Donnelly. "We have a lot of different options offensively, but everything for us is about our defensive execution. Fort Valley State is a dangerous team so it was good to see our guys lock in and focus on getting stops."
Corso opened the scoring with a three-point play, and Charlie Dalton added two early layups as Florida Southern built an 11-3 lead. Fort Valley State hit three 3-pointers in a span of 1 minute, 37 seconds to tie the game at 15. The Wildcats tied it again at 17 before Dalton's layup with 8:31 left in the first half put the Mocs ahead for good.
With Florida Southern up 22-19, Corso made a free throw and Khalil Ross followed with a layup to start a 9-0 run. Starrell Hearns added a layup, and Brayson Green capped the stretch with a dunk and a layup to make it 31-19. Dalton scored 10 points before halftime, including two free throws with 13 seconds left that sent the Mocs into the break ahead 37-25.
Fort Valley State cut the deficit to 10 early in the second half before Gabe Hernandez scored six straight points to start an 11-0 run. Adren Roberts hit Florida Southern's first 3-pointer of the night, and Pablo Navarro capped the run with a steal and dunk for a 50-29 lead. Hernandez later hit a 3-pointer to make it 61-33 with 13:22 remaining, and Brady Barnes gave the Mocs their largest lead at 87-51 with a 3-pointer with 3:38 to play.
Hernandez scored 11 of his 14 points after halftime and went 7-for-7 at the free-throw line. Navarro finished with 13 points and just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds. Dalton had 12 points and six rebounds, while Corso added seven rebounds. Ameer Ramadan chipped in nine points and a game-high three assists off the bench.
AJ Trimboli scored his first career point on a free throw with 1:57 remaining and added a layup 40 seconds later to finish with three points.
Florida Southern outrebounded Fort Valley State 55-33 and held a 48-30 edge in points in the paint and a 26-7 advantage in fast-break points. The Mocs went 28-for-33 at the free-throw line and held the Wildcats to 32.4% shooting from the field.
